Klarinet Archive - Posting 001032.txt from 1997/09

From: Karl Krelove <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Safest grips during assembly?
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 00:40:54 -0400

At 10:19 PM 9/21/97 CST, you wrote:
> While we're on this thread of instrument abuse -
>
> I am a fairly level-headed teen who is somewhat wary about assembling his
>clarinet. What I'd like to know is the safest way to hold the upper and
lower
>sections when attatching them to the barrel and bell and each other. It
>requires some force to put the two joints together, and I don't want to
put any
>strain on the keywork.
>
I second Gary Young - if it takes enough "force" to cause a real danger
of bending hardware, find out why and fix it. You can make the corks slide
together still more easily if you wet them slightly (just put your lips
around each tenon to moisten the grease that's there).
There are ways to grab the sections to minimize potential problems. When
you put the two middle sections together, of course you grip around the
upper section with your left hand almost as though you were playing it in
order to raise the upper half of the bridge key. The lower section you hold
around the lower tenon end with the crook of your thumb and first finger
AROUND the long E/B rod. The thing you need to avoid is holding across the
long rods that control E/B and F/C and across the long rod holding the
rings for the finger holes. They bend easily. Hans Moennig actually showed
me once to grip the bottom section across the cluster of keys you work with
your right hand pinky (R.H. C-Eb-B-C#) because they are unlikely to bend
under normal effort. This is also a handy place to hold the bottom section
to put the bell on. You can hold the upper section with your fingers on the
keys as before to put the barrel on, and hold the barrel to put the
mouthpiece in.
But, to repeat, don't work with dry or oversized corks without doing
something about the problem. Sooner or later you'll bend something when you
try to disassemble the instrument after the tenons have gotten stuck in
their sockets. In fact, with most of my students, the disassembly is far
more dangerous to the instrument than putting it together is.

Karl