Klarinet Archive - Posting 000432.txt from 1997/12

From: "Lorne G. Buick" <lgbuick@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Cracks in clarinets question
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 09:10:12 -0500

> I have seen posts of people discussing cracks in clarinets. My question is
> - are these cracks very noticeable or are cracks in a clarinet something
> you must find by looking very carefully?
>
> Thanks,
> Laine

Hi Laine -

They can be tiny or very noticeable, insignificant or catastrophic. They
most often occur near the top of the upper joint, and often go through tone
holes (either the top side key or the throat A key); when this happens they
create a leak under the pad and the clarinet becomes very difficult to
play. It's certainly worth looking very carefully, as if you find a tiny
crack near there it can be fixed before it grows into a serious one.
Sometimes the barrel or the lower joint will crack but this is less
frequent. (I remember quite a few years ago there was a fashion for playing
cracked barrels! the theory was that they vibrated more freely...) Cracks
are almost always on the outside - in extreme cases they can go right
through the wood but I've never seen this happen. They are typically caused
by a temperature difference between the warm air blown through the clarinet
and cold air outside - the wood on the inside tries to expand as it gets
warm, while the outside is still cold.

There has been much discussion of crack repair which I won't repeat, but I
would like to add my perspective: I have had great success with
cyanoacrylate adhesives (the same stuff that's in KrazyGlue, but in a
different formulation), which I heard about from Luis Rossi (who made my
clarinets) and in turn introduced to the repairman who takes care of my
horns here in Vancouver (I know my sig. says Newfoundland, I'm here
rehearsing for a tour coming up) who has used them for several years now
with great success. (pardon the run-on sentence) In fact the new oboe
player in the wind trio I'm rehearsing with has an oboe that cracked all
the way down the upper joint, a wide-open crack through many toneholes - it
was glued over two years ago and has played fine ever since (no pins).

I know we have at least one highly-respected repairman on the list (Clark
Fobes) who is not in favour of gluing, and I certainly value his opinion -
just wanted to add my personal experience to the forum.

So after all that, I hope your clarinets never crack!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LGB Lorne G Buick St. John's
lgbuick@-----.net Newfoundland
Canada