Klarinet Archive - Posting 000572.txt from 1998/02

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Loose screws
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:54:00 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Hsien <jasonavhs@-----.com>
Date: Saturday, February 14, 1998 5:52 AM
Subject: Loose screws

>I've been wondering if there was any solution to the problem of screws
>becoming loose on clarinets and bass clarinets. I know I can always rescrew
>them back in, but sometimes, if I go for a week or so forgetting, they just
>pop out (which happened, to my horror, at a recent rehearsal. Thank
goodness
>I found it again and put it back in)
>
>Do any of you have hints on techniques to keep those darn screws in? I
mean,
>obviously, they won't stay in forever, since we are pressing down on keys
>all the time, but this is ridiculous. This never happened on my plastic
>clarinet, but since I moved over to wood clarinet and bass clarinet, this
>has happened more often.
>

They really SHOULD stay in "forever" (or until you or the repairman want
them out). Take the instrument to a good repair person. You should be able
to tighten the screw in quite hard without binding the key. What's happening
is that the key's pivot rod is binding against the screw, turning it a
little each time the key moves. This shouldn't be happening. The repair
person will have to stop the binding, which will allow the key to be
tightened completely, stop the screw from backing out, and end the problem
permanently without nail polish, glue, etc.

These aren't like the clearance-adjusting screws on many flute keys (and
some clarinets) that need to be left in a partially loose position to
function correctly. Those sometimes need to be held still with some foreign
substance if they don't fit the thread snugly enough to stay in place.

Karl