Klarinet Archive - Posting 000198.txt from 2002/07

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] cork failure **
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 15:40:49 -0400

The simple answer is that you need to cut a strip of cork of the correct
width to fit the cork area of the tenon and the correct length to slightly
overlap when firmly pressed onto the wood of the tenon. Then apply the
adhesive (usually contact cement applied to both the cork and the tenon and
allowed to dry for a few minutes) and press the cork down onto the tenon.

Without a lot of luck, though, this won't provide a very good looking joint
and may not even work well. Many details need to be attended to: the
thickness of the cork; the way you bevel the sides of the cork so they will
fit properly in the groove and the ends so they overlap each other to
provide a more or less smooth (unbulged) seam; the degree to which you pull
the cork to make it seal tightly against the wood without tearing it. All of
this is very hard to describe - it's more easily shown by someone who
already knows what he or she is doing. Most of the shop-installed corks I've
had have been made with an over-thick cork and brought down to the correct
thickness to fit the socket by turning it on a lathe and using an abrasive
of some kind to shape them -something you aren't likely to be equipped for
at home.

It isn't that I'm trying to make rocket-science of it - it isn't, but it's
one of those things that you won't do often enough to get good at and,
unless you live hours or days from a competent repair person, is a great
deal less trouble and comes out a better job if left to him or her. In a
properly equipped shop with the right cork, tools and adhesive on hand, its
an easy and reasonably quick (and, therefore, inexpensive) job.

That said, if you want to dispense with the whole problem altogether, the
use of thread wrapped thickly enough around the tenon to create a firm fit
and held down with cork grease has been suggested by several of us. It's
normally a quick first-aid fix to be replaced later by a proper cork, but
I've seen many bassoons and some bass clarinets that had thread with no cork
anywhere in sight as a permanent fixture. The main advantage, I would guess,
is that it completely dispenses with the need to have a repair technician
work on your tenon joints - the thread is easily replaceable anytime it
seems to wear down. I've never seen a modern clarinet that didn't have corks
on the tenons, but I don't know why it wouldn't work. Maybe someone else has
experience with it - good or bad.

Karl Krelove

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pastor Luby D. Jackson III [mailto:mus_ldj@-----.com]
> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 2:18 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] cork failure **
>
>
> I would also like to know how to re-cork the lower joint on my Eb
> Clarinet.
> About how much does this corking cost and what should I use to put on the
> cork?
>
>
> God loves you just as you are but loves you enough to not leave
> you like you
> are!
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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