Klarinet Archive - Posting 000165.txt from 2003/08

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: RE: [kl] Tuning Rings
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 21:43:40 -0400

> Ormond, I guess that is my question. How
> "permanent would this type of glue be and
> could it be easily removed?

I have no repair experience beyond using a screwdriver, etc. But my
thought is that removing cork from a tenon is an 'exposed' operation
during which you can scrape, rub, soak with acetone, use strong language
when the cork doesn't cooperate, and generally see what you're doing.
This wouldn't be true for a ring, where the adhesive is underneath the
ring itself and thus sheltered from solvents & tools, and (2) in the
case of an 'inside' ring, the entire task is inside a small tube and
therefore less accessible to knife blades, screwdrivers, chisels, pipe
wrenches, hacksaws, pneumatic hammers, etc. How easily would acetone
wick its way underneath a ring? How easily would the rubber solids in
the contact cement form into small globs as you tried to slide the ring
out and thus jam the ring in place by simple geometry? I don't know.
My thought is: "Why find out the hard way?"

Perhaps you could place a small speck of modeling clay on one edge of
the ring (before sliding it into position) and then see if the clay is
sticky enough to prevent the ring from falling out by gravity alone ---
but still not truly 'glued' in place.

> Also, I'm thinking of making tuning rings out
> of cork

If not glued in place as a permanent tuning aid, I wonder about cork's
durability? And if glued in place, then what if you want to change in
midstream? But when Clark Fobes says that it works, I'm not going to
dispute.

I have good results with a black nylon ring that I sanded to a close
fit. The ring may not be reamed and polished with absolute precision,
but if you want to get technical about it, I wonder if a smooth plastic
ring is less of a 'perturbance' than the surface of a cork ring? The
ring fits tightly enough to stay in place despite gravity, but it is
removable (and insertable) with my fingers, and it would be inexpensive
to replace if I lost it. When the ring is either tight or loose
(because the wood has shrunk or swollen), a dab of cork grease
lubricates it or pastes it in place (remove the extra grease
afterwards). Being a smooth plastic surface, droplets of moisture
don't have a tendency to hang on it.

Anyway, in the final analysis, my playing isn't precise enough for such
details to make a difference. A plastic ring that hangs in there by
friction or paste is good enough for me. Mozart will never know.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is supported by Woodwind.Org, http://www.woodwind.org/