Klarinet Archive - Posting 000014.txt from 2007/05

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Non player needs advice on repair
Date: Thu, 03 May 2007 21:07:20 -0400

At 09:15 PM 5/2/2007, Nancy Buckman wrote:
>On Wed, 02 May 2007 21:55:04 -0500
> Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net> wrote:
>
>>The moral of the story is to NEVER let a young clarinetist,
>>flutist, or oboist have a jeweler's screwdriver!
>
>I don't agree. There is nothing wrong with a kid trying to fix
>something. Sure, they will make mistakes, but who knows.....that
>kid might just be a great repair tech down the road. I'd rather
>the kid turn a few screws and cost me a few extra bucks than get
>involved in things that take him down the wrong path. Playing with
>a screwdriver is exactly how I learned to fix my own
>instruments. And most of the screws were on the clarinet that I
>was playing at the time. In the long run, it has saved me more than
>it ever cost me.

That is how I learned how to fix instruments myself, but not until
MUCH later (college and beyond). I did not start playing saxophone
until after I had bought one, torn it down, and repadded it myself,
with no more knowledge of the procedure than what I had learned from
self-taught clarinet repair. But for every mature person (even high
school age) with innate mechanical ability, there are hundreds who
should NEVER be allowed to wield any type of screwdriver against ANY
device. I think all instrumentalists should have enough working
knowledge of their instrument to at least diagnose where their
problem lies, but many people simply have no ability to perform
mechanical tasks and should leave such matters to those who have them.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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