 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2006-02-27 03:27
The thumb F key on my Buffet R13 is slow to release, but not all the time. It seems to happen mostly when the clarinet's warmed up, but at tonight's rehearsal it behaved most of the time. It sounds pretty bad when playing any kind of runs or note sequences that include that note, as you can imagine. The instrument is about 10 years old and hasn't done this until a few months ago.
It's been completely overhauled by a competent repairman 7 months ago (this repairman takes care of the instruments of symphony and other prominent musicians in our area) and I sent it back to him to look at this problem when it began in September. He replaced the tiny corks of the two fork keys at the side (where the F key will raise the other little fork on top to close a tone hole) and for sure he did whatever tweaking he felt was necessary. It worked alright for awhile. When the problem started again about a month ago I used powder paper on the pad of the top tone hole to see if perhaps that was reluctant to release. But I suspect that the ring surrounding the thumb F tone hole is actually rubbing on the post (?) and not allowing the key to lift when released. Does this make any sense?
Of course at my last performance this detracted from an otherwise delightful composition. One member of an ensemble I play with took a look at it and saw that the release was sluggish but couldn't pinpoint where the problem was. So do any of you repair people have an idea of where to look? My repairman is an hour away but if necessary I'll take the drive out there again.
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Author: DezzaG
Date: 2006-02-27 03:41
Try using telfon between the arm of the thumbkey and the arm of the first finger key on top of clarinet. It could be the arm is rubbing on the cork there so teflon should help.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-02-27 03:44
Check the clearance between the thumb key lever and the connecting lever (for LH finger 1 ring) against the slot in the trill keys through which they pass (looks like an arch) - they could be catching on one of the sides of the slot in the trill keys.
Or check to see the underlever (from the thumb ring) isn't digging into or has chewed through the cork on the underside of the connecting overlever as this can cause it to stick.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2006-02-27 03:49)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2006-02-27 12:43
Sometimes the tip of the 'underlever' needs to be polished, or even rounded off somewhat.
A thick material, more than say 0.3 mm thick, is usually pretty disastrous in this linkage. Sometimes the geometry of the linkage needs to be altered to reduce friction and accommodate thinner silencing material.
Talcum powder where the silencing material is contacted/rubbed between these levers is indeed a good idea.
Sometimes the timber can move sufficiently to affect the alignment of posts, hence allowing the thumb ring to rub against the tone hole insert. Judicious reshaping of the ring can be called for.
Or of course, you could have a binding pivot. Or a combination of several problems.
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Author: CJB
Date: 2006-02-27 17:24
As others have said it could be one of many things.
The thumb ring sticking on the post is a perfectly reasonable suggestion - it happened to one of my clarinets a couple of years ago. It took just a few mins for a decent repair man to sort out.
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2006-02-28 02:52
Thanks for the input - so basically the problem could be one or more of the above. As Chris P mentioned, the first time this was happening the underlever WAS digging into the cork on the lever above it. So these corks were replaced with thinner material, but perhaps the problem is continuing in the same area. Another test I'll try is to run a strip of the woodwind drying paper - it's thin but strong enough - around between the ring and the tone hole post, to see if one area is resistant when compared to the opposite side. If it doesn't fit anywhere around the ring then I'll have to think of something else, or (sigh) take the long drive through freeway traffic to the repairman and listen to his stories while he looks at it.
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2006-09-30 01:47
OK, I finally took a week off from playing (our nephew's using my spare clarinet) and took the instrument in for repair. They took mine in ahead of the pile of school instruments that come in this time of year.
It turned out that there were actually two problems. The upper pad that seals when the F key is pressed was dirty so I'd asked for it to be replaced with cork. The owner of the music store, Mr. Payne, is an old time clarinet player so he took personal interest in this case. He told me that not only did the pad need replacing but also the ring on the F key was bent so that it rubbed up against the post. Both of these together made for an annoying non-release of that key. It's sort of like trying to drive the car with the emerg brake accidentally pulled halfway!
Now the key is moving freely. Thanks for the suggestions, a couple of you were bang on in your diagnosis.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-09-30 10:46
Always a good idea to have a cork pad in the throat G vent.
On some Buffets I've worked on they haven't made sufficient clearance in the wood under the LH 1 ring key arm causing it to touch the wood making it clatter or cause the pad not to close, and it doesn't take much to cut the wood away.
Then again, on my Series 9 Bb they hadn't made any effort under the LH third finger ring (forked Eb ring) at all! But the late '70s wasn't exactly a good period for quality workmanship.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-09-30 14:15
A Teflon strip instead of cork on the linkage between the thumb ring and the ring and pad on top slides well enough, but produces an annoying click when the two keys separate and come back in contact as in going from first-space F# to G. The trick is getting the friction low enough on something soft enough to be silent.
STP motor oil treatment is probably the slipperiest stuff in the world. (In the greased-pig-chasing and flag pole climbing worlds, a catch or climb is possible if the lubricant is axle grease, but with STP, you can't even try.) (For members of PETA or PETFP (People for the Ethical Treatment of Flag Poles), no pigs or flag poles were actually used.)
A tiny drop of STP on the cork, or perhaps a rubber strip, would be enough, though a petroleum roduct could weaken cork.
I use a tiny bit of cork grease or "nose oil."
Ken Shaw
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-09-30 14:43
Or use graphite from a soft pencil on the cork (or gasket cork) to reduce the friction.
I usually stick Teflon over the gasket cork rather than sticking the Teflon directly to the metal - this dampens the noise, and the Teflon sticks on better.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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