 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-11-28 21:46
SO where do I get pads and springs and such. Having sucessfully put new wiring in one son's bass, the clarinet playing son is interested in trying to fix up some of our clunker clarinets with me. So where do I get pads and parts?
Thanks,
Ginny
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Author: Todd H.
Date: 2000-11-29 00:42
Ferree's Tools, Benton Harbor Mi, has always had more useful parts, pads, tools than I ever imagined were available. Fair prices and nice to deal with too.Request their catalog, get out your measuring tools ...1-800-253-2261
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Author: Todd H.
Date: 2000-11-29 00:43
Ferree's Tools, Battle Creek Mi, has always had more useful parts, pads, tools than I ever imagined were available. Fair prices and nice to deal with too.Request their catalog, get out your measuring tools ...1-800-253-2261
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2000-11-29 01:56
I have bought lots from Ferrees and been well satisfied. I have been using white kit bassoon pads (which come in clarinet sizes.) As it happens, Ferrees carries them but only in medium thicknesses. I recently ordered thin ones from Ed Myers Co in Austin Texas. Great service and competitive prices. The thin pads fit a little better. (Note: I am restoring old metal clarinets. This may have no bearing on what would fit anything new.) 800-228-9188.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2000-11-29 08:53
If you aren't confident about pulling your sewing machine or computer printer apart then leave you clarinet to an expert too. They both need precise mechanical precision. Replacing pads is a small part. There are a thousand and one things you need to know from experience to do a half good job on a neglected instrument. You will not find these in the Ferree's catalogue.
But by all means, but by all means make these your sacrificial instruments as you launch into your learning curve. (I started my trecho carreer on my own condemned, run-over Haynes flute.) Just don't sell it as an overhauled instrument.
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-11-29 13:54
I couldn't agree more with Gordon -- he's absolutely right about the intricacies and subtleties of good clarinet repairs. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and a tinkerer by nature, and I've been working on my own instruments for some 20 years now, but it is only just recently that I feel comfortable enough with the competence of my repair work to actually sell the fruits of my labor to other people. It takes a long time, a lot of trial-and-error and a lot of screwups, and a fair amount of playing skill to properly repair, setup, play-test, and tweak a clarinet. Even a simple repad is not simple if it's to be done well! And consider that the soprano clarinet is a very simple device, mechanically --- just try taking apart a saxophone or bass clarinet, if you want to see a whole bunch of parts (with numerous interrelated functions). I just carefully and completely restored a bass clarinet, of a brand with which I'm intimately familiar (I own and regularly play another one almost identical), and STILL the overhaul took at least 24 solid hours of work, not including playing time. Do keep that in mind when someone quotes you the price of a bass clarinet or sax overhaul --- these instruments take a LOT of time to do right. And a soprano clarinet complete overhaul, done right, simply can't be done in under 8 hours, no matter how experienced the technician (IMHO).
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-11-29 15:57
Thanks to all who just sent the requested information, without the attitude toward women.
I am certain that a man would have not been questioned on his ability to repair his SEWING MACHINE. You obviously assumed you knew all about me because you knew my sex. My mechanical abilities are much better than my husband's or brother's.
Too this attitude is still out there.
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-11-29 17:15
Ginny,
I can't speak for others, but I think you may be overreacting to Gordon's post and reading some sexism into it that may not be there. The 'sewing machine' reference is a common one in the world of mechanical engineering, as an example of a familiar device that has lots of small, intricately machined parts which are very sensitive to proper lubrication, etc. I'm hoping he meant it that way, and not in the way you think. In any case, you're certainly right about mechanical skill being non-gender-specific. Certainly my own mother had far more mechanical aptitude than my father did!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2000-11-29 20:37
Gordon also refers to 'computer printer' in that sentence. So....
ron b
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-11-29 22:42
Sorry to belabor, he says "your sewing machine" he assumes I own one! and he assumes that taking the printer apart is hard for me. This would offend any guy I know. Really, you must be joking if you think he'd question some guy's ability to take things a part.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-11-30 22:50
Actually I would question most guys and gals abilities to take things apart and get them back together correctly again. Way too many people think that they can repair items that they are not qualified to touch. I personally did not see the post as sexist and I too am a woman. To me, it merely seemed precautionary in nature.
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Author: Todd H.
Date: 2000-11-30 23:42
That's very well said, Dee; I agree completly.Folks often bring me their "Home Improvement" type of rewired watercraft for "a little adjustment".I'm still chuckling five minutes after reading that post.
BTW please forgive my geographically challenged double post above: Ferree's is in Battle Creek, MI
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2000-12-01 01:46
Incredible! I have only just discovered all this nonsense about me.
Gina I think this just highlights that you have a problem of oversensitivity.
1. I did not even look at the name on your posting, let alone register your gender. I did not presume to know anything about you other than the thought that generated the CONTENT of your posting.
2. Thanks Dave. You are completely correct.
3. I chose the sewing maching because it is a mechanical contraption that most PEOPLE are familiar with as such, and for which most people would RECOGNISE they do not have sufficient knowledge to dismantle. Can YOU give me a list of bvetter examples? A car was INappropriate because many people THINK they know enough to work on them.
4. I live on my own, posess a sewing machine, and am the only person who uses it. I have used a sewing machine sinxce about age 7. My son's lesbian mother does NOT possess a machine and hardly knows how to use one. My 5 year old son is learning, to my amusement, that it is the dad's role to drive the sewing machine. He enjoys sewing pictures on paper himself. By the way I am a regular guy - not a drag queen or anything like that!
5. I really appreciate my mother for teaching me at an early agde to do my own sewing (& knitting). I appreciate my father for the engineering environment he provided.
6. As a repair tech I am very much aware that almost every player who tries to work on their own instrument makes a botch of it. Indeed, of thousands of customers I have I have only ever met 3 who I regarded (from snippets of conversation) as having sufficient mechanical nause to even comprehend the complexities involved in high quality repair work. 2 OF THESE ARE WOMEN.
7. "Sorry to belabor, he says "your sewing machine" he assumes I own one!" The reality is I (incorrectly) assume everybody owns one, like I do.
8. "he assumes that taking the printer apart is hard for me." I was actually assuming that almost evey PERSON recognises that they would likely do damage by taking their printer apart. I know NO guy who would be offended by this assumption. It is a pity if you have to assume that American guys are this preciously macho.
9. "This would offend any guy I know". Surely it is time you mixed with a better qualtiy of guy!
10. "Really, you must be joking if you think he'd question some guy's ability to take things a part." I do indeed question the ability of almost all guys to WORK on a precisely set up mechanism without the mechanism suffering. I have to wonder just what assumptions you are making about guys!
11. Thank you Dee. Right on!
Ginny I look forward to accepting you heartfelt apology.
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Author: Susan L.
Date: 2000-12-01 03:08
Gordon,
I couldn't agree with you more. There are many of us out here that have crossed the gender stereotype. I can sew and repair my own sewing machine too. I too thought almost everyone owned one. I am an excellent electrician and can rewire a whole house to code. I've even rebuilt a VW engine with my husband on our kitchen table ( It was too cold in the garage and the lighting was better). So I feel very comfortable working on a clarinet.
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-12-01 04:01
Gordon,
You are absolutely amazing! I enjoy reading your posts ...with great delight, both here and on delphi. BTW I did contact the people at Evode, Ltd and got the same message that Del recieved. Maybe a few of us "Yanks" with enough interest could get a "collective" order together, but I rambling off topic here! I wonder if Mike Sammons owns a Singer?
Later,
John
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2000-12-01 14:27
Thanks Susan. I'm sure if I met you we'd be instant friends, having so much in common. I think the most gender-outrageous thing I ever did was knitting a pullover between games at badminton when I was 15, in the dark ages of 1963 ....
John. Thanks for the support and Delphi feedback. I needed that after Mike's latest outburst on the 'NAMIR' thread - I'm feeling fragile. Great idea to work on Evode. I'm going to have to monitor my addiction to outspokenness. It's so time consuming, especially composing postings such that above and my reply to Mike. One has to be soooooooo careful what one says! (You haven't found me at the sax forum yet..... http://www.geocities.com/harrir/saxophone/forum.html)
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