Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-01-14 03:24
Fons, there are at least five ways to deal with a crack:
1) Fill it with some non-glue substance (beeswax is mentioned).
2) Use a strong adhesive to hold the crack edges together.
3) Use a threaded device to hold the crack edges together (pinning).
4) Shrink a continuous strap around the Clarinet to hold the edges together (banding).
5) Discard the joint and replace it with a new one, or replace the Clarinet.
1 is obviously not much help, but 2 can be useful for small cracks. 3 and 4 may be used in conjunction with 2. As cracks are generally caused by the relief of stress in the wood, some believe that 4 may be better than 3, because 4 prevents the wood from relieving stress in some other place. I have seen a clarinet pinned at one longitude which later cracked at another. 5 is a poor solution. Although some players simply believe that a repaired crack is no good, that is not necessarily true. A joint with a properly repaired crack should hold up and play just as well as a new one. A crack through a tone hole may, however, require rather heroic repair efforts (a tone-hole chimney, or such).
Note to GBK: I have made sausage which was quiite good, but I have never repaired a serious Clarinet crack (and don't intend to, either). This is one of the Clarinet repairs best left to an *excellent* experienced technician. And please, GBK, do not apologize to Disraeli. Queen Victoria didn't, and they got along famously.
Regards,
Joh
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
