 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-03-27 15:31
Attachment: case.jpg (55k)
Is there anyone known to fix handles on these old cases (see photo)? Is it even possible without ripping the whole case apart anyway?
Bill.
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Author: Chris Chaloner
Date: 2005-03-27 16:14
My Selmer 9 case has handles like that. The handles are held in by 1 pin per socket. If you open the case the heads may be visible on the flat faces and are not difficult to extract. When my handle went I managed to shorten the offending item and repin it, but I don't have any good ideas about how to replace the whole handle. It seems to be made of thick string with a leather casing. Suggestions welcome...
Chris
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Author: Bnatural
Date: 2005-03-27 19:16
is it important to keep it original looking. If not you can get handles at hardware stores and just mount them with screws........
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-03-28 13:03
Yes, I have repaired/restored/fixed the handles on one such case. As Chris described, a small brad holds the rope handle in place and careful removal allows removal of the handle. The handles are made from "clothesline rope" covered with leather. Finding just the right old style/diameter clothesline can be a problem....I can send you some if you ask. Covering it with leather properly so it looks and "hangs" right is a problem I've not solved. In my case, the restoration is at least better than what was there but I'm not 100% satisfied with it.
Bob Draznik
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Author: susieray
Date: 2005-03-29 00:18
I have used rope covered with hockey tape (the white cloth tape that is made for covering handles of hockey sticks, tennis rackets, etc)...it is flexible
and fairly easy to work with. You do need to start with fairly smooth and flexible rope. If you still have the rope from the original handles, that works. Some of these were made from twisted brown paper, not actual rope.
Anyway, I wrap the rope with tape, then "paint" it with a coat of white glue. That kind of gives it a smoother look. When that is dry, I spray a couple coats of flat black spray paint, then go over that with a coat or two of black Kiwi boot polish. It's really not as much work as it sounds. You just have to make sure you get the tape wrapped on smoothly and not too thick, or else the new handles will not fit into the holes on the case.
I add a few drops of glue to each hole before putting the new handles in, and of course hammer the little nails back into place on the inside edge of the case.
A couple of times I have just re-used the old handles. They were broken off where they had been connected to the case, but I just trimmed them. They were still long enough to use. In this case, the leather was still in good shape but the some of the stitching was gone. So I just squirted glue under the leather and glued them pretty much back together. Then painted and shoe polished them. They were fine.
The other way to "fix" this would be to get some real good strong industrial grade wood filler and fill the holes. It will shrink as it dries so you need to overfill, or else go back and add another layer after the first one dries. Then sand carefully with very fine sandpaper, paint with black paint and Kiwi.
I have one like that, with no handles. I carry it in a gig bag anyway so I really don't miss the handles, and you have to look real close to even see where I filled the holes.
Sue
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Author: Bill
Date: 2005-03-29 02:31
Thank you very much for your ideas and suggestions. Bob - your restored case is absolutely beautiful! Luckily, the inside of my Buffet case is good - the handles are the only problem. Thanks Susieray for your expert applications!
Bill.
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Author: susieray
Date: 2005-07-11 20:06
I was over at my friend Joe Chankin's house the other day (Joe has been a woodwind tech for 50 years) and we were talking about replacement handles for the old style cases. He told me what he has used, and it is so simple I am almost embarrassed I didn't think of it.
He uses round black electrical wire. It's just about exactly the correct diameter, and already the right color too. All you have to do is remove old handles, cut your electrical wire the same length as the old handles, pop the new handles into the holes in the case, and hammer the little brads back into place. Pretty easy and very quick. I imagine you could use some sort of strong glue also, for extra security. I would probably use Gorilla glue but I do not know if that is available outside of the US?
Anyway, I just thought this was such a cool idea, and I wanted to share it with the rest of you out there in Clarinet Land. ![[happy]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley12.gif)
Sue
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