 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-10-31 22:56
I bought a 1930s-era metal clarinet on the web...I got it out of curiosity and the novelty of it, and the price wasn't too bad ($30). I figured I can always turn it into a lamp if it turned out to be complete junk.
It'll need several new pads, but at least it plays. I'd like to try my hand at disassembling it and doing the pads myself, but I'd like to sterilize it first. Any recommendations on the best way to do this? I've seen a product called "Clavicide" that looks like it'll kill anything organic. I also have a friend who's a physician, and he's offered to autoclave it for me.
Thanks,
JC
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2005-11-01 02:06
The usual routine I follow, Joe, is to remove all the keys and screws. Lay the keys and screws out, someplace where they won't be distrubed, until they can be put back in the same order they came apart. Then scrub with a bore brush, inside and out, using detergent and warm water. If it has a sand blasted body, scratch brushing is the preferred procedure - but just the soap and water treatment will suffice for most shiney metal clarinets. If you have access to compressed air, blow dry. Otherwise, pat dry with a soft towel. If it's badly tarnished, you might consider using Silvo or something along that line to clean more seriously before 'sanitizing' it.
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2005-11-01 12:12
Why attempt to sterilise it? There are probably more organisms right now on yout hands, the computer keys, the car steering wheel, a public door knob, your toothbrush, and in your mouth itself. Our bodies are very good at dealing with these organisms, and it is now believed that a significant cause of asthma is lack of organisms for the immune system to work on. :-)
Yes, I know, it's all in the mind.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2005-11-01 14:47
Don't know what to tell you just what to use....BUT I can tell you to not use anything with ammonia in it. Ammonia will crack brass alloys and it's possible your base metal is such. The above soap and water suggestion is probably as good as any.
Bob Draznik
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-11-01 14:53
The main thing about old metal horns that bothers folks is the smell. The mildew or mold gets started, migrates to the case and thrives in the cloth covered environment there, and then permeates the entire setup.
My old Conn alto was horrid when first found. I had it stripped down to bare metal, comprehensively cleaned (even down to taking the tuner neck apart, cleaning and reassembling, then had it silver plated and placed into a "clean" case when it was redone.
At first, the thing smelled "machine oil" new, but gradually, over ten years time or so, the stuff started creeping back out of joints and the like. It's not unbearable, and it's only one one hundredth of what it was like when I found the horn, but it's still there.
In any event, the amount of mildew on a horn is nothing compared to the usual smell of hockey gear. Some guys carry a veritable fungi garden around with them as they play.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2005-11-01 18:13
What did it cost to silver plate the instrument?
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-11-01 22:08
I'd take the machine oil smell anyday over what I've got now. I didn't mention it in my original post; however, there was a nice coating of green/black "fur" inside of the horn. (To my surprise, only a few of the pads were damaged.) I've scraped it pretty clean with a brush, but the whole thing just leaves me totally grossed out, hence why I'd like to sterilize it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-11-02 00:29
The silver plating was part of a complete rebuild of the horn from the shell up. I think that the silver plate was priced out at about $200 of the total rebuild. However, it was silver plated in lieu of the original gold plate.
When I bought the horn, it was pretty much a wreck, if somewhat complete. Horrid, gummy looking "lacquer", mold/mildew, junked up old case, missing pads, and so forth. I plopped down all of 25.00 for a horn that had interesting engraving on the front (a portrait of someone called "Helen Willson", whoever she was) and I thought would be the raw materials for a good lamp.
Ten years later, I got to play my first vintage Conn alto, and was very impressed by the breadth of sound, etc. I got to thinking about the old horn, hidden up in the attic for all those years, and decided to have Marvin and Bill at St Louis Woodwind And Brass Repair run their eyes over it and see if it could be saved.
It made the trip sealed up in triple trashbags, and even then when the rear of the van got hot, you'd get a wiff once in a while. When we stripped the plastic off, Marvin passed judgement on the keywork (all there save one part, which could easily be replaced) and handed it over to Bill (the brass guy) for a verdict on dedenting.
Bill turned it over once or twice, said it would de dent just fine, and then asked if I wanted to keep the gold plate. When both Marvin and I said "Say what?", Bill took us into the buffing room, touched the rouge to the wheel and briefly buffed the rear of the horn.
As my dear departed father-in-law would have said, I about dropped my teeth, for there on the rear of the horn was a glistening patch of gold plate, surrounding an area of silver plate and bare brass (where the plating had been worn off over many years of use). I've never seen something so gorgeous come from something so horrid looking with so little effort.
Unfortunately, the gold plate was shot along most of the rear side of the horn. We would have had to go full silver plate first, and then gold over the top of it (for some metallurgical reason or other). Silver I had to have (brass and my hands don't get along too well), but gold was a very expensive luxury for what I was planning for the horn. So, silver it is now and silver it will stay.
Even in silverplate, it's a nifty instrument. I always hit it with the two side polish cloth before a gig, and invariably someone comments on how it looks under the lights. Too bad that my alto playing style isn't up to the appearance.
People who have never played a Conn horn are missing something really great. They are cheap enough to acquire on the secondary market, and an up to playability overhaul will be more than repaid by the big, full sound that you get in return. I go so far as to call the old Conns the "American" saxophone, as opposed to the French style typical of Selmer horns. They're just "different", more powerful, and feel different when you play them. (And, the keywork really sucks...it really, really, REALLY sucks.)
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
