Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-12-04 17:18
Is it the pad sticking to the vent, or binding in the axle?
If it's stickiness, the standard cure (at least in the U.S.) is to put a new dollar bill between the pad and the vent, press on the key firmly but not too hard, and pull the bill out. Repeat 2 or 3 times. It has just enough abrasiveness to clean any gunk off. You could also use a strip of brown paper torn from a paper bag.
On my Buffet bass (which is the model before the current one), the register key holds down a see-saw lever, which in turn holds down the neck key. This is a dreadful design, where the register key spring has to overcome the see-saw spring, which frees the neck key spring to close the key. Then, when you press the register key, the see-saw lever spring has to overcome the neck vent spring to open the vent. This means three separate spring strengths, that have to be perfectly balanced.
This is why the older Buffet bass register mechanism boes out of adjustment so easily and often. The current models have eliminated the problem. Now if they only sounded as good as the old ones....
It's entirely possible that your mechanism has gone out of adjustment, even after only a month. All it takes is one knock. The adjustment is complicated enough that you really need to go to a professional repair shop.
Ken Shaw
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The Clarinet BBoard
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