 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Cindyr
Date: 2008-02-01 00:51
What would be a good source to purchase a replacement screw for a clarinet? I understand they aren't all interchangeable. It's a Selmer, thanks.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-02-01 01:07
a single screw, a local music store
a collection of them, try ferree's tools.
they have assortments available , but they're not inexpensive.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-02-01 12:33
Any repair shop should be able to sell you a single pivot screw for a modern Selmer. Technicians buy screws in discounted lots of a dozen or a hundred. If you bought that one little screw through the mail, the postage alone might cost you more than the price of the screw locally--and if you buy locally, you can try the screw right there in the shop and know for sure that you're buying the right size.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2008-02-01 23:27
Well Lelila Loban I bought 6 pivot screws for my Buffets(3 for old model from 94 and 3 for new model from 05) from windcraft and I paid only about 5 pounds(ex vat) and then postage and taxes here in Iceland. And I got them after only a week. Other repair shop both here in Iceland and UK would sell me a single screw for almost 20 pounds and I actually had to wait over a month here in Iceland for that single screw from my local repairman and it didn't came so I highly reccomend Windcraft.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-02-02 01:43
most music stores here will replace a single one for free, or at most a few dollars
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: tocha
Date: 2008-02-07 19:19
A pivot screw or sometimes referred to as a barrel screw has a parallel section beyond the screw thread and slots through to keep the key in place. Examples include most of the old Boosey and Hawkes models and Selmer Bundy and its successors which is the Selmer Signet. As far as the manufacturer is concerned the slot in the keyrod doesn't have to marry up to the barrel although, through time, the steel of the screw will erode the nickel-silver of the keyrod making the fit loose.
A point screw is, as it suggests, tapers to a point and is designed to lock into a similarly reamed keyrod. There are three types, ones which come to a direct point, French point screws which curve to a point and headless point which operates like a grub screw. The latter doesn't have a head so it is possible to screw it into a pillar/keypost to so it can be turned right through if there is no key in place. The advantage of this is that the screw can be tightened to take up keywork 'wear'. The disadvantage is that the screw can be loose within the key post and in time unwind. Over the years Buffet, B12 and E 11, have tried to overcome this by applying Locktite to the screw to make it a tighter fit. Yamaha have created a thread which seems to expand during the last few turns. Incidentally, with their current models, Buffet are using the same point screw fitted to the E13 and R13 etc. but, again, applying a sort of locktite allowing you to take up any slack by screwing it further down the keypost.
With older models any play can be eradicated by reaming out the pillar to allow the screw to travel further down the keypost.
tony chambers woodwind repeirs,
http://tcwr.freesuperhost.com
01376 515960
tonywoodwind@hotmail.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-02-07 22:56
Point screws look like > at the end, pivot screws look like = at the end.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-02-08 04:37
I'm familiar with a different terminology. Both types mentioned above are pivot screws. Then there is a point pivot screw which is pointy and a pilot pivot screw which is parallel.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2008-02-10 11:37
Pewd wrote "most music stores here will replace a single one for free, or at most a few dollars"
Not I! Unless I were using it for customer luring. I charge cost plus 100% and probably lose more than the customer pays.
The overheads and hidden costs of having a correct pivot screw on hand are quite high.
1. They are not cheap to buy.
2. A lot of time is spent storing them in a fashion with labelled brand, threads, etc, so that an appropriate one can be readily accessed.
3. Often much time is spent locating a source for a particular screw.
4. Often they are only available by the dozen.
5. Often the supplier sends the wrong one.
6. I currently carry 26 different soprano clarinet pivot screws, ready for when needed. The turn-over is practically nil. That costs!
7. Then there is the time spent rummaging in the compartment of odd sizes for the more obscure (second hand) screw.
What would you pay for these expenses if it were a specialised car part?
Don't be fooled by the small size of pivot screws. They are highly specialised.
Unfortunately they take a lot longer than pivot rods for a technician to make. Otherwise I would normally make them as required, as I do pivot rods, which is cheaper than stocking pivot rods.
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Author: Cindyr
Date: 2008-02-10 15:54
Gordon: Wow, I didn't realize all of this! I can definitely see your point, though. I'm happy to report that I have gotten a pivot screw from my regular instrument repair person for the Selmer.
I can compare clarinet parts to other hobbies. My father stocked all sorts of Model A parts , including engines, for years for his A's. Fortunately, clarinets take up a lot less space. See how lucky we are?
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-02-10 16:00
i have 30-40 different sizes in stock as well. some of them are $3 each.
similar stocking issues exist for springs, flat spring screws, thumb rest screws, etc.
>Unless I were using it for customer luring
thats exactly what the larger stores are doing, sure.
then maybe the customer will come back later when they need a repad, or want to buy a new instrument, or need reeds, music books, supplies, etc. thats where they make a lot of their money. one local store told me they make most of their profit on sheet music and method books.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2008-02-10 19:48
Not so applicable when one's home repair business does not include selling instruments, reeds, music books, supplies. :-)
Quality of repair is the primary lure for such techs.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-02-11 05:47
Also, Gordon, I doubt very much that a music store, repair shop or just a repairer don't mind losing money from having a stock of pivot screws and give them for free or very little. So they make the money for this screw stock by the other things they do, like pewd mentioned, selling instruments and accessories, or by their prices for other repairs that they do charge for normally.
For example pewd wrote: "then maybe the customer will come back later when they need a repad"
If they do, they are probably paying for that screw they got for "free" on the repad anyway. But if they don't come back, someone else might need a repad, and pay for that screw someone else got for free.
This basically means that those people who buy instruments and accessories, or those who do regular repairs but don't need replacement screws (and IME it is very rare for people to need replacement pivot screws) actually pay for those who get those free pivot screws. So you could give pivot screws for free or very little and raise your prices for other things, and by doing that have more customers financing other customers, or you could have people pay only for what they really need. I am pretty sure I know what is your opinion on that, and I'm pretty sure I agree with it. Other repairers/stores might have a different opinion, if they ever considered this issue at all.
Post Edited (2008-02-11 07:40)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2008-02-11 08:25
I charge for the screw, but probably only a fraction of its real cost.
Yes, the rest of the cost is covered by time charge-out-rate for repairs.
Regular customers very rarely lose a screw. So in a sense, the regular customers are subsidizing those who are possibly neglectful enough to lose screws. I like to keep subsidies to a minimum, because it is unfair for the prudent to be forced to subsidise the neglectful.
On the other hand, a parent who struggles to pay to keep their kid's (probably cheap and nasty) instrument going often gets charged less. Sometimes a lot less, or nothing. That is a discount from own altruistic pocket, not other customers'.
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