 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Fred
Date: 2000-08-21 23:06
Does anyone know if the H. N. White Silver King was ever offered with a tuning barrel like the Silva Bet? I have one with a barrel that does not seem to be detachable, but the barrel just begins to turn before it locks up. The barrel also hase a knurled ring around it, which adds to my curiosity. I'm trying to loosen the mechanism (assuming it has one) gently. Any info would be appreciated.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-08-22 04:18
I have seen threaded tuning barrels on the metal models and just about all were reluctant to turn due to dirt, corrosion, and lack of lubrication. One was removable as a regular barrel so I used a little heat and oil and it finally unscrewed but it took a while (working it back and forth without forcing it and not too much heat). I was terribly nervous as this was a five piece model that was complete with the original sales papers and brochure from about 1926 I beleive. I wish I could remmember the brand name for you but its been many years since.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-08-22 19:10
Try penetrating oil (from the hardware store). It comes in a can with a long nozzle and it is a pretty good rust-buster. Protect the pads if you're keeping them and drizzle the oil into anything that looks like a joint. Let it sit for a few minutes and then try again. If/when the joint still freezes up, leave it at a *different* point than where it was before (I mark my rest-points temporarily with a grease pencil), add some more oil and leave it an hour or so. Keep doing this with the barrel turned to different places, so the oil will penetrate a little differently every time. I won't claim complete success -- I've failed to unlock what seems to be a tuning barrel on one of my metal clarinets after doing everything but kill a chicken, and just today, I replaced the register key pad on my "new" old American Standard eefer with the key still on the clarinet. The old pads had the Mummy's Curse (looked fairly okay when I bought the clarinet, but started disintegrating soon after I began practicing on it), I couldn't get that !@#$%^&* key off and I got impatient. That's bad, because the register tube is probably full of crud and I can't get a pipe cleaner in there with the key still on. I'll have to try to prop the key open, wiggle a string into the hole, drop the end of the string out the neck and work it around like dental floss in there, when I get around to it.... But penetrating oil usually loosens up frozen screws, eventually.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-08-23 05:43
I had a school horn with rusted screws like you descibed. Try to remove the pad if possible for better accessibility. Then use a large (fat) pipe cleaner soaked with lemom juice to clean the hole from as many angles as possible. what ends up in the bore can be swabbed out. Then replace the pad.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-08-24 17:05
Willie wrote:
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I had a school horn with rusted screws like you descibed. Try to remove the pad if possible for better accessibility. Then use a large (fat) pipe cleaner soaked with lemom juice to clean the hole from as many angles as possible. what ends up in the bore can be swabbed out. Then replace the pad.
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The clarinet I was working on is a metal E-flat soprano (American Standard, which is an early H. N. White student brand), so small that I couldn't get a pipe cleaner in there with the key still on, but a piece of cotton yarn dangled through the register key tube and out the neck, then moved around like dental floss, did the trick. I'm glad that worked, because the string came out black with dirt.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-24 17:58
Lelia,
I'm sure you tried this, but for those who haven't - if it's a metal clarinet get it good and toasty (a heat gun works well - a hair dryer not quite as well) before putting the penetrating oil on the screw. Don't be bashful, either - a liberal amount works better than being stingy with it.
When I worked on big equipment (200,000 SHP turbines) we'd heat things red hot and squirt the oil on the stucj bolts (and have fire extinguishers handy!) but I kind of think that getting the clarinet <b>that</b> hot wouldn't do it much good ...
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-08-25 19:19
Mark Charette wrote:
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Lelia,
I'm sure you tried this, but for those who haven't - if it's a metal clarinet get it good and toasty (a heat gun works well - a hair dryer not quite as well) before putting the penetrating oil on the screw. Don't be bashful, either - a liberal amount works better than being stingy with it.
When I worked on big equipment (200,000 SHP turbines) we'd heat things red hot and squirt the oil on the stucj bolts (and have fire extinguishers handy!) but I kind of think that getting the clarinet <b>that</b> hot wouldn't do it much good ...
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I did try heat, with a Solder-It gizmo that works like a cigarette lighter, but I was probably too timid with it. because I know from experience that it will melt 50-50, 60-40 and 70-30 solders. Good idea, though....
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