 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: cpark231
Date: 2009-04-29 01:03
Today in rehearsal the key used for the alternate fingering for b in the chalumeau register, the f# in the clarino, and Eb in the altissimo fell off my clarinet. Well, by fell off I mean more like ripped off (the metal was torn).
I was wondering how much it would cost if I sent this to the shop. And if I can just buy the key and put it in myself, as it seems a very simple process.
Thank you in advance.
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-04-29 02:11
What kind of clarinet is this?
Buying a new key would be almost impossible, even if you could put it on yourself without major adjustment.
If the metal "ripped" off and was "torn," my guess is that it's one of those discount department store specials. No offense intended, but no clarinet made by a reputable make is likely to have key metal that's so soft it would "tear."
The only hope is if you can find a junked clarinet of the same make and do a parts switch, or if your local instrument repair tech has a key that will fit it (unlikely). There's a dim chance a clarinet tech. might be able to fix it, but from your description, it seems unlikely.
Sorry, but so far, it seems as if what you need is a different clarinet, not a replacement key.
B.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-04-29 10:49
The standard procedure to repair a broken key is to silver-solder it. It would typically take say 5 to 20 minutes (depending on experience and equipment), and the break after that is barely visible, and probably invisible if it is brush-plated after the soldering.
A very few instruments (eg B & H Regent) have keys made from "pot metal" which cannot be silver-soldered.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-04-30 06:21
I don't think new cheap Chinese instruments have pot metal keys (at least not any I've seen or heard about) so it probably should be possible to silver solder even if that's the clarinet.
Maybe a reason to think the clarinet is a cheap chinese one is that it's not that rare (comapred with reliable instruments at least, it's common either) that the soldering is sometimes not great from factory, at least on the really awful and cheap insturments (some Chinese instruments don't have any of those problems and are pretty decent).
Anyway most likely possible to fix.
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-05-01 03:41
What I'm reading here is that the key "tore" at a post, which indicates to me, anyway, that solder failure doesn't enter into it; there's no solder at the ends of key pivot tubes.
Also, if I understand this correctly, I can't figure how a tech would use solder to make the repair, pot metal or otherwise, other than to fill the gap with solder, then re-drill the pivot hole, which would be an odd and inefficient way of going about the repair, not to mention that the fix would be structurally weak. fix.
Am I missing something?
B.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-05-01 05:48
>> Am I missing something? <<
I don't know but I don't think it's possible to understand what exactly happened from cpark231's description. Maybe the touch-piece fell, maybe the hinge tube/rod "tore".
>> key... fell off my clarinet << Which part of the key?
>> ripped off (the metal was torn) << What part of the metal?
IMO too vague to know for sure.
Not only "solder failure" can be repaired by silver soldering. A broken key can usually be repaired this way too. So it doesn't matter if there is (or isn't) solder at the end of pivot tubes (which this key might be, or it could be a hinge rod, depending on the model).
It's also not clear to me what you mean by "tore at a post". Also your decription isn't clear to me. What gap are you talking about? Maybe you can explain how you understood that the key broke?
The best way I can understand what you meant is that you think the entire hinge tube tore to allow the rod screw to pass through that tear. I just can't imagine this is likely since a lot of things are much weaker and will break sooner if it was hit in a way to cause something like this.
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Author: cpark231
Date: 2009-05-02 23:01
Here are some pictures. Sorry for the confusion about what happened. It's a cheap Vito that I use mainly for marching band and pep band. Would it be possible to solder it back on if I took it to the shop? And is it possible to solder it myself (I know little about soldering)
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-05-03 02:27
Any good shop can fix that. I would not recommend trying it yourself unless you have experience with silver solder (different than electrical solder).
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-05-03 15:01
The 'sliver' key is normally fairly thin at the point where it's been snapped off, and this can be strengthened by allowing the silver solder to run onto the surrounding area of the break and then filed and papered smooth.
Sometimes a thin piece of sheet brass or nickel silver can be shaped and hard soldered to either side of the break to add strength (during the same process as reattaching the broken off touchpiece), but whoever does this has to be sure it's not going to make contact with the ring key barrel or compromise the venting if it fouls against the cut out in the body joint.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2009-05-03 15:33
what kind of vito? do you happen to know the model?
send me a few closeups - i have a a huge box of broken clarinets i use for spare parts
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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