 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Malcolm
Date: 2009-07-01 03:13
Newbie with my first clarinet - inexpensive Orpheo purchased through Amazon.com. Not sure of the correct name, I call them note levers. I have two that are frozen and do not move. They are levers number 2 and 3. What is the best way to go about freeing them up?
Thanks for your help.
Malcolm
Post Edited (2009-07-01 03:50)
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-07-01 03:46
Hi Malcolm,
They're called "keys" and they can be tough to un-stick if you don't have familiarity with wind instrument repair. See if your teacher can help or take the instrument to the shop!
Katrina
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Author: Malcolm
Date: 2009-07-02 12:41
Thanks for the reply. I've found alternate fingering and can work around the problem - for awhile at least.
I'm my own teacher and the tech will charge just about what I paid for the clarinet, so I'll make do for now and if clarinet does become a part of my World, I'll just get a better one to take me forward.
Thanks for the reply.
Malcolm
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-07-02 13:48
"They are levers number 2 and 3"
That does not really help to identify parts.
Keys can jam from many causes, especially if this is a cheap and nasty clarinet. Some possible causes:
1. Key too long to fit and move freely between the posts.
2. Key too long to fit and move freely between the points of pivot screws.
3. If pivot screws have a cylindrical part that goes into the end of the Key, then that part could be out of alignment with the hole it goes into.
4. A supporting pillar may have rotated slightly where it is mounted on the body of the clarinet, so that the pivot screw jams in the end of the key, or the pillar itself binds against the key.
5. Rust could be involved, especially for pivot rods. The longer you leave it, the more difficult to deal with.
6. Substandard oil may have dried out in a pivot tube, leaving gummy
7. Some misguided manufacturer may have used viscous grease instead of oil for pivot tubes.
8. A pivot tube &/or pivot rod may be bent. (Even from manufacture)
9. A pivot tube may simply be ill-fitting on the pivot rod, especially if there is a bur inside the end of the tube.
10. Part of the key is binding against another part.
11. The plastic has shrunk in cold weather, causing one of the above - "1" or "2".
12. The key cup or ring key is binding against some plastic part of the body near a tone hole.
etc, etc, etc.
"the tech will charge just about what I paid for the clarinet"
Quite possibly true! ...
If you pay peanuts for a non-reputable brand name object that looks like a "clarinet", then you run a high risk of it being so substandard in any of dozens of ways, such that it will never be worth servicing to a state that it can function correctly and reliably. If this is the case, you just wasted your money. It now has no value.
It is generally far better to buy say a second hand Yamaha that is at least worth getting serviced, than a brand new piece of junk.
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Author: Malcolm
Date: 2009-07-03 03:57
Understand you get what you pay for, and this is the case here. I'll poke around here and there and see if I can free something up.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-07-03 05:35
Be aware that the keys on lesser expensive clarinets can bend very easily...
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-07-03 13:19
>>Be aware that the keys on lesser expensive clarinets can bend very easily...
>>
Keys can break, too. If they're cast smelter (instead of the forged brass or nickel in better clarinets), then they can snap right off. That happened to me in high school, with a 1957 Conn Director (a step-up intermediate clarinet, not nearly the cheapest of cheap). The right-hand C/F snapped right off during normal playing. I'd been playing that clarinet for six or seven years by then. The key must have developed metal fatigue over time. A local repairman forged me a new key.
Also, the pivot screws and rod-screws can strip if forced. If the problem may be that old oil has turned to gum and frozen the key, try drizzling some WD-40 oil or key oil onto the stuck screw, where it inserts into the hole. Let it sit overnight with the clarinet propped in a position that encourages the oil to work its way around the threads and into the hole. Sometimes this soaking in fresh oil will free up a stuck screw. Then remove the key and clean all that gunk off the screw and out of the hole with a pipe-cleaner (the all-soft kind, not the kind with the metal barbs!) before re-oiling and replacing the key.
But I think the best advice is what other people said: Cut your losses and buy a better clarinet with a familiar brand name, as soon as possible.
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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