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Re: Question for techs....tools!??

Author: Chris P
Date: 2011-07-22 17:00

Tonehole cutters aren't completely necessary unless you really need them (ie. if you're planning on recutting toneholes on a lot of instruments), but they come in all widths and different profiles which may not always be suitable. You can get away with most tonehole repairs by filling, carving and topping toneholes by hand. The inside edges of the toneholes can be tidied up with spherical or tapered reamers.

You'll also need specialist machinery to use them with - a fairly large pillar drill with a specially made bed where the joint is held between centres and can be locked solidly in place to be able to cut the toneholes properly - something that won't move about while you're cutting them as the cutters will have the tendency to try to throw things about when they get going. If you can find tonehole cutters with a ^ profile of various widths, then that's all you'll need to do clarinets with as you can finish the inside with a spherical/tapered reamer and a tonehole topper (and filling in where necessary). Oboe bedplace cutters are specially shaped to cut out the inside, then the toneholes are drilled well within the crown.

The only times I've ever used tonehole cutters on clarinets are when I've bushed toneholes, cut new toneholes that weren't there before (the extra vent hole on LH forked Eb/Bb mechanisms) or countersunk the C#/G# tonehole on a Couesnon clarinet - other than that I've never needed to use them. But I used the machinery at Howarth's factory to do this.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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