 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Graham Golden
Date: 2001-02-09 00:56
Hello,
I was looking at my friends brand new R-13 and noticed the key corks were not real cork. The tennon corks were, but they key corks were not. They weren't valentino corks either. They appeared to be applied and shaped like regular cork. They were sort of a light pink, brown color and felt kind of grainy.
Does anyone here have any info on this cork???
Thanks,
Graham
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jbutler
Date: 2001-02-09 02:50
Graham,
It has been around for a long time. I really don't like it that much, but it is faster to make than a oak cork tree can. There two or three different commercial names for it depending on the source company, none of which I can recall at the moment. I don't use it at all.
John
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Graham Golden
Date: 2001-02-09 04:23
John,
What are the disadvantages to this type of cork???
It seemed to me that it would dissolve with wear.
Graham
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Cass
Date: 2001-02-09 15:51
Has anybody ever used the TRak Auto or Pep Boys type cork? It is made in sheets of a mixture of regular real cork with black rubber grains. It looks speckled with cork color and black. It seems to bend without breaking but I never saw it on a clarinet. What I saw in Pep Boys looked like it was too thick to go on a clarinet tenon but maybe they also make it thinner. It is for making washers and gaskets for cars.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: J. Butler
Date: 2001-02-09 16:45
Cass,
You are talking about "composite" cork. Yes, several years back when there was a cork "shortage" it was used until there was a larger supply of natural cork. (Translation: until the suppliers started producing more after creating their "artificial" shortage in order to increase prices. Works for the petroleum industry quite well even today...right OPEC?.) It works okay, but I don't like the looks of it. The automotive gasket composite cork does not work well for instruments. It tends to tear when flexed.
John
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Willie
Date: 2001-02-09 21:48
Automotive composite cork is made from ground cork and ground rubber, probably old tires. It is made to be sandwiched between two surfaces and left alone. Assembling and disassembling a clarinet causes the particles of this cork to tear away and fall out. I've recorked a few that had this on the tennons and it just doesn't last, though I wish it would. I sell auto parts and I can get it far cheaper than the real cork.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2001-02-10 09:54
It sounds like gasket cork like you would use on a bassoon U joint for bumper corks it should be OK but if you are thinking of buying this horn make sure you make sure of the terms of warranty/ service.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-02-10 12:15
Yamaha, Yanagisawa and myself have used a very high quality 'agglomerated' cork on sax key linkages for many years, because it does not compress anywhere near as much as natural cork, has similar silencing properties, and is far stronger. It does not break or deteriorate and glues well. Yamaha calls it Hycotex and charges for it as if it were gold. It is made from very fine chips of cork bound in a base of usually neoprene, and can be folded double with no chance of chipping or tearing. It is used for industrial gasket applications, eg oil-filled transformers, an is far superior to natural cork here. It resists oil and because the cork chips are sealed in it doesn't harden with age.
It is useless for clarinet tenons BECAUSE it resists compression so well, because it has too much friction, and because it does not hold cork grease well on its surface.
It is excellent for some linkages on a clarinet, eg bridge key where improper assembly tears natural cork, and the F/C lever-to-key linkage where natural cork cuts through quickly. Also any other keys where natural cork is easily torn, eg side Eb/Bb.
It is mane by a number of manufacturers, and can vary in the cork chip size, the flexibility, and harndess. The automotive type is a quite different, vastly inferior product which falls apart easily and is of no use for instruments.
I buy cheap off-cuts from local manufacturers of industrial gaskets.
It can be imported in 10x30 cm sheets of many thicknesses from a Swiss instrument repair gear supplier, at reasonable cost.
It astonishes me that most instrument manufacturers have been so slow to catch on to this and other products that are vastly superior for specific applications. A sad reflection on their prowess in mechanical design.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
