 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2013-03-13 22:43
Also known as German silver.
Composition is Copper, Zinc, and Nickel (Brass is made of copper and zinc).
It is used to make woodwind keys, flute bodies and sometimes sax bodies .
It is not used as a plating and does not contain silver.
Today, when used to make woodwinds, it is plated, usually with nickel or silver. Look at the tenons of a student flute and you will see the nickel silver. Also, where a key meets it's post (when you remove the key), you will see the base metal on one or both surfaces.
I thought this information would be helpful as there has been some confusion.
Steve Ocone
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Author: shahn
Date: 2013-03-18 05:15
Thanks for the info, Steven.
Are keys made to shape by casting or forging?
Sam
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-03-18 07:37
Key pieces and other non-ferrous metal fittings are mainly made by:
lost wax casting (touchpieces, ring keys and other complex shaped parts),
drop forging (stamping - key arms, touchpieces, ring keys, pad cups and tenon rings),
milling (key arms, ring keys, key guides and linkages),
extruding (key rods, key barrels and wires)
and turning (pad cups, spring lugs, pillars, speaker and thumb bushes, socket rings and key guides).
Some companies (mainly Italian and German) use mainly keys cast entirely in single pieces.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2013-03-18 07:38)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-03-18 15:47
Kalmen Opperman told me that the older Buffet nickel silver keys were filed from solid blocks, like the top and bottom of a violin. Each keymaker had his (they were all men) own idiosyncrasies and marked his keys with his initial, placed inconspicuously on the bottom of a key or even in a pad cup.
Jimmy Yan told me that each clarinet had its keys individually custom fitted, which is why you can seldom replace an old Buffet key with another of the same vintage.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-03-18 16:15
The touchpieces would've been shaped from solid blocks and then soldered onto the key barrels or rods - the linkages were cut and filed from nickel silver sheet, but this was soon replaced by drop forging, milling and lost wax casting for more uniform keywork. It takes some doing to sculpt a 3D piece of keywork from a solid block of nickel silver.
If you look at the underside of old Selmers and Buffets you'll see they made the undersides look almost as good as the top sides, as well as seeing the file marks they left on some of them, so it shows the human element and the pride they took in what they did. My old Selmer basset horn has its socket rings, mouthpiece and bell sockets, crook tubing, key barrels and other hollow turned components made from seamed nickel silver and solid silver tubing.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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