Author: LaurieBell
Date: 2014-10-17 14:34
I picked up my clarinet from the repair shop yesterday. The repair person replaced six pads & key corks on the lower joint. She used bladder pads to replace the synthetic pads.
I asked if she noticed anything that might be causing the problem and she said, not really. She did mention that she replaced one spring which failed while she was doing the repairs, and she tightened the loose posts on the lower joint. I asked if it was normal for the posts to have loosened in just a few months (since the clarinet's complete overhaul). It was her opinion that the posts had not been tightened during the last overhaul.
I drove home with my fingers crossed and hoped that this repair would finally fix the problem.
I practiced straight on for 75 minutes, not stopping for breaks, and not swabbing my clarinet during this time. I used the same mouthpiece, reed, and barrel I've been using all along. I played through half a book of etudes and three of my concert pieces, noting the places that I had circled where the problem occurred before.
The problem did not occur -- not even once. Dare I hope that the problem has been fixed? At this point, my clarinet is a little like a cheating boyfriend, in that it will take some time before I can fully trust it again.
Re-reading all of the great advice I received from this post, I think the most probable cause of the problem (if indeed the clarinet is fixed) is that after playing for a while, moisture caused the C or B pad to swell to the point it either began to stick or did not seat properly. I might have been able to identify this earlier if I had another person around to help me troubleshoot.
I plan to save all of the advice from this post and start a folder on clarinet problems, as I'm sure to have others as long as I play on a 40-year-old instrument. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and advice. It's really great to be a part of this clarinet community.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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