 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2018-06-19 01:32
I spent the weekend in a small house near the sea and found that the friction on the keys on the two clarinets I brought with me increased. It was not so easy to glide on the throat keys as usual in fast passages.
I haven't experienced this before, so I blame the salty air.
Found some support:
"The most common elements which tarnish silver are foods (like onions, eggs, mayonnaise, salad dressing, salty foods, and others). Other agents that cause tarnish are salt, smoking, sunshine, wool, felt, rubber bands, latex gloves, carpet padding, sulfur in the air, hairspray, perfume, oily residue from our hands and fingers, and exposure to the ocean’s salty air and/or water. "
https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.doknational.org/resource/resmgr/DOK_Resources/Cross_Care.pdf
"If you live on the coast, nickel will suffer the salty air much better than silver will."
https://fluteland.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3042
What do the coastal people here on the forum do with their clarinets?
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2018-06-19 05:11
IDK if it was the air or something else, but salt water is incredibly corrosive. The brass in the keys, as well as the steel pivot rods and screws can corrode.
The key bodies can be either brass, or “nickel silver”, which is brass and nickel.
Fixtures on boats are bronze, not brass. Bronze is copper and tin, and does not corrode. Brass is copper and zinc, and will corrode. I think it looses the zinc.
It’s probably the pivot rods. Try oiling the pivot rods. The touchpieces might seem sticky, because they can’t move freely. When you press them you slide your finger and open the pad at the same time. If they have more resistance to opening, your finger won’t slide. The pivot rods shouldn’t corrode if they are oiled, but it wouldn’t take much. The tolerances are ultra close, like less than a thousandth of an inch.
The springs could also be corroded causing resistance by sticking. Springs rust easily.
There might even be very fine sand in the action.
If the touchpieces themseves are corroded, a light polish with white, green, or red rouge compound on a rag with oil will probably fix it - but you have to take the keys off, or the compound will get in everything. You have to get any residual compound out of the pivot rod holes. Be careful not to bend them.
The pivot rods can be polished by a tech.
- Matthew Simington
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2018-06-19 09:52
It was the surface on the keys that had more friction, as if my hands were wet. I'll check what the keys are like now, a few days after returning home, and give them a polish if needed.
I've been thinking in the past about coating the keys with zapon, wax or other protective material.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2018-06-19 16:28
A lot of live on the cioasts, and i can’t imagine that a couple days near the water would make any appreciable difference. Maybe after a few months ... but I live on the coast and nothing untoward has happened yet.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2018-06-20 00:18
Mark, I am rational and this change was real. There was an increase in friction, like when the hands are wet or soft after a bath. I have dry hands and am very careful cleaning them before I play. Clarinet playing is precision work for me. There should be no dirt anywhere.
I am back inland now and the keys are normal again. Before I went home, I cleaned them with a cloth with a little soap. That didn't help while I was there. It was as if the metal had loosened up.
An interesting experiment would be to first silver polish a few keys on some less valuable instrument, then put some salt water on them and check the difference.
Living in tight and air conditioned houses near the sea might not expose the clarinet to much salt. Playing outside near a beach will. People with wet hands will probably not experience much of a difference.
Being used to salt-free environment, going to a salty environment could make it easier to experience the change.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2018-06-20 21:59
Johan H Nilsson wrote:
> Max 22 degrees in the afternoon and half-sunny, half-cloudy.
> Nothing special.
What was the humidity level compared to where it was originally? Since the problem resolved itself, the chances are the body changed, not the keys, and humidity can do that, not just temperature.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2018-06-21 02:34
DavidBlumberg wrote:
> I've seen instruments from the salty air and it does make a
> difference. The plating pits for one thing.
Yes, but not in 3 days. Also, he was complaining of transient binding of the keys.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2018-06-21 21:52
Mark Charette wrote:
> Yes, but not in 3 days. Also, he was complaining of transient
> binding of the keys.
The only thing I noticed (I never complain :-)) was the increased friction on the surface of the keys.
That could happen within hours.
Anyway, now this thread exists and it is possible for anyone to find it and add observations.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2018-06-21 22:02
Mark,
"What was the humidity level compared to where it was originally?"
Can't tell exactly but my best guess would be 55%. As said, this was not the reason. All clarinetists have experienced high moisture.
"Since the problem resolved itself, the chances are the body changed, not the keys, and humidity can do that, not just temperature."
If the key movement was slow I would have written it. This was Matt74's misunderstanding.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2018-06-21 23:39
It seems unlikely that there was a corrosive effect on the keys from salty air in a few days, especially since the effect seemed to go away soon thereafter. There might have been an effect on viscosity of residue deposited from the air, but it's still a question. Johann, maybe there was a change in your body, i.e. something different in the oils or moisture of your skin. That could come and go with a change of locale or diet etc., and it might be a bit subtle, and only particularly noticeable when handling your instrument or something similar with your fingers. Did you notice if coinage felt any different as well?
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2018-06-22 14:03
Philip, I am rational. I have experienced many different situations with my clarinets and know them in and out. When I run into something entirely new, I therefore look what is unique. When I clean the keys with soap, wipe them and let them dry, clean my hands, let them dry, checking that there is no friction between my fingers and then still experience that the key surface has friction, I take that observation into account.
I don't carry cash and live in a society where coins with silver were abandoned long time ago.
The scenario is easy to reproduce, either by travelling or by setting up an experiment. Now this thread exists to add to.
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2018-06-22 17:38
I have dabbed all my springs with a q-tip wet with key oil. But only because some were showing rust, not because I noticed binding. I used to play several gigs a year outside by the NJ shore. Some were misty.
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2018-06-23 17:46
Do you play next to people that are having the same problem?
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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