 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Grabnerwg
Date: 2018-12-10 20:54
Yesterday was Sunday and I had an afternoon rehearsal on bass clarinet. In the morning, I got out my bass to practice a bit and to check out reeds. As I was playing, I noticed I was a bit sharp to the tuner, and proceeded to pull out the tuning sleeve on the neck of my Buffet 1193.
There was a lot of resistance, much more than I have ever encountered. I gave it a good hard twist and the two sections finally came apart. In despair, I watched the cork from the metal tenon disintegrate and fall to the floor.
Sunday morning - rehearsal in the afternoon. Yikes!
I looked at the cork that had fallen off and it was extremely thin. Now I keep a drawer full of cork sheets, and contact cement available, for just such emergencies. However, most cork for tenons is 1 to 2 mm thick.
I looked in my cork drawer, and as luck would have it, there was a sheet of .49 mm cork way in the bottom, thin as a sheet of paper. I had long forgotten that I had it. It was probably 25 years old.
In about 15 minutes, I had a new cork on my neck tuning sleeve tenon and I was back in business!
Moral of the story? Be prepared, I guess!
Walter Grabner
www.clarinetxpress.com
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2018-12-10 21:19
Walter,
Speaking of bass clarinet necks, I had the neck of my Selmer Privilege separate into two pieces during a rehearsal. I am very careful about not pulling down on the neck while assembling my bass so it was not a case of abuse. When the tech quickly and beautifully resoldered the neck the next day, he said it looks like this was a poor solder joint all along.
I used this opportunity to convince my wife that I needed an additional neck so I would "be prepared" if it ever happened again. However, I got an alternate neck from Selmer (not cheap) that has the more upturned angle. It turns out that I prefer it but I do have the less angled neck in my case if I ever have a neck emergency again.
Moral of the story: Have a very understanding mate.
HRL
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2018-12-13 23:39
Cork is far more prone to atmospheric change than any other part of the clarinet...i suspect with the greenhouse effect this will continue..do you ever notice how much cork grease one uses these day...this is because of the huge shifts in humidity throughout the month...ie this is a serious sign of global change.
David Dow
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2018-12-14 20:54
Howdy, Walter!
I keep Teflon tape in my cases for such emergencies. It works well, and if you're at a gig with no cork, glue, etc., it could avert a disaster.
B.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-12-14 21:05
David, you've hit on it! Our next President needs to be a clarinet player.
....................Paul Aviles
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Author: MichaelW
Date: 2018-12-14 22:36
Attachment: cork.jpg (125k)
For all the different tenon corks I had to replace I always used 2 mm cork sheet only, sanding it down with a delta sander after glueing. Using a lathe would be lege artis but on the other hand more complicated. Of course you have to work with some care, but results were quite satisfying.
Edit: As you ought to overlap the cork strip some sanding is necessary anyhow. I start with bevelling the strip at one end for about 10 mm before glueing.
Michael
Post Edited (2018-12-14 23:20)
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2018-12-15 02:18
As to prevention, how about just putting your horn together and play it for a few minutes to make sure everything is OK before you pack it up and head out the door? I believe that doing this an hour in advance should give a player sufficient time to correct any minor problems.
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Author: clarimad
Date: 2018-12-15 03:12
On a parallel note, some years ago as a professional muso I arrived at the gig and got my tenor sax, clarinet and flute out and play tested all to ensure nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary. I then put them into my stands on stage and then went to the bar to meet my fellow band guys.
Later the band leader called us to the stage and gave us the play list for the gig which would commence with a number featuring me on flute. The intro was played and I brought the flute up to begin only to find the flute totally unresponsive!
Turns out the drummer had placed cling film over the flute's blow hole!!
Moral of the story is always be prepared, especially from band member pranksters!!
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2018-12-15 07:47
When I was a student we rigged a piano with tissue paper under the hammers just before a recital by a pianist who had previously seriously offended one of our group and had used the strength of his reputation to avoid any consequences. Rachmaninoff as it might be interpreted by Winifred Atwell.
Tony F.
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