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Re: 1830's Boxwood clarinet help

Author: Clarimellonet
Date: 2019-01-16 08:48

Hi Anna, Simon, etc,

Restoring a boxwood clarinet is a relatively straightforward process. With the right care, you should be able to restore it to playable if not relatively stable condition. Here are a couple of the steps I take (which have been touched on in this thread already):

Oil the wood. Constantly, even when you think the wood doesn't need it, continue to oil the boxwood. Buxus sempervirens is a remarkably dense wood which means that the oil takes a long time to penetrate. Unfortunately, it also means that the dried wood can become brittle and prone to cracking if not brought back to equilibrium. There are many different ways to oil these instruments, everything from using a swab dipped in oil to a complete tear down. I always err on the side of a tear down. Take every bit of metal (keys, pins, etc) off the instrument and set them aside. Fill up a bucket with linseed oil and let the joints sit in the oil completely submerged for about a week, then let them dry on a flat surface for a few days. Use a fine cloth to gently clean the wood, (you'll find a lot of dust and grime will come off the wood) and repeat the process. I usually do this three or four times over the course of a month when restoring a "new clarinet."

Oil the wood mouthpieces. Take note of the facing curve if you have the ability to measure it (and it works), then oil the mouthpiece. Grenadilla mouthpieces need a slightly different type of oiling procedure. I use a mixture of oils that an oboe maker showed me several years ago: 50 percent almond oil, 25 percent mineral oil, 25 percent orange oil. The orange oil will open up the pores, the mineral oil penetrates the fastest, and the almond oil will polymerize and help form a decent amount of patina on the inside of the bore of the mouthpiece to prevent warping. If you want to preserve the integrity without risking the warpage of an original mouthpiece, make a copy, but plenty of grenadilla mouthpieces can be restored to a decent playing condition.

Replacing the pads on these instruments is quite easy. While some players prefer synthetic material (almost like a Valentino-type substance), I prefer the traditional 18th century means of affixing flat pads: leather and sealing wax. The sealing wax can be heated several times to make sure you have the perfect seat and the leather forms a perfectly airtight seal. I use cabretta leather (old golf gloves are an excellent source), but soft deer leather and calf leather works as well.

Polish the keys. This may seem like a purely cosmetic thing, but the cleaner the brass keys are, the easier it will be in the long run. The keys on these instruments are recessed into the wood body of the instruments, and the wood can swell around them causing them to bind. A clean key free of dust, mold, etc will mean less lateral pressure on the wood, and less of a chance of cracks in the future. If the wood binds, you can take a very fine grit sandpaper (1500 or 2000) and polish the keys to see if they move more freely. Similarly, graphite powder is an excellent lubricant.

It's not surprising at all that you find it to work at A440. Most English and American originals were around that pitch. It's the continental clarinets that get a bit more dicey, particularly in Vienna where the pitch could vary from 420 to 448 depending on which side of the city you were playing in. It's no wonder that the more expensive and well known makers in Europe made interchangeable corps de rechange middle joints to allow for different pitches. While the A430 I most frequently build and perform on is an almost purely modern construct to allow some level of standardization in period instrument ensembles, it DOES make things far easier given the amount of traveling I do and the various ensembles I perform with. At least with a 440 instrument you won't have to convince local string players to tune down or retune a modern piano.

Good luck! I'm performing this week on an 1879 Bb Clarinet made by Georg Ottensteiner that I restored back in 2015. I play on this instrument for a handful of performances every year and even after all the restoration work, I still need to baby it back into shape for a few days before doing any serious work on it. Such is life with instruments these old, especially when not in constant daily use. I ended up having to make a new barrel and mouthpiece for it because the originals were cracked, but I have plenty of originals without such problems.

Keep us updated!

Thomas Carroll
Historical Clarinets and Chalumeaux
http://carrollclarinet.com
lotzofgrenser@gmail.com

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