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Re: Lose rings

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2019-02-07 05:33

>> I do agree that shims are a bit "ham fisted," but they work, and I've never experienced any sort of cracking due to their use (which would be a legitimate argument against their use). <<

I can't prove why it happened, but I've seen a couple of clarinets that seemed to have cracked because of that... because of the specific shape and location of the crack... but who knows.

What I have seen more than a few times is that the socket was smaller at the top than at the bottom, and the ring was very tight, more than it usually is. Sparing boring details, I've seen enough of them to statistically prove to myself that at least some of them are a result of shimming the rings. Almost none of them cracked as a result, but a problem this can cause is that the joint is a little hard to assemble, only to feel too loose and even wobble once completely inserted.

>> The issue of the wood "re-expanding" to its original configuration is mostly wishful thinking. <<

Many times rings are loose for only part of the year, which means that it absolutely does re-expand. The thing is that you'd want them to never be loose, so...

>> If that doesn't work after a couple of days, then shimming is the second best choice. <<

I prefer shimming (with shellac or good equivalent) as the first best choice. I've done it many times and found zero issues with it when moving to hotter or more humid areas, and one case where the ring had to be re-glued because it got loose again.

>> I've had loose rings on my clarinets after a period of drought. As soon as the rain came they tightened up again. A couple that didn't fully tighten I shellaced. The shellac I used was a honey colour that I got in stick form from (I think) music medic. <<

This varies and locally it is almost always drier and rainy in the winter, hotter and much more humid in the summer. So surprisingly (at least I was a little surprised when I found that out), during rainy season it's actually less humid here.

I don't remember if Music Medic also sell real shellac (I think they don't but not sure), but they have the synthetic shellac. I stopped using it because it is more sensitive to heat. It is the only heat melting glue (shellac or synthetic) that did this from simply standing in the glass on the table for a while (photo attached). I've tested a few sticks (both transparent and amber) to verify it wasn't a one-off.

>> Only I cannot understand how to apply shellac (I got the white one the kind used for pads). Do I heat the ring, spread some shellac inside of it and then put the ring in place? <<

Yes. Hold the ring with something, obviously not with your fingers

Heat it, smear shellac all around the inside and while it is hot and liquidy, quickly install it. You can clean any extra that oozes out with a scraper or wipe with alcohol (if it's real shellac, synthetic shellac such as the type from Music Medic doesn't soften with alcohol so you need something else).

The downside for me for real shellac is it's not vegan friendly, so I hope to find something synthetic that works as good.

Post Edited (2019-02-13 12:00)

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Lose rings new

m1964

2019-02-06 09:10