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Re: Emma Johnson / Peter Eaton Clarinet

Author: Chris P
Date: 2019-03-21 21:09

The plating problems were down to the platers they used at the time - they should have had a minimum of 25 microns of silver on their clarinets (and pro level oboes), but it turns out one of the plating companies Howarth used wasn't doing anything near that (and probably less than the 12 microns specified for student level instruments), but the plating company still charged them for the full 25 microns. Other problems were poor adhesion between the copper flash and nickel flash, so plating would peel off and others had too much current used so the ends of the keys were rough.

And another plating company (also no longer used and I hope they've gone under) did a lot of poor work as time went on, sometimes adding far too much copper instead of a copper flash which left the keys far too big and with an uneven finish (I had some side keys on my CT A clarinet replated by them and I had to file all the plating off so they didn't contact one another). The last straw was when they lost and destroyed several sets of keys for top level oboes and also customer instruments that were having their keywork replated.

They have since been using another company that does a fantastic job, but it's too late as clarinet production had pretty much ended by then as how can they compete if people keep on buying Buffets?

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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