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Cork recess in body vs glued to key

Author: Reformed
Date: 2021-12-14 17:37

One of the things that I have noticed about prewar Boosey and Hawkes 1010s is that there are recesses in the body for any key that hits/bumps the clarinet body. I can only speak for later 1010s, ~33000 and up, so post ~1937.

On the instruments that I have seen, the recesses are all filled in with something like shellac and bumper corks, felts, etc are glued to the keys in the "normal" way.

B&H did not cut recesses on any post-war instruments that I have seen.

I have cleaned out the holes in a few cases and fitted cork to the recesses for the RH ring key and for LH little finger levers. This seems to work well.

This raises a few questions to me:

- Do I have this completely wrong?
- Did any other makers do likewise?
- Is this an old technique that was dropped?
- Did players/repairers prefer the glued approach?

Personally, I'd prefer something that cannot become unglued and drop off, but appreciate that final adjustments to a cork with sandpaper would seriously risk scratching the body work, so final adjustment requires key removal.

Any thoughts?

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