Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-11-04 05:35
Cracks are repairable and if anything, it's better to repair the crack than replace the entire top joint on wooden clarinets (not as critical on plastic, ebonite, resin and other composites) if you chose a specific clarinet out of a lineup of others because you liked that particular instrument best.
That way, you'll still have the very instrument you originally chose, so you won't have to get used to how differently the new joint plays, you won't have to go through the whole playing-in process again (and this is the wrong time of year to be doing that with a new wooden top joint or entirely new wooden instrument) and it's far less costly to repair cracked joints than to replace them, even if they're under guarantee as someone somewhere will have to foot the bill for that.
I've got an early 1960s Buffet R16 3/4 (or a full Boehm R13 by another name) where the top joint has split right through to the bore on both sides, yet it's been glued up and repaired in the past by pinning, then I carbon fibre banded it for even more security and it plays like a dream.
Remember - cracks aren't the end of the world, they're just an inconvenience and in most cases they're repairable. And in many cases, they can often play and even resonate much better once they've cracked and have been properly repaired.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repair Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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