 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2026-04-20 22:31
I have an old Vito V40 (older non-prag model) that I sometimes use for practice purposes. When I started to take it apart today a small plate-like piece of the plastic to which the thumb rest is attached with the two thumbrest screws still embedded smapped off of the lower joint. Can anyone tell me what the best adhesive is to glue it back on. This is not a high priority fix, as I have other clarinets to use for practice. But I like having this one around and the nearest tech of any repute who will even look at a plastic clarinet is a two hour drive away. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2026-04-20 23:43
If it's an older bakelite (phenolic resin) bodied one, then both superglue or epoxy will do the job. The screw hole will most likely need to be bushed if the threads are stripped or damaged or you might get lucky redrilling them after repairing it (and you can clean up any glue ooze with acetone on these older bakelite ones.
If it's ABS, then epoxy is best, but don't use acetone or any other solvents as they will dissolve ABS. Again you'd probably have to bush the screw holes if the threads are stripped.
You have around 7mm of wall thickness and wood screw holes don't generally go any deeper than 5mm, so you've got a fair amount of leeway when bushing and redrilling the screw holes.
The names Reso-Tone or Resonite are just fancy names for any type of plastic bodied clarinets and not a specific type of plastic that's 'specially formulated for musical instruments to replicate the density and tone of natural grenadilla wood' if that's what the marketing spiel usually seen in instrument catalogues/brochures happens to say. Plastic clarinets produced by the same companies that were first made of moulded phenolic resin and later on switched to ABS resin both carry these trademark names even though the composite materials used are both very different.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed 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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