 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: m1964
Date: 2026-11-02 06:23
Looking for a suggestion from repair technicians:
On older R13s, the F/C pad is often sits very low above the tone hole.
So, if I use anything but a thinnest skin pad in that key, the clearance/venting is too little and the low G and long D do not speak.
The F/C key elevation is limited in three places:
1. Back F/C key arm resting on the left F/C lever
2. Rt. E/B key touch piece
3. Rt. F#/C# touch piece
1. For the left F/C lever (#1), I sometimes file the underside of the arm, that lifts Rt. F/C key.
2. In order to lift Rt. E/B touchpiece, I file the back leg of the key, and shape it concave to get better contact with the body.
3. To elevate the F#/C# touch piece, I carefully bend it using a screwdriver under the touch piece.
I feel that while bending it like that, I do not have good control over the amount of bending.
Is there any other/better way to elevate the F#/C# touch piece?
Thank you.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2026-11-02 11:51
I do it somewhat differently.
Statistically, older (or any) R13s weren't made with that key too low... usually. Maybe it's a one off (or a few... one offs...).
More likely that either at some point some keys got bent (or were purposely bent) or that bumper and linkage materials are too thick.
F/C and E/B move more or less together so by raising F/C it means you will almost certainly need to raise E/B too.
To raise E/B, bend the touchpiece (and the pad normally goes along with it) in comparison with the lever linkage arm which it rests on (after using thin material of course, if the material is thick just replace it).
For the left hand F/C lever linkage, first choose the correct material thickness under that lever arm. Then I do all other adjustments and choose the material for the F/C key to lever linkage arm last.
Depending on the exact adjustment you need to do, you can raise or lower the crow's foot and/or the F/C touchpiece itself. Check that the crow's foot doesn't change its angle too much and sits on the edge.
To raise the F#/C# touchpiece I usually either twist the key and touchpiece (compared with each other) or move the touchpiece up in comparison with the lever linkage arm, which usually moves with the key itself.
I do 90% of these adjustments with my fingers.
You can use some kind of tool/material under the lever linkage arms when doing this (I mostly use a pad slick for this).
Of course there are exceptions, but generally speaking I rarely need to file material for these adjustments. Exceptions aside, there are mainly two cases where I add and/or remove material in this area on R13 and similar clarinets (meaning professional clarinets with a decent design and quality).
One is when the Ab/Eb key rubs against metal and causes friction. This is caused by poor finishing in manufacture and isn't a problem on 99% of clarinets at least.
The other is when the linkage between the F/C key and lever is shaped poorly. Either a huge gap where I wouldn't want to use a very thick material, or a sharp corner that would quickly dig into any material and cause the linkage to bind, etc.
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