 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Irwin
Date: 2001-08-27 01:52
My old clarinet is stuffier than is normal in a throat B flat, and I want to clean out the hole. Is taking the register key off something that is best left for professionals, or do the experienced people out there think this is something I can do myself?
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Author: Fred
Date: 2001-08-27 02:13
Doesn't sound good now . . . right?
Your options: Take the sucker off and clean it out; or take it to the shop.
Possible results: You fix it and learn something in the process; or you take it to the shop.
I'd be bold . . . but I wouldn't do it the night before my biggest playing event ever.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-27 02:46
Mark C. is correct. Before I went to clean it though, I would make sure I had something to clean it with. Like a PIPE CLEANER ! mw
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-27 02:50
Oh YES, you will also want to have the proper size (very small) flathead screw drive. Lousing up the pivot screw is worse than having to tell a repairtech that you can't get it back together ! <grin>
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-08-27 03:18
IRWIN:
You can do almost anything PROVIDED your have the right tools and the knowledge. Without either or a combination os the two, leave it to a professional. Yes, this is the easiest of the keys to get off, but be sure you have the correct screw driver to do the job. Check to see that the spring screw is also tight when you get ready to replace the key.. This booger comes loose quiet easily. I also usually clean and oil the key rod (bearing) when I replace or take them off. This keeps them from getting rusted from the handling by our fingers - acid and sweat, you know! After you finish and IF it gives you any trouble, take it to a repair man and let him show you how to do this correctly.
Good Luck,
Bob Curtis
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-08-27 03:22
IRWIN:
You can do almost anything PROVIDED your have the right tools and the knowledge. Without either or a combination os the two, leave it to a professional. Yes, this is the easiest of the keys to get off, but be sure you have the correct screw driver to do the job. Check to see that the spring screw is also tight when you get ready to replace the key.. This booger comes loose quiet easily. I also usually clean and oil the key rod (bearing) when I replace or take them off. This keeps them from getting rusted from the handling by our fingers - acid and sweat, you know! After you finish and IF it gives you any trouble, take it to a repair man and let him show you how to do this correctly.
Good Luck,
Bob Curtis
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-08-27 04:26
Go for it. If you remember to clean the screw and re-lubricate it it will last longer. The oil and grime make an abrasive slurry which is what wears the keywork out and makes the rods loose.
I do suggest you sit yourself down at a table and spread a large towel (use one that black grease won't be a problem for). You can then lay the clarinet down in the middlea and work with it there. That way when you drop the screw (you will) it won't go as far and will be easier to find. Make sure you have adequate light and don't force the screw... try to remove that screw after somone has buggered up the slot! Remember which way a screw must turn to loosen... counter clockwise (anti-clockwise for those down under I understand) as you are looking at the head on the screw.
If it won't turn, there are several posibilities... if anything I have said up until now is new to you then the correct choice for a stuck screw is the repair shop.
For a stuffy Bb consider doing the "register" key, the A key and the G# key. Any or all three may need cleaning. If there is a lot of gunk then the whole horn may need attention.
Just IMHO, Terry
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Author: David Kinder
Date: 2001-08-27 05:25
Use the right size screwdriver as you would on the back of your computer or pair of eyeglasses. You can usually find some at computer places or even at a hardware store. I usually keep a screwdriver in my case - just in case.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-08-27 08:48
It seems to depend on your cautiousness and preparedness.
It is very easy to demount the key and mount it again. But take it in mind the screw posts are not perfectly rigid. Sensitive alignment and gentle screwing is necessary. I did it too often thinking 'Hey this is easy to do' and a repairman said the posts of my clarinet are not properly aligned and slightly widened, and the key slightly moves toward irregular directions. Of course before setting the key again wipe out threads with a clean cloth to get rid of hand oil or micorodirt of your finger tips and oil it very bit(for example using a needle's edge) with clean light oil like for clock.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-08-27 13:20
Just do it.
After cleaning shine a torch down the bore (at night) while you check by looking through the tone hole.
Don't pull that pivot rod out with SERRATED-jaw pliers!!!!
And Hiroshi is correct; be careful not to rotate a post out of a lignment and loose by using the pivot rod as a lever.
After the vent is cleaned and while the key is off, play the Bb. If it is clearer without the key than with it then the pad and/or venting need attention.
BTW it is common for lint from an inappropriate pull-through to cover 1/3 or more of the bottom of small tone holes.
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-08-27 20:20
I had an adventure taking apart my clarinet a few weeks ago. Thanks to everyone at Sneezy, I was able to put it back together. The register key really doesn't offer any problems. But the stuffiness could also be blamed partially on some other keys in that area. If cleaning the register doesn't help the problem, take it to a repairperson. My G# key intrigue was very stressful for me and my A clarinet.
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Author: Irwin
Date: 2001-08-27 22:42
WOW, all great advice! Thanks everyone. I'm going to go for it. The clarinet in question is an old, cheap Artley so even if I totally mess up, it's not such a great loss.
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Author: A.J.
Date: 2001-08-28 01:12
Go ahead and do it yourself. When I started playing clarinet I didn't know anything about them, and now I could probably overhaul a clarinet provided I had the right parts. If you mess up too bad you can always take it to a repair shop.
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Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-08-28 02:26
I find that here in Nashville the special screwdrivers are referred to as "jeweler's drivers" or something of the like... They have many uses.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-28 03:13
If you're going to buy the jewel's screwdrivers - buy a good set! The $2.00 Chinese sets are not sized well and are soft - you can easily chew up a screw with them. A good set will be somewhere around $10 or so.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-28 03:55
I wouldn't waste my money on these jeweler's sets. there are sets you can buy from an electrical or radio supply that are MUCH better.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-08-28 03:56
They're still called jeweler's screwdrivers. I have a reasonably prices set from Stanley bought at a hardware store. It's the el cheapo sets that cause the damage.
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Author: Roger
Date: 2001-08-28 11:46
Better yet a few years ago I totally disassembled my Bb R-13 and cleaned it and oiled the keys and bore. As I have an R-13 A l had a model to follow should I have had any difficulty putting it back together. It really had a lot of built of dirt in the mechanism
One tip to anyone who would try this (that I missed). Where the left side "long keys--rods (E-B, F#-C#, F-C) connect into the mechancism at the bottom of the clarient there are normally small rubber covers on the ends of the rods to insure a tight fit. Be sure to save and reuse them--- they will probably be covered in gunk. Cigaratte paper could due in a pinch as a substitue.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-08-29 14:04
Rubber covers?
The (left hand) E/B and F#/C# "levers", on about 2/3 of models, have "silencer skins" where they poke into holes to link with their their corresponding (right hand) "keys". This is normally "goldbeater skin" which is really sausage skin, the covering on bladder pads. Cigarette paper would be a poor substitute. I have been recently using an extremely fine, woven, non-fraying polyester fabric instead because it is far tougher to resist being punctured at the point of contact where it needs to remain intact to silence the linkage.
Some repairers use glad wrap (etc) which lasts worse than the goldbeaters skin.
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Author: Roger
Date: 2001-08-29 21:20
It may not have been rubber---I threw them away not knowing what they were----they were medium brown in color. The cigarette paper would be a stopgap until you got somthing better.
Thanks for the tip on fabric. Should I disassemble my instruments again I will use it.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-08-30 02:40
I like TYVEK ... it's easy, very cheap to use & costs nothing, & its indstructible. I know where everybody can find a sure-fire lifetime supply for free. mw.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-02 13:27
Tyvek is a man-made material ... no doubt our scientists can give the patented chemical definition. Tyvek is virtually IN-destructable. I think it works very similarly to the teflon tape that is sold by most of the oboe & bassoon supplies.
Thew UN-limited free comes from garbage bins & my office --- used mailing (100% tyvek-material, although some call themselves recycled by adding 25% plastic filler).The tyvek-material is TEAR proof.
I cut out small circles of the Tyvek --- punch very small holes in the middle --- and use it as a silencer on the E/B left-hand pinky Lever ... I have also glued & cemented it to the surface. It can be folded & creased easily, too.
Want some? BTW: The oboe/basoon teflon is a bit easier to use .... its much softer.
best,
mw
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-09-04 05:21
OK. I didn't know it was called Tyvek. That is DuPont's name for High Density Polyyethylene (HDPE) in certain forms.
I'm not sure why you are punching holes in it. I aim to fold these silencers over the end so that they completely cover the connecting 'lug'.
These silencers fail when they wear or puncture through at the point of rubbing contact. So I test them by rubbing the material between my upper and lower canine teeth.
The 'envelope' Tyvec (?) film I've just checked is about 0.06 mm thick and punctures easily compared with goldbeater's skin.
The protective clothing type of Tyvec I acquired which is a fibrous construction, like a cross between plumbers teflon tape and dental floss, is more wear resistant than goldbeaters skin and about 0.075 mm thick, which is too thick for many linkages, although this fabric may mould well to shape and become thinner in the process. Definitely worth trying.
The polyester fabric I have started using is far more wear resistant and only 0.05 mm thick. It does not form over the metal shape so readily as the fibrous Tyvek. It is used as a fabric for making spinnaker sails for top-performance yachts, the manufacture and racing of which NZ excells.
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-05 03:10
Gordon, maybe they use a different thickness or whatnot in NZ, don't know. The Tyvek enveolpes here in the States are darn near impervious to "hole punching". I put them over the end of the OLD Buffet style lever's end ... not the newer style. Seems to do a nice job of silencing. Have you tried the Teflon tape as well? mw
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-09-05 14:15
The teflon tape rubs through very easily indeed. Teflon is a very mobile material under pressure and rubbing. Slabs of it are used in supports under bridges so the bridge can slide on the support when it expands with temperature. These slabs have to be contained as much as possible to stop them oozing out the sides. The main special feature of teflon is its low friction, but that does not make it resistant to wear or pressure, which are important properties in this clarinet application.
Have you tried the canine teeth test?
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