 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Eileen
Date: 2001-09-22 01:52
Is it advisable to take my clarinet in to the repair shop at regular intervals for a checkup? If so, how often?
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Author: Peter
Date: 2001-09-22 03:00
I am not an authority on the subject, but except for wooden instruments, I take of our instruments into the shop only when they don't work well and something like paper-cleaning the pads is not the problem.
Wooden instruments get taken in at least once a year, even if it's just for a professional oiling of the bores.
Not the piano, of course, we never oil its bore.
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-09-22 05:41
I took my Evette in to the shop after 30 years whether it needed it or not. In fact, it really did need it. It did just fine and played beautifully for the first 29 years, then a pad went bad.
I think if you have gone 20 years or more you probably could stand to have it get a checkup... unless it is still playing great.
Seriously, a check-up every year? I believe in supporting the repair folks, but why not give them real stuff to do instead of wasting money and time, let alone being without your horn for the time the repair guy has it? I think if you need a tech to repair or "check-up" your horn annually you must be abusing it... maybe you should be into cheap electric guitars instead. What is the repair guy going to check that you can't by playing the horn?
Please don't jump on me for this opinion, I would like to exclude the beginner from this comment. A beginner may not be able to tell if things are wrong, but his/her tearcher should be able to spot leaking pads, cracks, dry wood, torn pads, lost corks etc.
Now, if you don't take care of the horn, bang it around, forget to swab it every time you play, drop it, put it together without proper care, don't grease the tennons, etc. the every year or sooner repair will be a necissity. But then again you will know it because the horn won't play well.
Just IMHO, Terry
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-09-22 13:43
There are two fairly distinct schools of thought on machine maintenance (the clarinet is a machine in some aspects);
1) If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
2) A regular checkup can't hurt.
If the clarinet is wooden, and you live in the Northern USA or somewhere that has central heating, then humidification is a good practice. Wood moves with the seasonal change in humidity, and really hard woods (like that in your horn) can be subject to cracking.
A regular check up could HELP reduce the odds of this event.
There is no reason why you can't oil the bore yourself, when the inside looks dry.
(How often - I leave that to people with more letters after their names.)
Pad height, pad condition, mechanism alignment are all constantly changing based on how often you play. I have recently purchased some 60 year old clarinets with pads that crumbled on disassembly - these pads still did the job!
Bottom line - say you go in for an overhaul every three years and fix immediate problems as they arrive. Don't make yourself crazy, that's the conductor's job.
anji
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Author: Peter
Date: 2001-09-22 14:18
Yes, Terry, but I am a great believer in that if you need a lawyer, you don't go see a doctor.
However musical I may be otherwise, I am an engineer who works long and hard most every day, not a musical instrument technician type person, or someone with very much time on my hands to spend very much time performing the more elaborate maintenance tasks for myself.
Besides, I like my instruments to be taken apart and soaked so the wood absorbs oil all over, not just inside. (Could this be part of why I have never had an instrument split on me?) And it is better done professionally than at home.
It also keeps me from ruining pads and accidentally soaking the corks in the process.
But I am one of those people who can't paint a room without spreading a mess of paint all over the house, so maybe that has something to do with it too!
One thing I have not seen in years and was good for the task (as far as I know,) was an apparatus that was like a plastic 6-inch diameter tube that sealed a stripped wooden instrument, like a clarinet, etc., inside of it and had two small hoses attached at one end. One hose was for pressurizing and one for releasing the pressure and draining the tube.
The instrument would be placed inside, covered with slightly warm oil and sealed. Slight pressure would be added and it was left there for a short time. The warm oil would open the pores and grain of the wood and the oil would penetrate the wood.
I saw one many years ago at a repair shop in NY, and haven't seen one since.
Within this year, a couple of repair people told me that in overhauling a wooden instrument it is no longer "acceptable practice" to oil it.
When I argued the point with one of them he told me that the "new general consensus" was that the wood is so hard that it doesn't really soak in the oil within the time allotted for it to do so, anyway.
I still don't agree with that and insist my wooden instruments be oiled.
In fact, I think I'll make this a topic. I think it would be interesting to see who says what about it.
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Author: William
Date: 2001-09-22 14:48
IMHO:
OIL? Never!!
CHECK-UPS?? Younger and inexperianced players--Every year.
Experianced and Pros--Take clarinet in as problems occur.
Good Clarineting!!!
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Author: raianne
Date: 2001-09-23 01:24
im just getting back into things, but my clarinet was made in 55, and i have oiled it three times in one week for two reasons....1) i am not real sure how often it needs it. 2) when i put the oil in and let it sit for about 2 minutes, it soaks up every drop. this tells me its apparently dry.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-09-23 14:18
It depends on how astute the player is at picking when there are faults. I train my customers to oil their keywork, and visit me when they have faults. I give them a guide sheet of typical symptoms indicating need for repair. Most customers see me only once every few years. I couldn't cope with them all once per year!!
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Author: Meri
Date: 2001-09-24 18:41
I take my instrument in about twice a year, just to make sure everything is fine (I don't get charged for that service), and whenever there are problems I can't fix myself, such as repadding. If there are problems, at least I get them fixed sooner rather than later. But then, I do a lot of playing too.
Meri
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