 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Deb
Date: 2001-12-25 22:42
Does anyone know if there is a special trick to add more volume or "swelling" to the cork at a joint on a clarinet (without replacing the cork). It seems to me that there was some trick that could be done to "puff up" the cork and make the joint fit tighter --- at least for awhile, without re-corking it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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Author: Rissa
Date: 2001-12-25 23:16
You could swell the cork by heat. Hold a lighter an inch or so below the joint, and rotate at a moderate speed. Sounds a bit scary, but believe it or not, it's almost fool proof!
*Rissa*
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2001-12-25 23:23
I have heated a butter knife in boiling water and run that around the cork. It seemed to do the trick. I think it puffed the cork up a bit by adding steamy water and swelling the cork. I have also used dental floss to temporarily get a better fit.
I am a bit skeptical about holding a lighter near the clarinet.
Ginny
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Author: ron b
Date: 2001-12-26 00:40
The 'trick' is to keep the cork moist while applying heat - as Rissa says. If using an open flame, keep it moving, not too close, so you don't burn anything. Ginny's butter knife method is probably safest. Either 'thick' works if the cork's not too far gone. Dental floss? Why not? I've never tried it but the old timers had no trouble with ordinary string. The grooves in some tenon joints are a throwback to earlier times when (waxed?) string was more common than cork :]
Guess we have lotsa choices if we just look around the kitchen, huh?
Have a Great New Year
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-12-26 10:33
A few turns of the white 'teflon' tape used by plumbers to seal pipe joints is very successful indeed to build up thickness.
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Author: Sandra
Date: 2001-12-26 14:19
It's so inexpensive to replace a tenon cork, why not just replace it?
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2001-12-26 18:02
Gordon (NZ) says: "A few turns of the white 'teflon' tape used by plumbers to seal pipe joints is very successful indeed to build up thickness."
Thanks for the tip, Gordon (NZ). The match/cigarette lighter and dental floss I've used, but never Teflon tape. Sounds great. And Sandra, a temporary tenon joint fix is very important when going over a worn instrument (prior to purchase, maybe). If it won't hold together mechanically and pressure-wise in the tenon joints, you can't check out anything else by trying to play it.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-12-26 18:22
In an emergy, a thin strip of newspaper is the easiest thing to use.
For a semi-permanent fix, the best stuff I've found is EZ Start Super Strength tape made by Manco, Inc. It's very thin and has just the right surface texture and a non-deteriorating adhesive. It's usually available in art supply stores. Just as good, but more difficult to handle, is the thin, transparent package sealing tape.
A traditional fix is heavy thread coated with beeswax (available at sewing supply stores). Dental tape (which I like better than the thinner dental floss) also works well, but it cuts into the cork and is so strong that it's tempting to wrap it tighter than it needs to be, which cuts into the cork and might even crack the tenon.
For the long term, spring for the new cork, applied by a professional.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Sandra F. H.
Date: 2001-12-26 19:03
Certainly, using dental floss, etc. to "fatten a cork" while trying an instrument for possible purchase is fine, but for any other reason it's best just to replace the corking. I've seen too many people with floss and rubber bands around their instruments for years!
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Author: Deb
Date: 2001-12-26 19:20
Thanks for all the ideas! I appreciate your help, everyone!
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Author: Marquis
Date: 2001-12-26 22:05
Hold a lighted match a little way from it while rotating the mouthpiece. It will fatten it for a week or two. This may even be repeated several times with little deletorious affect to the cork. Be careful not to burn the cork.
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Author: Mary
Date: 2001-12-26 22:50
I usually just wrap dental floss around the joint, but i always end up getting the cork replaced anyway
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-12-27 10:36
Ken, have you tried plumbers' tape? in my experience it is far, far better than any 'adhesive' tape or newspaper. When customers have used this I feel obliged to ask before replacing it with a new cork, which is actually possibly inferior!
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-12-27 13:34
Some great suggestions and probably useful in those emergency situations that we all come across now and again -- but should be the sign that we need the cork replaced by a competent repair person. Cork is a natural product and will not last forever given the mechanical compression and expansion cycles that we put it through when assembling and disassembling the horn. Many quicken the death of the cork by using cork treatments that infiltrate the cork structure, hasten the mechanical damage by weakening the cellular structure of the cork, and retard the mechanical expansion of the the cork cells (usually sticky petroleum greases). Cork does not last forever but the lifetime can be improved greately, IMHO, by using the right cork treatment - and/or avoiding the bad players. I sure that many people on the BB have experienced useful cork for 5-10 + years (maybe more) by treating the cork properly.
The Doctor
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Author: beejay
Date: 2001-12-27 18:54
In an emergency, I use a cigarette paper or two to seal the joint.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-12-27 22:16
beejay wrote:
>
> In an emergency, I use a cigarette paper or two to seal
> the joint.
LOL! I used to use cigarette papers to seal my joints, too.
Back in the late 60s/early 70s.
Mark C.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-12-29 01:34
Back in the late "hippie" period I was lucky to decern the mouthpiece from the bell at times but have have stopped using cigarette papers for anything - just because of the bad association I guess. My friend at the nursing home - a great ole big band clarinet player and I do some entertainment now and again. His old Selmer had ninety-nine different types of wraps around the tenons and most of the pads were in bad shape (he still sounded pretty good despite the equipment). For the Holidays I had a local repair person overhaul it as a present to this grand old gentlemen -- I am really sorry that I did !! The man now remembers more moves than I have ever learned and leaves me at the gate when he takes off on his own muscial interpretations -- he is as happy as a kid with a new BB gun - am really not sorry at all.
The Doctor
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-12-29 12:46
It's those times that make instrument servicing such a rewarding occupation. You just don't get that sort of reward from fixing a washing machine or motor mower.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2001-12-29 15:37
OK - so you have a $2000 instrument patched together with tape and string, There is the pride of accomplishment in solving a problem. But it is still a $2000 instrument patched together with tape and string. That tape and string may last weeks or even months, but ultimately it will fail. Consider that a new tenon cork will be trouble-free for years, letting you to work on performance issues, rather than worrying when your joints will need new string.
Clarinetists are notoriously cheap, although we are the last to realize the potential truth in this little stereotype. These emergency fixes will all do something to improve an immediate problem. On the other hand, what is the going rate for a new tenon cork? $20? What is your reed budget per month?
I grew up around Depression-era adults, who considered such repairs just fine. One day, I had an out-of-body experience and realized I was playing on an instrument held together with string and super glue. No more.
Get your instrument to a repair shop and have new tenon corks put on. Just about anybody will do a good job on this minor repair.
Regards,
Ralph
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-02 13:50
Ralph,
I agree with you, for the most part, but some places you go, the measure of a musician can be taken by what he can do with what he has.
When I lived in Louisiana there was an old (real old,) black man who played music on a street corner of the French Quarter for whatever the passers-by would tip. The first time I ever saw him pulling out his sax, he looked like an old derelict, preparing to use another old derelict to do something really awful.
When he got it put together and started playing his jazz, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
I remember the police making people move along, because the crowds this guy used to draw would overflow onto the street in a most dangerous way. Not to mention blocking traffic!
I think eventually he re-established himself at this park in front of an old, well known church next to the quarter, can't remember the name.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-01-05 02:21
Ralph what I am saying is that I think a very good case could be presented for teflon wrapped cork being a BETTER option than a replacement cork, long term.
For a start teflon needs no cork grease. It does not crumble. It can be wrapped over loose-fitting timber at the tenon ends. It is easily adjustable to fit tighter.
Before you categorically condemn it, have you actually tried it. I don't use it, but the evidence of how good it is is regularly before my eyes on some of my repair customers' instruments.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2002-01-15 17:18
Gordon (NZ),
OK on teflon. I am certainly not against improvements - I have teflon rockers on at least one key it is an absolutely maintenance free solution.
Usually my tenon corks hold up pretty well, at least until the rest of the instrument needs overhauling. Then, I have the corks done at the same time, including mouthpieces. How long does it take for corks to crumble?
And now a story. A repairman I know asked before greasing my corks after an overhaul. He gave me a really wierd when he asked. Turns out that years before, he overhauled a professional player's instrument, and the guy was really upset when he realized that there was cork grease on his new tenon corks. This guy was certain that tenon corks lasted longer if Vaseline was used on them instead of cork grease, and he made the repairman replace the new tenon corks again and not grease them.
Regards,
Ralph
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