 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Sara
Date: 2002-03-26 03:24
Hey I had two cracks in the upper joint of my Buffet Festival about two weeks ago, and the day after I got them back from being pinned with cost me a good 170 bucks, it cracked agian twice, each not far from the pins. Do you think that I should just buy a new joint, about 700, with a key transfer, or just pinn it agian? I'm afraid that I'll just be wasteing my money if if just continues to crack like this. What do you guys think I shoud do? That is a lot of money for a new joint and I think its 45 bucks for each pin, but I don't know how many I'll need.
Thanks Sara
PS sorry I haven't posted in a while.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2002-03-26 04:00
Sorry to hear of these cracks. Perhaps, if possible, it would be best to ask some expert repairmen to look at it. If they think it is probable that it will continue to crack, a new joint may be best.
Can you comment on whether the instrument was subjected to some kind of thermal changes which could cause the crack? Is there any way to speculate on why the cracks occurred? It would be valuable for the readers here to learn more about how cracks occur. I've bought and sold a lot of wood instruments in the Los Angeles area but have never experienced a crack in any of them. Good Luck!
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Author: Ken Lustgarten
Date: 2002-03-26 05:30
I am very sorry to hear about this. Could it be that in the pinning that the repairman added stress to the wood? I would contact him and see if they will try and repair it for free. Wood can be a strange thing. As you play the inner wood gets wet and expands while the outside of the clarinet is dry and does not adding stress, to much stress and it will crack. Being pinned on both sides may not have left enough flex in the outer wood to deal with the expansion. Temperature changes like while transporting a clarinet can also cause problems if you play before the instrument warms up. Also dry weather such as in winter can also cause the outer wood to be even drier adding to the problem, this is worse if you have hot air heat at home.
I hope this ends up working out for you. I have a simmilar problem with an old Buffet that was made in 1928. It has 2 small cracks in the upper section on opposite sides and I sent it out last week to be fixed. It has sentimental value to me and besides it would just be neat to play one that old. After I get it back I am going to play it and break it in like you would a new clarinet starting out with only 15 min. a day for a week or so and then slowly increasing the time.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-03-26 19:05
Sara, I am truly sorry to hear about this problem. I'm sure I would be *very* upset.
In reading what I have to say, please remember that it is my opinion, and I am not an expert (although I have portrayed one on the radio).
This sounds like a good case for one or more compression bands, if you decide on further repair at all. Cracking relieves radial stress in the wood, and pinning it back together provides no stress relief or restriction of motion except in the immediate area of the pins. The stress in the joint was obviously enough to cause cracking elsewhere.
To me, and I'm a person who would try a repair on almost anything, this is a tough decision. But *if* I had this piece repaired, I would want it banded. As the joint has already relieved itself of stress twice, this is not unlikely to happen again if it can. Banding *might* restrict movement of the entire joint enough to prevent further stress relief.
I am curious to see other opinions on banding this joint.
Good luck and regards,
John
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-26 20:14
Sara -
I too, extend my sympathy, all the more so that your instrument seems to just get worse the more you try to help it :(
Have you notified Buffet of your situation? They might be willing to compromise price on a replacement upper joint. No harm in asking.
It's unlikely a repairer could have forseen the destiny of this clarinet would be so prone to cracking. It seems to me (and please, I'm no expert), this is a 'defective' piece of wood(timber). Had the technician been able to predict the problem, shrink banding might have been the best course. But, since pinning is the preferred method these days, that's what was done. To band the joint now would seem to be (stressing again: My Opinion) going beyond what's reasonable - the point where repair cost is way more than replacement.
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Author: leo
Date: 2002-03-27 01:11
sara;
we are all sad to hear the story of your clarinet. the buffet festival is a great clarinet. speaking as a restorationist, the pinning of the wood with its complex stress structure really turns me off. i know that it's considered the "proper" way for repairs to be made, but you have seen the complications which it leads to. the clarinet is subjected to extremes in temperature and humidity which act very differently on the pins vs the wood. it can cause more problems than it corrects.
ron's idea is by far the best way to go. if you can get a little help from buffet and replace the entire joint, that seems to be the best "restoration" method. it makes the most sense if the wood was defective.
good luck in your endeavor.
leo
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