The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

RE: Tight Bell!

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-08-02 17:40

maureen bleiman wrote:
-------------------------------
My daughter is having problems pulling the bell from her wooden(buffet and crampon e-11)clarinet .She is rigorous in cleaning properly when she finishes, and in applying cork grase,but she finds she has to sort of rock the bell before it budges,I would be very grateful if someone could advise
if this action could damage the clarinet and if so what can she do to get thebell off? many thanks maureen

Maureen -

Rocking the bell is dangerous, but we all do it.

The problem is caused by swelling at the bottom of the bell socket, causing it to bind on the wood of the lower joint tenon below the cork. This is very dangerous. The bell socket is reinforced with a metal ring, and the tenon is quite thin at the end, which leads to a serious risk of cracking the end of the tenon.

You should take the instrument to a repair shop as soon as possible and have them ream out the bell socket, particularly the area all the way at the bottom. Do not under any circumstances let them file down the tenon instead, even though this is much easier to do. There's not enough wood there to risk taking anything off.

See also my posting a few messages down under "Help" on a sticking mouthpiece.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics