 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Danielle Marie
Date: 2002-07-28 03:58
...well, sort of, It's hard to explain.
It seems that no matter how much cork grease I put on the bottom of the first joint cork, it always seems to dry out, which causes putting the clarinet together and taking it apart very hard. It's a brand new R-13 and I've had it for almost two months. Is there something else I need to be doing or should I get it checked?
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Author: msroboto
Date: 2002-07-28 04:03
I would say get it checked. It might need to be relieved a bit at the joint. I had to have it done to the barrel.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2002-07-28 04:27
We had this exact problem on a new R13 2 years ago, the problem was the wooden shoulder of the tenon, and not the cork. Return the instrument to the seller as it should be under warranty, or have a local tech do it for you if that is not possible. There have been other reports of this on this board, perhaps Buffet is not allowing enough room for the expansion that occurs when the horn is first played. We did follow Buffet's break in recomendations, and the instrument was kept in air conditioning.
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Author: musicgirl
Date: 2002-07-28 18:26
i've had this problem before. it was simply fixed by making sure i pressed down on the keys of the upper joint when i connect them. now there was also some cork damage from where i had not down this before, but after that was replaced it has been ok ever since.
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Author: Jas
Date: 2002-07-28 18:49
It is not uncommon for this to happen with new clarinets. No amount of cork grease will help you. Take your horn to a tech for a little "cork tweeking".
:o) Jas
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-07-29 07:26
This happens to almost every Buffet or Selmer that comes new to New Zealand. Each one needs at least one adjustment, until the instrument settles into its being-used state of equilibrium.
I don't recal this happening a decade or two ago. Presumably it is because of rushed timber aging &/or poorer quality timber.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-07-29 15:32
Danielle -
This is an emergency, which needs to be fixed right away.
The problem is almost certainly due to swelling at the bottom of the socket at the top of the lower joint. The thinnest wood in the clarinet is between the bottom of the lower joint socket and the top of the hole covered by the pad attached to the right-hand rings. If this cracks through, it's a major repair problem.
It's very important to take your instrument to a repair shop that has a reamer for the socket. If the repair technician proposes to file down the the bottom of the lower tenon on the top joint, take the instrument back immediately and go to a place that knows their business. All the work must be done in the socket, even though this is harder to do than filing down the tenon. Filing the tenon makes the fit diagonal and unstable.
While you're at the shop, have them check the sockets in the barrel, too, particularly the bottom socket. This swells on many new instruments and can quickly cause cracks at the top of the upper joint.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-07-30 01:25
I disagree with Ken.
Although I am equipped to work on sockets I do this only if the socket is not cylindrical - i.e. slightely tapered, almost invariably narrower at the open end.
The problem is almost always with a swollen tenon, and doesn't occur when the tenon has a metal ring on it. Further evidence that it is the tenon: Take a dried out instrument that jams when the instrument is damp. The jamming condition is replicated by leaving a damp rag inside the TENON, not the socket.
Also, why make the socket a larger diameter when this will make the "thinnest wood on the clarinet" even thinner!
Incidentally this is not the WEAKEST part, whuich is at the base of the tenon cork grooves, where the diameter is smaller. (Strength is proportional to the diameter to the power of 4)
Dealing with the problem means first ascertaining which end(s) of the tenon are actually jamming.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-07-30 13:36
Gordon -
The thin wood is in the vertical plane, between the bottom of the lower joint socket and the top of the pad-covered hole just beneath it.
What I'm talking about is irregularity and shrinkage horizontally, where the diameter of the socket becomes smaller. Thus, reaming it out doesn't make the thin area thinner.
In my experience, the problem is not swelling of the tenon but shrinkage of the socket, and this almost invariably occurs at the bottom. If there is also swelling at the top of the socket, this, too, is easily fixed with a reamer.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-07-30 22:50
That is where our perceptions differ.
Interesting though that a mouthpiece almost never jams. It is made of a more stable material. If any socket was going to jam from shrinkage it should be this one, being in the wettest part of a clarinet. Hmmm.
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