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Author: GEM
Date: 2007-03-10 00:13
The metal barrel rings on my Dad's Buffet are loose. What can we do to keep them from falling off?
GEM
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Author: kilo
Date: 2007-03-10 00:26
In all likelihood this is a humidity related problem, probably aggravated by cold dry weather and residential heating. Try cutting a piece of sponge which you can dampen, wring out, and stuff into the barrel bore. In a few days the wood should absorb enough moisture to swell and make tight contact with the rings. Lots of players keep a damp sponge or humidification device in their case -- or play Green Lines (ducks behind music stand).
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Author: DougR
Date: 2007-03-10 00:51
From a slightly different perspective: humidify or don't humidify, but FIRST take the barrel to a repair technician and have the rings professionally tightened.
THEN, you can sponge, or not-sponge, but at least the rings will be tight and you can ignore them as a potential problem. (at least, until you notice they are loose again.)
The rings are there in the first place to keep the barrel sockets from splitting when mouthpiece and body joint sockets are pushed into them.
When barrel rings are loose, it gives the wood room to crack from the pressure of a tenon being forced into it.
(As I learned to my dismay when it happened to the socket on my Selmer bass.)
(I forgot to post my regular "tighten those rings when the heat goes on for the winter" posts this year, so here it is.)
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Author: susieray
Date: 2007-03-10 01:14
I probably shouldn't mention this because I don't want to be the blame for someone messing up their barrel. But in an old Buffet brochure that I have, they say to remove the ring and shim it with a narrow strip of scotch tape.
This actually does work fine.
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Author: hans
Date: 2007-03-10 04:23
GEM ,
It's a humidity issue. The solution may be as simple as playing the instrument more frequently to keep the wood's moisture content higher. Getting the rings tightened treats the symptom instead of the problem.
Hans
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Author: DougR
Date: 2007-03-10 13:57
My point above was, and this is regardless of whether you want to call loose rings a problem, a symptom, or whatever---
If they're loose, get them tightened professionally!
THEN, address the humidity issue, or not.
I'm sorry, I'm a little avid on the subject, having had an instrument crack due to loose rings.
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Author: claritoot26
Date: 2007-03-10 14:02
Do shim the rings with paper, but also humidify your case. You can get a cello-sized Damp-it which works nicely for me. You can do the homemade sponge-and-baggie with holes in it method, but the Damp-It comes with a paper humidity gauge. The humidity should read 40%-50%. Using a humidifier in the room where your instrument is usually kept also helps.
I hope this helps.
Lori
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-03-10 14:51
Hans and Lori say it well. My suggestion are , yes, humidify the cl [pieces], then, if still loose, consider paper [news-print] barrel-shimming or compression shrinking [by a knowlegable tech !!], to tighten but NOTcrack [now or later]. Rite here in River City [Okla], our indoor humidity seldom rises about 30% in winter, is going up a bit now with early springing, and I forgot to renew the sponge water in my L7 Leblanc case, and now have a loose bell ring. I've begun re-humidifying, and in a few days if still loose, will take it to my skilled tech for shrinking. Sure would hate to have either a " noisy" or cracked bell on a fine horn. Luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-03-10 15:23
UGH, correction please. " indoor humidity seldom rises ABOVE 30% in winter. Sorry !
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: kilo
Date: 2007-03-10 17:39
I mentioned this on another thread and it's apt here -- think about investing in a humidifier for your practice room. You'll feel better and so will your clarinet.
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Author: GEM
Date: 2007-03-11 17:39
Thanks to all who responded. I'll pass on the info to my Dad when we get together Tuesday night for our weekly jam session.
Thanks again,
GEM
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Author: Clarion
Date: 2007-03-12 00:01
You could get a local instrument repair person to tighten them, but take care how he does it. You don't want them glued back on. They won't come off anymore, but the glue is not solid and will not cover for the fact that the rings are not fitting tightly enough to support the wood at the joints.
Some technicians use a special device for tightening rings. It squeezes the ring in toward the middle to make it tight again. These might work OK, but it must be done by somebody who knows what he's doing. Else, the ring will take on a more oval shape, and won't support the wood in tho joint evenly. Some think this could invite a crack in the wood.
I never could find anybody with the fancy ring tightening tool, but I did find guys who said, "Just glu'em back on!" So, I gave up on all of these characters.
One thing I've tried that seems to work is the "plastic bag trick." I learned it from a music professor in our local state college music department. Here's what you do:
1) Get a thin plastic bag, like you get at the grocery store.
2) Take the ring off, making note of which side was up and which was down--there's an invisible taper inside.
3) Stretch a piece of the plastic tightly, like a drum, over the joint where you just removed the ring.
4) Put the ring back on (up side up) and press it almost back in place against the table or some hard surface. If the ring goes on too easy, and you can get it off again with your bare hands, then it's not tight enough, and you probably need 1 or even 2 more layers of plastic. It should fit on pretty tight, but if you would have to use lots of force to get the ring back on (no hammers, please!) then you've got too many layers of plastic.
5) Now it gets tricky. Push the ring ALMOST all the way back on, maybe 80% of the way, so there's a small gap left between the metal ring and the wood. This gap leaves a way to trim off the plastic all the way round the barrel, using a sharp razor blade. Now, when you push the ring all the way down, the gap will close, and no plastic will show between the wood and the ring.
6) Now, use the razor blade, X-Acto knife, or whatever, to trim off the resulting "drum head" of plastic even with the metal ring to open up the bore again.
Repeat this process for any other ring that's loose. This has worked for me. I have not been able to get any instrument repairman to say it was bad. You might give it a try. You can always undo the procedure if you don't like it later on.
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