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Back again - need some repair help - Evette and Schaeffer

Author: escher
Date: 2013-11-13 15:55

Good day all...

A brief recap..

I was active in 2003 - and at the time I had purchased an Evette and Schaeffer in a sorry state - for about $63 dollars on Ebay...

I did some refurbs and didnt want to get in to a repad back then, so it went into storage.

In 2011 I got interested again and sent it out for a repad / recork / adjustment.

I was frustrated as I was having a heck of a time with high clarion / altissimo...

So - back into storage..

three weeks ago I got the bug again...

So I pulled it back out and found the issue.

On the upper joint, right side cluster of four keys... the second from the bottom was soldered back onto its tube at some point. I could never get the screw out to take a better look at it.

Well, I finally broke down and stripped the cluster down (again) to have a better look. There were two issues. First - the key was soldered with regular low temp solder, and it failed. Second, the low temp solder must have gotten into the tube and attached the tube to the screw.

So - the screw cannot be removed.

I have re-soldered the key to the tube - again using low temp solder for teh time being... but I cant get the screw out, even if I completely desolder the key.

So - and let me preface this a bit....

I dont have the extra funds to send this clarinet out and have repairs done - this is completely a hobby, so thats not an option.

I am a Mechanical Engineer and have worked on my horns for a long time - I know when I am in over my head and what I will and wont tackle... so no - I wont do any lathe work, or tonehole work... but I can do repadding and adjustments.

Preface out of the way - down to my question.

Do any of you kind folks have a donor horn that I could have this key and screw from?

My thought is this - I think I will have to 1) desolder the key from the tube again. 2) cut the tube/screw so that I can remove them 3) try and fit a complete new key/screw from a donor or 3a) solder my old key to a new tube and use the donor screw.

The horn is working as-is for now, albeit very ugly..

My E&S serial number is K1337... I would assume that a donor in the same SN vicinity would probably work..

I've put a lot of time into this horn over the last ten years and really would like to finally make her whole if possible.

You can read the start of my journey here:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=127925&t=127855

Thanks in advance... and I'll post another thread regarding my *other* project that I recently acquired!!

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Re: Back again - need some repair help - Evette and Schaeffer

Author: cyclopathic
Date: 2013-11-13 17:02

> First - the key was soldered with regular low temp solder, and it failed. Second, the low temp solder must have gotten into the tube and attached the tube to the screw.

So - the screw cannot be removed.

I have re-soldered the key to the tube - again using low temp solder for teh time being... but I cant get the screw out, even if I completely desolder the key.
-----------------------

Hard to say w/o looking but it is not necessarily a solder, it could be rust holding it. If it is solder you should be able to heat it and then twist it out.

If rust, try something like rust buster, it could help. If it doesn't try the combination of rustbuster and heating. If it fails you can always buy a top joint on flee-bay for 10$ and use posts/keys/screws/rods to do repairs. Cut posts open, drill screws out, etc. Options you list would work; just pick one which would be less hustle.

If you are using regular soldering gun, use silver (lead-free) tin alloy; found in plumbing supply. Do not confuse with antimony alloy, it should have sterling sign. Ag/Sn is x2-2.5 stronger then lead/ and antimony/tin alloys and doesn't turn dark. I had soldered keys with it and they held.

I have an Evette with K1357 (yeah, 20 numbers apart) which needs to be repadded, and I am not looking forward to. It is playable now, but ~50% screws froze, it would be tough to get out.

BTW K-series was made in Paris at Buffet factory somewhere ~1946(?) by Buffet trainees. It plays nice, but the wood is sub-par (WWII supply shortage). Some tuning issues, 12th are wide, need to shorten joint.

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