 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2014-11-26 07:36
Hi All:
In my opinion, and based upon all the reading (as opposed to writing) that I've done over the years on this board, perhaps no person more than our Chris P deserves recognition as our "tech in residence."
Not only his answers to clarinet mechanics, but the things he has done on clarinets in his shop are truly first rate. One such thread, as appearing on this board, was his completely reversable retrofitting of an left pinky Eb/Ab lever on a clarinet designed without one, by getting the existing left pinky F/C key to perform "double duty" if you will.
http://www.clarinetperfection.com/galleryclar/Keywork/CP1/01.jpg
In short, envision the rod of the F/C left pinky key hollow, where inside the rod was an independent metal shaft, itself connected at one end to the Ab/Eb pad, and at the other end, to an additional touchpiece adjacent to the existing one for the left pinky F/C.
I travel much, but mostly within the US where I reside. I'd love Chris to do this work for me, but shipping my clarinet there and back might be a bit pricey on top of the cost of this custom work.
Does anyone know of techs in the States that have done, and do similar work?
Yeah, I know" Chris' work is worth the cost of shipping.
And yeah, the retrofit's a "nice to have," not a necessity.
Thanks.
Oh---on the road and on the stupid company computer that makes me go through their proxy servers....who knows where this gets sent from, despite my current presence in a Jacksonville, FL hotel.
(yuck, yuck...and no, (sigh) despite Buffet's presence in town (the clarinet people, not the "all you can eat" people), they won't do such retrofits for little ole people like me.)
Post Edited (2014-11-26 07:46)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-11-26 16:25
Attachment: signet100lheblever 001.JPG (714k)
One of my concerns is not only the cost of shipping, but the instrument being bound up in Customs red tape.
Several years back I rebuilt an old simple system piccolo for a forum member only for it to be held in US Customs for what seemed like an eternity with no knowledge of where it actually was, so that caused anxiety on both fronts. But after several months it was reunited with its owner (but unfortunately got caught up in a tornado that destroyed their bandroom in Arkansas, but it was recovered and hopefully brought back to playing order again).
The other type of LH Ab/Eb lever I've fitted is the lever style one that has the touchpiece in the usual place overlapping the other LH levers. I mount that on the existing LH E/B lever key barrel (the Ab/Eb key barrel telescopes the E/B key barrel in a similar way the trill key barrels are telescoped), so making it easier to reach.
See the attachment as I fitted this type to my Yamaha alto clarinet and also for a customer who wanted it fitted to their Signet 100 which they preferred to their R13 Prestige (which was sold in favour of their old Signet) which had the LH Ab/Eb lever, but they missed it on their Signet.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2014-11-26 17:19
Chris P:
Thanks for letting readers hear about your work directly from you.
Little did I appreciate, when first writing this thread, that "custom" work would take on double meaning:
1) The cost of a repair tech's time to effect positive instrument change, and
2) The cost of the possibility that customers, out of country to the repair tech, might have to wait for said repairs as the instrument makes its way through each country's package clearing services.
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