 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: paker
Date: 2012-04-12 03:24
I got a grenadilla clarinet and need to sell the old Vito. I paid $20 and am going to sell for the same amount with new pads in. While I was cleaning it up, replacing pads for the next owner, I found a spring to be extremely short. It barely hangs in there, not putting enough tension. Shame that I played it. Double shame if I pass it on to another person.
The post is near the bottom of the lower section. Easy access. But do I have to remove the post first? Are the posts threaded? (This is plastic clarinet). How is the spring held in place? Was it flattened and jammed into the hole by any chance? Thanks.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-04-12 04:55
It's probably not worth the expense and trouble of buying the kit you need to replace a spring if this is the only one you're ever likely to replace. Have a look at the suspect spring, it may have just loosened and moved around in its hole. If so, just tap it gently back into position. Gently is the important word here. You'll find that the butt end of the spring is flattened and it's just an interference fit in the hole. There no need to remove the post. If this isn't the case, take it to a repairer. The job will take only a couple of minutes and shouldn't cost much.
Tony F.
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Author: mvjohnso
Date: 2012-04-12 06:43
Kit? There is not need for a kit, and if you can disassemble and reassemble your clarinet then you can replace a spring easy. You just need pliers (preferably flat jaws but who cares about the cosmetics of a spring). I use beading pliers, you can buy a set of em at the Walmart and it only costs $20. They are a good buy and are incredibly useful for instrument repair (as flat jaws won't mess up your metal as much). The "specialty tools" that are made for spring removal and insertion are just glorified/modified versions of these. The inserting ones have the middle cut out of one jaw, and the removal ones have a screw in one of the jaws (there are beading pliers like this too (those with nylon jaws, just remove the insert)). But I tend to just use any pliers I got on hand for the job. Just grip the long end and gently push out of the hole (be careful not to break it as then you may need the removal pliers). Now, the hardest part about general spring replacement is finding the right size spring (just try different sizes). Then insert new spring into hole, and you are done. And yes it was flattened and then jammed into the hole, and you can do this on the clarinet.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2012-04-13 04:26
Re your questions:
In general springs are replaced without removing posts.
Some posts are threaded in, some are sort of stuck in, some just slide into a hole with a sort of set screw holding them in place and some have the plastic body molded around them. I don't remember what Vito had.
Yes, the springs are flattened by hammering the end on a hard surface so the spring flattens and doesn't dig into the surface instead. You also need to cut it to the correct length before flattening, since they usually come longer to allow many different lengths. Some springs come already flattened but all I've seen had a poor shape for the flat. IMO it is important to get the flat shaped right, or else the spring can get loose fast or break.
You can follow simple instructions like mvjohnso's abvoe but IMO it's worth knowing the risks, what issue can happen, etc. before. For example you might try as hard as you can to remove the old spring and it won't even move. You might even risk breaking the post out. It's possible replace almost every spring with relatively basic tools, but specialized tools do have a purpose. Almost all woodwind repair pliers are modified versions of more basic pliers, but that's exactly what makes them so useful, those (sometimes small) modifications.
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