 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-09-25 00:55
I recently bought a Normandy bass clarinet through that auction site. It's in surprisingly good condition but does not have a floor peg. I've ordered a Leblanc peg assembly from Ferrees (nice people, by the way) and will fit it when it arrives here in Oz. I had thought to silver solder it to the bell, but looking at the bell I see that the tenon fitting is silver soldered to the bell and I will be working only a few millimetres from this joint. Is this going to cause me problems, or should I plan on soft soldering instead. Will this provide a strong enough join?
Looking at the body of the instrument, it appears to have a very expertly repaired centre join. The only evidence of it is that the 5 cm immediately above the join has a slightly different surface texture. The bore is clean and shiny.
Thanks.
Tony F.
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Author: GaryH
Date: 2013-09-25 01:23
If you ordered a peg assemply (holder, peg, screw and nut) for a Vito bass clarinet you could get one of two different assemblies. Either holder would be soft-soldered to the socket on the bell. Silver solder would require you to heat the bell so much that all of the parts that are soft-soldered on would fall off.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-09-25 01:40
I'd say take the peg assembly to a pro -- an instrument repair shop or a jeweler. They will be able to attach the new part to the bell while protecting existing joints, perhaps by submerging them in wet sand or water to keep them cool.
Many bass pegs are poorly designed and don't hold well. You can replace a round screw with a wing nut wrapped in a big rubber band to give extra leverage. You can also drill shallow conical indentations along the peg and use a screw with a point that fits in the indentations.
You'll do best with a high-friction cap at the bottom of the peg. Get a Superball, drill a hole 1/4 of the way through and slightly smaller in diameter than the peg. Then insert the peg. And for heavens' sake don't bounce the instrument on the ball. A bass goes out of adjustment if you look at it crooked, let alone bounce it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-09-25 09:10
The fitting is fairly easy to soft solder to the bell socket - it's the preparation that's the most important factor here in order for it to be successful. Make sure the curve on the underside of the fitting is a close fit with the socket, everything is cleaned well prior to soldering and you use the appropriate soft solder and flux and also enough heat.
Dry fit it first to be sure it fits and lines up well, then when happy with that, apply a thin but even coating of flux to the underside of the fitting and on the area of the socket, hold it in place with soft steel or brass wire and heat it up and apply the solder making sure it flows throughout the entire area of the solder joint.
If you want it fitted to the lower joint, then several holes will need to be drilled in the baseplate (either six or eight in total to be on the safe side) and then countersunk, then the holes need to be drilled into the lower joint to receive the wood screws.
If in doubt, take it to a brass instrument specialist as they do a lot of soldering and this should be an easy job for them to do.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-09-25 13:05
Many thanks all, the peg is on its way and I have a friend who has done a lot of brass repair work who will supervise when I fit it.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-09-25 13:42
What I did was to tin the underside of the baseplate with a thin layer of solder before attaching it to the bell socket, then applied the flux to the area on the socket where it attaches to and added a little more solder during heating to be sure it filled any voids. You'll know when the solder has flowed throughout the entire joint as you'll see it emerging around the edges when molten, then it shrinks back (or recedes) slightly when it cools down.
If done well, you shouldn't have much cleaning up to do afterwards - just removing the residual flux by washing it and then polishing it up to restore the finish. Silver and nickel plated finishes can be cleaned up and polished without the need to replate if the solder joint has been successful and tidy. I any solder has run, it can be removed by heating it just enough so it melts, then wiping the still molten solder off with a cotton rag. Then polish the darkened area to remove remaining traces of soft solder.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2013-09-26 05:13
Yes, it's not silver soldered to the bell.
OTOH you can use ton/silver solder, probably 95/5 or 96/4 (I wouldn't use 94/6 which is also available). It requires more heat than lead/tin soft solder, but not much more, and is usually abotu twice as strong.
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2013-09-26 12:12
Soft solder. Use heat sink gel to protect areas you want to keep cool.
Steve Ocone
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