Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-08-08 00:58
If you like the look of ringless bells and enjoy their fragility, you will have to saw through the bell ring with a jeweller's saw or piercing saw and prise it open to remove it, then fill in the saw cut in the wood. You'll not only be left with a significantly weakened bell which will probably crack the first time you slam it down on a peg, but you'll also be left with an unsightly groove running around the bell flare. If that's the look you're going for, then knock yourself out and don't start crying when it cracks as you've only got yourself to blame.
If you still want a ringless bell and you don't like the fact it's been weakened now the protective metal ring has been removed, you could always carbon fibre band the slot left from the removal of the metal bell ring, then fill over the carbon fibres with superglue and wood dust, then reshape and finish the bell flare to your liking or to make it less conspicuous. Or if you like the look of the carbon fibres showing like some repairers do and is also a feature of Buffet Divine (and Elite) clarinet sockets, then you can do that as well.
Or just don't do it and leave it as it was if it's not causing you any problems. If it is loose and rattling, you can always get some superglue to wick into the gap, but only do that when the bell is at its driest.
I have a set of Selmer St.Louis clarinets where the bell rings were removed and the bell flares were reshaped, but not to a pleasing shape. I reshaped them so they're more like oboe bell flares or resembling Peter Eaton clarinet bells as well as carbon fibre banded them for strength as ringless bells are significantly weaker compared to their counterparts with metal bell rings fitted.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2021-08-08 19:23)
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