 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ransome Fan
Date: 2022-03-31 08:46
I’ve ordered a Buescher 731 True Tone metal clarinet that was made in 1929. When I receive it I’ll have to recondition it, and I’ve got a number of considerations that I’d enjoy getting advice upon.
I’ve seen recommendations for using leather pads on metal clarinets. What is the reason for that? Where do you order them from? What measurements does one need to get the correct sizes?
Due to thumb injuries, and maybe an unusual shaped hand, I like my thumb rest to be 5/16” above the center of the tone hole that lies beneath the right forefinger. I won’t play a horn that hasn’t had the thumb rest moved to that spot. This particular horn (I presume) is silver plated, and an antique. I’m concerned that when the thumb rest is unbrazed, that there will be a scar there in the plating. I hate to be the guy that damages the finish on an antique horn, but I don’t see that there is much choice if I want to enjoy playing the horn. Also, is there much danger of my repairman accidentally unbrazing the nearby tone hole while he is working?
Do you have advice on getting the tuning mechanism on the neck unstuck? From past experience I’ve discovered that a 50% mixture of acetone and hydraulic oil is a more effective penetrant than any commercial variety. I thought that I might give the neck a lengthy soak—like a month—and then pass the horn the repairman to see if he can unstick it.
One of the latches on the case is broken. Is there a source for these?
What are people doing regarding the finish on these old horns? Do people polish them as well as they can, and call it good, or do some people actually have the horns re-plated? If so, who does it well?
Is red rot a concern with these horns? What do you do if you have some, and what do you do to keep from getting it if you don’t have some?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2022-04-01 03:50
Silver plated instruments will be silver plated both inside and out, so you're not likely to have any issues with red rot on them as all the exposed surfaces will have been in direct contact with the plating solution in the plating tank during the electroplating process.
Unsoldering and resoldering the thumbrest in a different location isn't going to leave as much of a scar as you think as once the residual solder has been cleaned up and the underlying surface polished, it can always be spot plated to cover the bare metal to make it look uniform, or covered over with lacquer to prevent it tarnishing. Or you can always leave it bare brass or nickel silver.
If you're going to use leather pads which are definitely far better than skin pads, you'll have to measure the inside diameters of the pad cups once the existing pads have all been removed and the remaining glue in the pad cups has been removed. Use shellac to install them as that provides a nice solid foundation for the pads and they can always be adjusted further down the line.
Use a cork pad in the speaker key and that has to be made from high quality cork with no pores on the surface which can cause leaks. You will have to prep cork pads by grinding the face to be sure it's perfectly flat and free from any defects. Use several grades of abrasive from coarse to smooth laid on glass or any other perfectly flat and firm surface to grind the cork pads on.
It will also help massively if you level all the toneholes - you can make tonehole facing tools from metal (brass or nickel silver), wood, plastic or ebonite provided the face has been machined completely flat, then glue abrasive to it and use that to level the toneholes. It will also help to centre drill the tonehole toppers and make a set of pilots to fit the various diameter toneholes to be sure the tonehole topper stays in place whilst grinding the toneholes level. Use a back and forth rotary motion to level them and you can use different grades of abrasive, starting with a coarse one and finishing with fine abrasive for a good finish.
Another option are synthetic pads and they're often best installed with hot glue which has a much lower melting point compared to shellac so it won't distort or melt the synthetic material.
As for silencing materials, use felt or other similarly soft material to cushion open standing keys to minimise key noise when you release those keys. You can still use cork stoppers on some closed standing keys should you want to, although there are far better alternatives and I prefer to use tech cork for that as it doesn't compress like natural cork can if the stoppers are fairly thick (over 2mm). Also use thin tech cork under adjusting screws or other linkages - you can always stick thin teflon to it for the LH thumb linkage on the LH1 ring key and on the LH F/C key linkage tab on the RH F/C key as that will make it more slippery. Natural cork is still the best material for tenon corks (and cork pads).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Ransome Fan
Date: 2022-04-01 07:56
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Chris: That was an utterly awesome reply. Thanks ever so much for all of the detail. Those are instructions that I see the sense of.
I haven’t yet run across any description of someone successfully repairing the adjustable tuning barrel. Mine is frozen. Have you (or any other poster) had any experience with getting these unstuck? I was planning to soak the barrel in a 50% mixture of acetone and hydraulic fluid for a month to thoroughly soak lubricant into the stuck surfaces. I thought that I’d machine a driver that I could insert from the bottom and screw onto a slide hammer to try to tap it out. I haven’t received the horn yet, so I’m talking through my hat. I may be misunderstanding the situation, though the company that sold me the horn did send some photos.
Post Edited (2022-04-01 08:00)
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Author: Ransome Fan
Date: 2022-04-01 08:10
Dear Chris:
You’ve alluded to a number of specialty products: Special pads, specific adhesives, cork repair materials, tech cork, and so on. I’m in the bicycle trade and I’ve worked as a machinist, so technical work does not especially daunt me. However I’m not particularly familiar with instrument repair, and especially where to get materials at. Can you suggest any sources?
I’m blessed in that I have a table top lathe, and I can easily turn a set of tone hole facing tools. That at least, will be straightforward. I’ve got a friend who is a professional musical instrument repairman, and I can pass the work to him for finishing touches, and to check my work.
You mentioned spot plating. Who does that?
thank you, Ken
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