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Re: Buffet Alto Clarinet Rod & Pivot Screws

Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-06-02 16:54

If the rods are a sloppy fit in the key barrels and pillar heads, then you can definitely go up a size using some standard diameter rod screws currently in use in the industry.

The 2.34mm diameter ones can easily be upped to 2.4mm which is standard on Loree, Howarth and Marigaux oboes/cors anglais and also a diameter Buffet use on bass clarinets (and most likely on their oboes/cors).

2.05mm diameter ones can be upped to 2.1mm - I think Buffet themselves might still use 2.1mm diameter rod screws on some of their clarinets.

You can get fluted reamers in 0.01mm increments and it's typical for long key barrels to be reamed out to 2.41mm or even 2.42mm even with a 2.4mm steel, but you won't want to ream them out that large on keys with short key barrels. Or fabricate your own reamer from the same diameter steel as the rod screw, although stainless steel alloys don't tend to offer as good or as durable a cutting edge as carbon steel (the advantage of stainless steel rod screws being they're less likely to rust depending on the quality of the alloy).

For long length 2.4mm diameter rod screws, oboes/cors anglais have that in abundance - especially Howarth who use long rod screws on their instruments to mount the low C and B keys on when other makes tend to use a long point screw for the low B key and the low C keys have a solid key rod (or a floating steel within the key barrel) and are mounted between point screws.

Fossati and Rigoutat use 2.3mm diameter rod screws on their instruments if you ever need to source that size.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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