When we speak of the necessary tools in theaverage one man shop, we must bear in mindthat the small hand tools, which comprise thetool box layout of the average repairman cannot be considered as part of the average shopsetup.

It is for the aforementioned reason that wemust list the shop or stationary tools and thesmall tools in separate categories.

Shop ToolsLathe-Preferably of the Atlas or Delta VarietyBench motor (1, 2, or 3) 1/4 HP 175 0RPM app.Work bench 34” high, 3’ wide, 5’ longPolishing latheDrill Press (Optional)Assorted Dent RodsDent Plug SetsTrombone MandrelsBell Mandrels (Trumpet and Trombone)Bell Iron or Horn StakeVise (4” or 41/2” swivel base)Compressor (Size depends on amount of pres-sure needed)Torch (natural or manufactured gas)

IMPORTANT TOOLS FORINDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS

IN REPAIR SHOPSBrass Work1. Set of tapered mandrels2. Dent hammers3. Straight mandrels4. Straight burnishers5. Curved burnishers6. Bell Mandrels7. Dent plugs8. Dent master9. Hi-Heat torch10. Lathe11 Bench motors (2)12. Trombone slide mandrels13. Assorted files14. Assorted pliers15. Tin snips16. Bell iron17. Rod Holder (v-block)18. Draw Plate19. Set of carbon drills20. Set of taps and dies

21. Scrapers (hook and straight)22. Mouthpiece puller23. Small dent rods

Saxophone and Clarinet1. Screw drivers (large, medium and small)2. Spring punches3. Midget and regular hacksaw4. Screw extractor5. Pad slick (small and large)6. Crack slick7. Oil Stone8. Spring hook9. Hammer10. Rawhide mallet11. Pin vise12. Bench vise (41/2” jaws, swivel base)13. Wood mandrels14. Post drilling jig15. Screw blocks16. Leak light17. Calipers18. Micrometer19. Hinge cutters20. Pivot reamers21. Pivot counterbores22. Pad seat reamers23. Socket reamers24. Ring machine25. Tenon repair kit26. Key swedging pliers27. Bunsen Burner28. Soldering jig29. Sax dent rods30. Pearl sets31. Post drills and tap

Brass Repair Materials1. Sheet brass (.010, .015, .020)2. Assorted brass instrument parts3. Valve corks4. Waterkey corks5. Valve felts6. Valve springs, assorted7. Waterkey springs8. Solder (50-50)9. Silver solder10. Soldering acid and paste11. Borax12. Buffs

CHAPTER 1GENERAL SETUP OF THE AVERAGE SHOP

13. Polish14 Brass rod (1/2” and 1/4” and 1/2” round 15 Assorted brass tubing16. Pearls17. JUNK PILE (it can’t be too big)

Taps and Dies0x80. 1x72, 1x64, 2x64, 2x56, 3x56.3x48. 4x40. 4x48, 5x40, 6x40. 6x32,8x40, 8x32, 10x32, 10x24, 12x28~,12x24, l/4”x20.

Reed and WoodwindRepair Materials1. Sheet cork and bottle cork 1/64, 1/32,1/16, 1/8, 3/32.2. Sax pads3. Clarinet pads (brown and bladder)4. Flute and piccolo pads5. Flat felts6. Flake shellac7. Gold wax for clarinets8. Flush bands9. Springs (needle and flat)10. Post bushings and shims11. Kerosene, alcohol and thinner12. Norton Springs (Buescher)13. Tone boosters14. Pivot screws and rods15. Neck corks

Shop LayoutThe shop should be set up so that the

mechanic has the least trouble getting to thedifferent tools thereby cutting down the amountof lost motion in the average work day.

The vise is placed on the left side of thebench since it is easiest for the mechanic towork directly in front of his bench while an

instrument is held on his left side out of his way.When assembling a saxophone, he can easilyface his work and still be next to his parts andtools, assuming that the mechanic is using asaxophone mandrel to hold his work in the vise.This is a wise move since it gives the mechan-ic the free use of both hands while the saxo-phone is held securely in place, thereby actingas a third hand.

A bench motor should be placed on theright side of the bench, with an adapter for agrind wheel, drill chuck or a buffing wheel. Thisenables the mechanic to do most of his workwithout having to leave his bench.

The gas line should come from the top ofthe bench at the center. The hose should be atleast 8’ to 10’ long to enable him to get arounda saxophone or a trumpet, while it is held inplace in the vise.

The lathe should be placed to the left rearof the work-bench so that the right side of thelathe is at least 3’ from the vise at any point.This enables the mechanic to use the flat bedof the lathe for alignment of trombone slides sothat they can be soldered together while lyingon the lathe bed extended from the end.

In this manner we can utilize the flat bedof the lathe, thereby eliminating the Brown and Sharpe level, which is used to level tromboneslides for mounting. In view of the fact that theslides would be extended from the bed of thelathe, no harm could come to the lathe.

Small cabinets for materials such as clarinet,flute and piccolo pads can be placed on thebench at the furthest point from the mechanic.This is so placed since they are not in constantuse. The same goes for the many small partsthe average shop must have, such as pivotscrew springs, etc.

Shop layout with proper lighting.

Reed instrument repair bench layout.

Saxophone pad cabinets are kept at theopposite end of the room to keep them clean.

The best effect in lighting is achieved by theuse of a florescent fixture with two 40 Watttubes, placed approximately 8’ above the floorover the edge of the bench, running parallel tothe bench. The same type lighting is recom-mended for the lathe; however, it is advisableto have a gooseneck light for fine work.

The compressor should be placed under thebench so that the air pressure line can easilybe brought to the top of the bench alongsidethe gas line so that the gas and air torch hosescan be secured together for easier handling. Ifthe gas line has a double outlet the hose canremain permanently attached since the secondgas outlet will take care of the Bunsen burnerline.

Best results are obtained when the bench isplaced in front of a window.

Polishing, lacquering and plating equipmentshould be in a different room that is well venti-lated because of the fumes from the platingand polishing solutions.

Polishing, Plating and Lacquering ShopSetup

The polishing lathe should be set at the fur-thest end of the shop near windows if possible.A polishing lathe for silver and gold platedscratch brushing can be placed in the sameend of the room. There are dual speed lathesfor this purpose.

The tanks can be set up on the left side ofthe room so that the rinsing tubs are betweenthe acid baths. (See diagram).

The strip tank must have a gas line forheating purposes as well as the regular hottank for lacquer removal. The rinsing tankshould be a double drain off bath so that cleanrinse water can constantly be applied.Degreasing machines must be kept by a win-dow for ventilation.

The lacquering equipment should be in acompletely separate room to bring to a mini-mum the possibility of dirt and FIRES.Plating equipment should be kept as close aspossible to the rinsing tanks in the polishingroom.

It is advisable to use stainless steel for allrinsing tanks.

There are many types of lacquering equip-

ment available. It is advisable to consult yourlocal equipment supplier or write the AmericanRepair Service of Newark, N.J. for informationfor your particular needs.

The lacquering booth should be stone andsteel construction with its doors on springs thatopen outwards. The blower for the lacqueringbooth should and must meet the underwriter’s

approval for insurance purposes.The blower for the polishing lathe will depend

upon the size of the polishing lathe.The hopper for the blower should be placed

in the right hand corner of the polishing room.The bulbs used for lighting in the lacquer boothshould be encased in explosion proof contain-ers.

It is further advisable to use blower fans overall solutions to dissipate the fumes outside thebuilding.

If a baking oven is used with the lacqueringequipment it should be placed near the lac-quering booth.

Lacquering booth with ventilating fan.

Dent Removal With Dent Rods

Due to the fact that the position of eachdent in a musical instrument presents its ownparticular problem. We shall have to describethe removal of them in separate categories.There are three procedures to be used in theremoval of dents that can be reached with adent rod. These three procedures are known asinside burnishing, hammering and the reboundmethod. We shall take them in this order fortheir description.

Inside burnishing is the application of thedent rod to the inner art of the glide bow for thepurpose of pushing the dent out. This is doneby using the dent rod as a burnishing tool onthe inner part of the slide bow, applying pres-

sure to the slide and moving it backward andforward, right and left, as desired to actuallypush the metal back to its original position. Indoing this, you must be extremely careful not tooverwork the metal lest we stretch it past itsoriginal shape. When removing dents in thisfashion we use our dent hammer merely for thepurpose of retaining the true shape of the slidebow. This is done by a feather touch whenusing the dent hammer. Care must be takennot to overstrike the metal with the hammerdue to the fact that if we have a steel rod on theinside and are hammering the brass from theoutside, hard hammering will stretch this metal,leaving a misshapen part with hammer marks,which is a sign of poor workmanship. The sec-

ond method is used in those cases where thedent was caused by a sharp object puttingsomewhat of a cut or nick in the metal. By ham-mering in a light fashion directly on the cut, wemay possibly close this cut sufficiently well, soas not to be visible. Bear in mind the fact thatsuch hammering is done directly over the dentrod which is inserted in the slide bow. Whensuch a cut is removed, we merely use the pre-ceding method to put the slide bow back to itsoriginal shape. The third method known as therebound method is employed very often wherethe brass is so heavy, as to make it impracticalto remove the dents in any other fashion. Thisis done by holding the slide bow tightly againstthe dent rod, the curved portion of the dent rodresting directly on the dent, and striking sharpblows against the dent rod allowing the springaction of the rod itself to rebound inside withthe same force of a little hammer. This will drivethe dent up to the position desired. By strikingthe dent rod on the opposite side, instead ofusing the rebound method it will act as a directhammer against such a dent. Again ‘I repeat,we must be careful not to overwork the metal orstretch it beyond its normal or natural position.We can. in most cases, through careful work,remove these dents so that practically nomarks are visible. To make it appear extremelysmooth to look at, we must do what is known asthe finishing process, that is, the removal ofany stretch marks or hammer marks on themetal through the use of emery cloth and thebuffing wheel, The best strength emery clothfor this type of work. 2/ 0.

Use of Drawplate

In removing dents from a tuning slide or anylarger slide bow, we will very often be confront-ed with the tubing losing its round form andbecoming elliptical or oval. To bring it back to itsoriginal shape, we make use of a tool known asa drawplate. This tool consists of a series ofholes in graduated form in a hardened piece ofsteel, the edges of the holes being beveled toprevent lines from appearing on the part to berepaired. This draw plate has many uses. Oneof its most important uses is to round out oval

CHAPTER 2BRASS INSTRUMENT REPAIR

Burnishing dents from the inside.

shaped tubing. By putting the tubing throughthe proper hole in a steady even motion, youcan bring this tubing back to its original roundappearance. We must be careful not to choosetoo small a hole on a draw plate. If a piece oftubing is forced through a hole having a small-er diameter than, the tubing itself, it will causesuch tubing to shrink, changing the bore of thehorn; this in turn, brings out the second use of‘the drawplate. which is to shrink oversized tub-ing.

Annealing BrassAll of the above methods are used in the

dent removal of the slides of musical instru-ments. However, in some cases, the brass isso hard that it becomes necessary to soften it,prior to removal of the dents. This is done by aprocess known as annealing. To anneal brass,we use the following procedure: Using a torch,heat the brass part until it is red hot. Once it isred hot, you may either let it cool by itself orchill it in water. This will soften the brass to itssoftest point allowing for easier work: There isone point to be very careful of. Before heatingthe brass red hot, we must remove all traces oflead, soft solder or plating. If lead is heated redhot, it will crystallize and become extremely

hard so that we will have a great deal of troubleremoving it. If plating such as silver plating isheated red hot, we will surpass the fusion pointof the silver, causing the Silver to melt and runinto little lumps on the material. The removal ofdents herein described takes into considera-tion the dents in the small slides and tuningslides of any of the brass instruments. Thereare other methods for removing dents in differ-ent portions of the horns, and we shall deal withthem individually.

The dents in the underside of tuning slides

may be removed by inserting the dent rod in anupside down fashion, in the vise, facing it downtoward the floor with the vortex of its circumfer-ence pointed upward. and using the directhammer method against the dent. We mustbear in mind that in bending this tubing, thebrass on the outside circumference of the tun-ing slide is stretched, making this part weakerthan the inside circumference, which is actual-ly shrunk. It is for this reason that it is muchharder to remove the dents from the undersideof the tuning slide than the outside of the same.

If it becomes necessary to anneal a portionfor the purpose of removing dents, be extreme-ly careful to apply the flame directly to the dentand as soon as the dent is red hot, halt the heatapplication. In this way only the l)art to beworked on will be softened.

Dent RemovalStraight and Tapered Tubing

When removing dents from the straighttapered parts of the bell section of trumpets orcurved sections of any of the larger brassinstruments, where we can still use a dent rod,it is preferable to remove these dents through aprocess of burnishing from the outside againsta dent rod which is placed on the inside. Weshould try to have our dent rod conforming asclosely as possible to the shape of the part onwhich we are removing the dents. By crushingthe metal between the burnisher and the dentrod. using a double handle burnisher to allowus the necessary power, we can flatten theentire part so that the dent will be removed,leaving the instrument not quite perfectlyround. This portion is brought into round by lit-tle burnishing with a single handle curved bur-nisher, utilizing the same while turning theinstrument with the opposite hand so as to beable to burnish against the curves or ridges. This enables us , through the sense of touch, tobring back the round shape to the instrument.The ideal way to remove dents from a straighttaper is to have the perfect fitting mandrel ordent rod, but due to the fact that we must real-ize that there is no such thing in this country asa musical instrument repair shop that canafford to keep even one tenth of all of the man-drels to fit all instruments perfectly, we mustcontent ourselves with approximated or aver-age sizes of tapered and curved dent rods. Ifper chance we had the perfect fitting rod to

Rounding out bell tubing with draw-plate.

remove the dents from a straight taper, thiscould be done through a process known asspinning, which is forcing a burnishing toolagainst the mandrel while the mandrel is turn-ing in a lathe.I merely mention this due to thefact that spinning is a factory procedure and isthe method utilized by all factories to bring upthe perfect shape of the straight taper and thebell flare on brass instruments. However, itwould cost many thousands of dollars to equipthe average shop in such a fashion and I knowof no shop that is capable of this.

In the event that there are only a few dents,and small ones at that, in a straight taperedpart, we can very often remove these dents inthe following manner: first, insert a tapered mandrel, and resting upon the middle of themandrel, using as much pressure as possible, roll the instrument on the mandrel from side toside. This will very often remove approximately

ninety percent of the dent leaving just a smallflat surface where the dent originally stood.Since it might prove to be more work than it is

worth, burnishing this out, we eliminate the bur-nishing process in this case and using the tip ofthe dent rod, drawing lightly against the flat sur-face until such time that you have pulled it backinto its round shape using your eyes and senseof touch to keep the perfect shape of the horn.When the dent is removed in this fashion, it is

wise to use a single hand curved burnished over the same portion of the instrument, bur-nishing against the mandrel in an easy fashion,turning the instrument while burnishing.

If there is a dent caused by a sharp instru-ment leaving a cut in the metal, then removethe dent as described in the previous para-graphs. However, the cut will still remain andthis can be removed in either one of two meth-ods. If the, cut is very small, then you can

merely emery over the spot to make it disap-pear. However, if the nick is very definite, thenit is best to hold the part against the mandrel sothat the dent is held tight in place on the steelmandrel while hammering gently directly on thecut; this will have a tendency to stretch thebrass slightly in that one spot and will cause the

Using double handled burnisher to burnish brass tubing to fit the mandrel.

Using single curved burnisher to round out flat spots.

Rolling out the dent.

Using single curved burnisher to round out flat spots.

cut to fold together so tightly that the cutbecomes invisible. Naturally, any hammermarks would have to be removed through theuse of filing and the emery cloth.

Very often we hear musicians speak of tak-ing away from a horn. These people speakwithout any knowledge whatsoever. It is a rareoccasion when we can remove the dents froma musical instrument so perfectly that final fin-ishing, using a file and emery cloth, becomesunnecessary. This process of finishing is uti-lized not only by mechanics but by every facto-ry in existence today. Our spinning marks andburnishing marks must be removed, and thebarrels of brass dust that are collected in thefactories are strictly from sanding processes,which we call finishing and it is our opinion thatthere are very few jobs that will ever look goodif they are not perfectly finished. Hammermarks and burnishing marks should beremoved. They are the difference between apoor and a good looking job. However, there isone important rule to remember. We mustalways cross-cut our abrasives. If it becomesnecessary for you to use a file on a part of amusical instrument, then remember that whenyou remove such file marks you should emeryin the opposite direction of the file marks. Thisprevents the abrasive emery from digging thesame cuts deeper.

I will not be a prude! It is for this reason thatI tell you that when you remove a dent, do notbe afraid to use your emery cloth and a fine fileif necessary, to remove hammer marks andburnishing marks and bring up a fine finish tothe instrument. Furthermore, I will admit asanyone else must, that there is no such thingas a musical instrument repair shop if you takeaway their emery cloth.

Naturally the aforementioned goes under theassumption that the instrument is a base metalsuch as brass. In the event that the instrumentis plated, and it has a small dent, we will un-doubtedly attempt to preserve the plating with-out the use of emery cloth or other abrasives.However, such work becomes extremelytedious and does take a lot more time.Nevertheless, if it is a plated instrument that isbadly smashed, we would have to considerourselves extremely fortunate in repairing suchan instrument without hurting the plating. Veryoften in my many trips through the factories, Ihave asked this same question: “In all your

emerging, how can you be sure that the gaugeof metal will remain consistent throughout?”For every time that I have asked that question,I have received the same answer: “We can’ttell, but if the instrument gets thin in any onespot, we throw it on the side as a factory reject.”This is an important fact to bear in mind be-cause if nothing else, it will ease our con-science in doing our repair work so that we canarrive at the best conclusion possible, which isa fine appearing and playing repair job. Makeno mistake about that which we have men-tioned, we do not tell you in any manner,shape, or form to file out dents or to removethem with emery cloth. The dent should beremoved first; hammer marks and burnishingmarks are the only things which we remove byuse of abrasives. Emery marks can easily beremoved through polishing.

BELL REPAIRINGDents in the bell may be of a great many

varieties. The best way to remove these dentsis with the use of a bell mandrel, a rawhide mal-let and a straight burnisher. Using these tools,it is done in the following manner.

Place the mandrel in the vise so that it standsup straight. Rest the trumpet over the top of thebell mandrel. Using the rawhide mallet, ham-mer the bell ring so that it lays level on themandrel and perfectly even all the way around.Using the burnisher, leaning against it, with theweight of your body, rub the burnisher up anddown until you have completely covered every

portion of the bell, burnishing the dents out.Use lanolin in preference to grease or vaselineas your lubricant. The one thing to be careful ofis the fact that in so burnishing we may causesmall flat surfaces that may not be visible to the

Full bell mandrel with detachable tapered rod.

eye, but the bell will not feel round to the touchof the hand. These can easily be removed bythe same method of burnishing in a lighterfashion on the same bell. If there are small regions of dents near the bell ring these mustbe taken out last. They are removed by holdingthe instrument in the left hand using the

burnisher in the right and pressing the metalwith the burnisher in such a fashion as to pushthe dent out. It is the rounded point of the bur-nisher that must do this work. We raise the dentand then burnish it evenly from the inner part ofthe bell.

The second method of removing these dents is with the use of a saddle iron or horn stake.This is done by resting the outer part of theinstrument against the saddle and burnishingthe inner flange of the bell. First burnish out thedent or crease, whichever the case may be,then round the instrument up by drawing theinside of the bell against the saddle. In usingthis tool, we may also rest the inside of the bell

on the saddle and burnish the outside. It is a lit-tle bit more difficult to utilize the second proce-

dure. However, not every shop can afford toequip itself with perfect bell mandrels for everytype of brass instrument. Therefore, this saddleiron and horn stake becomes an extremelyimportant tool in any repair shop since we can utilize this tool for the removal of bell dents on

every type of brass instrument up to the size ofa French horn.

It is extremely valuable for use on Frenchhorn bells. In repairing an instrument which hasa larger bell than a French horn it is advisableto burnish the dents in the same fashion

against a large round steel tube. If you have alathe, you need merely purchase a length ofpipe 2” in diameter and cut approximately 2 feet of its length to a smooth finish. If you arenot capable of doing this, such a tube can bepurchased.

Very often a bell may be so badly dent-ed as to have creases which are extremelybad. To remove the dents in this bell withoutcracking the material, it may be necessary to

Bell mandrel, saddle and bell iron combination, horn stake and bell iron.

Using tip of burnisher to remove rim dents.

Use of bell iron and burnisher to remove dents up to the rim.

Using bell iron to roll out bell shape.

anneal the metal. However, in annealing thebell of an instrument, we must be extremelycareful not to heat the ring of the metal red hot.

The reason for this is the fact that in manu-facturing the instrument, the spun rim of thebell is soft soldered to prevent the vibration that

might take place where the metal touches itself. You must never heat metal that has soft solderthere on red hot since it will tend to crystallizethe solder and cause a great deal of harm.

Bell Repairs

There are occasions when the bell ring may split. There are two methods of repairing this;one is to soft-solder a patch that curls from theoutside to the inside over the bell ring.However, there is an even better method whichmay be done in two fashions, the first of which

is to uncurl the metal that was spun over thering and thence to spin the metal over a newring first cutting away the part that is cracked.Naturally, this will make the bell slightly smallerbut not to any noticeable degree. It will notchange the intonation of the horn.

This, however, is a factory method and may notprove feasible to the average shop. The follow-

Top: Double handled straight burnisherto roll out creases. Bottom: Bell rolling on

bell rod.

To remove bell dents, you need a horn stake and a bell mandrel.

The inner flange of the bell is being burnished on the horn stake.

A new bell ring is shown prior being clipped to an old bell.

ing is the method I prefer. Procure for yourselfa length of 1/4” half round brass rod. This maybe purchased from any brass house since it isstandard stock. It is listed as 1/4” x 1/8” halfround rod. Measure the circumference of theinner part of the spun ring. Cut this length of thehalf round rod, bend it around in a circle andsilver solder it. Then lay the ring on a flat sur-face and using a rawhide mallet or plastichammer, hammer the top of the ring till it bendsover to approximately a 30 degree angle.

Next, cut the bell ring off the body of the

instrument, cutting away the smallest amountof metal possible. This can be done by filing theouter rim of the bell till you reach the metal ringinside. If the crack is longer than the amount ofmaterial, cut away, then silver solder the bal-ance of the crack. Lay the new ring on top ofthe bell and using a series of clamps, approxi-mately 10 clamps are sufficient for a trumpet,clamp this ring to the bell itself. Naturally, alldents should be removed from the bell prior tothis procedure. You will find that if the ring is atan approximately 30 degree angle, it will fit verynicely against the trumpet bell and you merelyhave to soft solder this ring in place. Upon thecompletion of the soft soldering job, merely fin-ish the edge of the ring so that it is smooth. Ajob so repaired will not even prove noticeableas a repair job to the average person and willlook as though it came from the factory in thisfashion. At the same time, the bell remains al-most the same length and will not change theintonation in any way. The clamps used may bemade of small pieces of brass approximately 1

inch in length by %“ in width and should beapproximately .025” thick.

These small pieces of brass are merely bentin half so as to allow for a small amount of pres-sure to hold the bell against the ring. We make

these clamps out of flat stock so that it willleave no marks on the bell. They may also bemade of steel. Steel clamps are preferable.However, you may not have this type of metalon hand.

Dent Removal Curved PortionsUse of Dent MasterUse of Dent Balls or PlugsUse of Draw Plate

Dent PluggingTo remove dents in curved portions, which

are inaccessible through the normal use of dentrods, we make use of the set of tools known asdent plugs. These may be either of steel orbrass and consist of approximately 100 plugsshaped in the form of a little barrel ranging in

Here the new ring has been put on the bell and soft soldered.

The hammered bell is then smoothed out with a burnisher and lanolin as

the lubricant.

Dent ball set of 50 balls.

size from .250 to .750 graduating by approxi-mately .005 to .010 of an inch. There are twomethods of using these plugs. The first methodthat we shall describe is the most widely used.This consists of dropping the proper size dentplug into the tube and forcing it under the dent

with the use of a driving plug. This is done byshaking the instrument in such a way as toallow the driving plug to hit firmly against thedent plug so that it acts as a hammer. When thedent plug is under the dent, we use our denthammer tapping lightly around the sides of thedent to round out the tubing. To remove thisplug from the tubing, we put in a back driverand reverse the hammering procedure. This

process is repeated until the perfect size dentplug is under the dent at which time, the dentwill no longer be visible. In some cases, it maybe necessary to put the back driver in prior tothe dent plug so that we may have the meansof extracting the plug at all times. In the eventthat the dent is extremely sharp, it may be nec-

essary to anneal the dent prior to the dent plug-ging procedure. In some instances if the dent istoo deep such as could occur on the backcurve of a trumpet or cornet it becomes neces-sary to yank such a dent prior to the dent plug-ging procedure. This is done by soldering apiece of brass rod firmly in position in the cen-ter of the dent which has already beenannealed to make our work easier. Then placethe rod in the vise and with one sharp pull yankthe instrument away from the rod. This willundoubtedly break loose the soldering job butwill, in turn, pull out a good portion of the dentallowing us then to have sufficient room to usethe dent plugs in the normal dent plugging pro-cedure. I repeat, this is only used when thedent is so deep so as not to allow us to use thenormal procedure of dent removal. There isalso a procedure known as hollow balling andhammering. In the event that the dent is in sucha place where it would be difficult to remove aperfect fitting plug, then we insert a smallerplug which can easily be removed and turning

the instrument to such a position as to allow thedent ball to rest on the dent itself, we tap light-ly with the dent hammer directly on the dent sothat the ball on the inside is caused to bounceand rebound against the dent. It is in this posi-tion that we may sometimes remove the dentsomewhat, However, this never is the perfectrepair job since we actually cause the tubing togo slightly out of round. However, this methodis used to definitely improve the appearance ofa repair job and to save some time.

Shaking the bell, with dent plugs inside.

Yanking out dent at back turn.

Hammering outside, with dent plugs inside.

There is another method of dent removalwith dent plugs which was brought aboutthrough the innovation of the Dent Master. Toutilize this tool, we must first drill a hole throughthe center of the dent plug using a No. 39 drill.The cable is then placed through this hole. Thecable is then threaded through a spring towhich is attached a handle. On the back end ofthe cable there is a small stud which holds thedent plug in position. This plug is then jammedinto place until the dent is removed. When thedent is removed, the cable is then tightened inthe vise and with the light yanks is pulled out ofthe horn. There is only one thing to be carefulof in using this tool. Do not try to rap the cablearound the hand nor to jam the spring too tightsince this would cause it to get many bendsand would make the tool difficult to use in thefuture. For an even more complete descriptionfor use of the dent master, I refer you to themanufacturer of the tool, Eric Brand Co. ofElkhart, Indiana. In the earlier part of this arti-cle, I did state that a normal set of plugs rangesfrom .250 to .750. However, there are plugsthat range in the larger size with larger gradua-tions. These larger plugs are a definite neces-sity for the removal of dents from French horns,alto horns, baritone horns, etc.

Upon the removal of all dents from thesecurved positions, you may possibly find slightripples which are left in the metal due to thedriving plug, the back driving plug or the grad-uation between the plugs. This can be removedby a method known as smooth hammering.This smooth hammering is done by the use ofa small tool which consists of a piece of solidbrass, the inside of which is cut to a smallradius approximately 1 and 1/4 times the radiusof the tubing itself. By placing this part againstthe tubing, moving it gently across the entirelength while tapping lightly on the smooth ham-mer itself, it will have a tendency to smooth outmost of the tubing. We must be extremely care-ful when working on plated instruments lest wecause the plating to be disturbed to a notice-able degree. However, if the instrument is of abrass finish, it is advisable to dress its outerappearance to a perfect finish through the useof emery cloth and the buffing wheel. If it can-not be reached with a buffing wheel, the emerymarks may be dressed out through a processof stropping in a shoe-shine fashion using asthe counter abrasive, fine pumice stone and

water. There is an important fact to rememberwhen plugging dents from a curved taperedtubing, that is, always start from the smallerend and work to the larger. The dents will grad-ually be pushed out as we work our wayaround, using one plug after the other untilfinally the biggest dent comes out without anytrouble whatsoever. One of the best tips I cangive you is to keep your dent plugs in perfectorder of graduation at all times. If the end of adent plug becomes marred from hammering,this can easily be dressed without any damageto the plug itself by merely inserting the plug inthe lathe and touching it lightly with a file.

If dents are plugged from a curved portionof tubing which is cylindrical in bore, the perfectshape can be brought into being with the use ofa draw plate. This is the tool which wedescribed in the preceding article. The drawplate may also be used on curved tubing that isconical in bore. However, we must be careful touse the draw plate only as a burnishing toolsince there is a graduation in the diameter ofthe tubing. In other words, assure yourself ofthe fact that you are using a larger size hole inthe draw plate. To cause it to fit better, merelytilt the draw plate to the side. It will straightenitself out as you come to the larger diameter.

However, it will give you an effect of curvedburnishing. Be careful not to press too hardsince you must bear in mind the fact that youare burnishing this portion of the instrumenthollow.

Rounding out bell tubing with draw-plate.

Valve CapsWhen a valve cap appears to be. frozen to

the valve casing, this is easily removed by strik-ing light blows against the cap (at the threads)with a rawhide mallet. This will break the corro-sion allowing you to unscrew the cap. Be care-ful not to strike the cap too hard or you willcause damage to the valve casing.

Freeing Frozen SlidesFrozen slides are removed in the following

manner:The small slides (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) are eas-

ily removed without unsoldering by placing apiece of heavy leather against the inside turn ofthe bow. setting a tang of a file against the

leather and striking blows against the tang witha rawhide mallet. Don’t strike the tang too hardor you may cause a strain on the valve casing.In most cases this system will work. The slidehammer serves the same purpose. If you, how-ever, have trouble using this method, it is advis-able to unsolder the bow, solder a piece ofbrass rod into the ferrule and holding the brassrod in the vise, use a turning, pulling motion,

remove each individual slide tubing. Clean andremount the slide. It is always advisable to usethis system on all tuning slides since the innercurve of the slide can easily get damaged intrying any other method.

Refitting Tight Threads on Valve CapsAlthough we do not have taps and dies to

fit the valve caps of the various trumpets, wedo have tools known as thread chasers.These tools are hand cutting tools for use onthe lathe. The cutting edge is a series of teethas on any tap or die. By turning the lathe at aslow speed, we can use these tools to followthe threads, dressing out the thread in the capa few thousandths larger. until the cap fits thecasing. These tools come in various sizes ac-

cording to the number of threads per inch. Theyalso come as inside and outside chasing tools.With a little practice, one can cut any number ofthreads per inch on a part of any diameter.

TAP AND DIETHREADING DRILL SIZE

The taps and dies used by musical instru-ment repairmen comprise one of the mostimportant items in any repair shop. We usethem for every type of instrument and in mak-ing many of our tools. Very few repairmen arefully aware of proper use of these tools, the for-mula for determining the diameter of the num-

Use of file tang and heavy leather toremove frozen valve slide.

Inside and outside thread chasing tools.

Using old mouthpiece and vise to remove frozen slide. Tap and die refered to as “screwplate”

bered thread sizes and the proper place foreach size thread. Complete and useful infor-mation for the repairman is the purpose of thisarticle.

A tap is a threading tool used to cut thethreads in a HOLE.

A die cuts the outside or male threads.There are right and left hand threads. Since

repairmen never have use for left hand threads,our discussion will take only the right handthreads into consideration.

Taps may be of three different varieties;Starting, Plug, Bottoming. Repairmen onlyhave use for the Plug and the Bottoming type.The most commonly used sizes are:

0x80 Flat Spring screw on sax and clarinet1x72 Flute pad screws, Clarinet, screws1x64 Small clarinet rods, Flute pivot screws2x64 Penzel Mueller pivot screws2x56 Small sax rods, Pedler pivot screws,Norton springs for Clarinet3x48 Most sax rods, Buescher, Martin,Holton, King pivot screws (Sax) valve guidesNorton Sax Spring etc. This is one of our mostimportant sizes.3x56 Conn pivot screws4x48 Large Selmer rods. Small Selmer rodscan be changed to use the 1x725x40 Brass instruments6x40 Lyre screws, neck screws (oldBuescher)6x32 Valve buttons, lyre screws8x32 Post bushings, neck screws, Valve but-tons10x32 Brass work10x24 Brass work12x28 Brass work12x24 Brass work14x20 Brass workl,4”x20 Brass work

Please note that the largest numbered tapis 14x20. After that size, we go into fractionalsizes. The numbers designating the size havea very important meaning. The second numbertells us HOW MANY THREADS THERE AREPER INCH. The first number tells us THEDIAMETER OF THE THREAD. The first num-ber is in CODE. To figure the diameter in thou-sandths of an inch, we must understand theformula and its use. The formula is 13 times thenumber and add 60. This will give you the

answer in thousandth of an inch. For instance,to find the diameter of a 3x48 thread, substitute3 in your formula; 13x3 and add 60. Thisanswer is .099. This tells us that if we wantedto cut a 3x48 thread on a sax rod, it would benecessary for us to dress the part to be thread-ed to .099. At this measurement, it wouldreceive the die perfectly and cut a perfectthread without hurting the die. The formula maybe used in reverse. If you measure a threadand find its size to be .138”, subtract .060 leav-ing .078 and divide by 13. The answer wouldbe 6. The number of threads per inch can bedetermined with a thread gauge. It would haveto be a 6x40 or 6x32. n the absence of a threadgauge, use your tap to see if the threads meshwhen placed together. In view of the fact that

we do not wish to make the use of taps anddies sound complicated, we shall purposelyavoid discussion the major and the minor diam-eters of threads. They present no problem inour type of work. It is sufficient if we realize thatwhen using the die, the full diameter of thethread should be present before cutting thethread. If it is undersized, the end result wouldbe a loose fitting thread. If it is oversized, thedie would be abused and may possibly break inthe process of threading or the stock couldbreak off in the die.

Removing a broken piece of stock from adie is accomplished in this manner: Drill ahole with a No. 50 drill in the center of the

stock. Spread the die by tightening the adjust-

Thread gauge

E-Z out screw extractor set

ment screw. Use a No. 1 E-Z out extractor toturn the broken piece out.

When purchasing the different sizes ofdies, bear in mind that all the sizes used byrepairmen are standard equipment in the13/16” outside diameter. If you use any otheroutside diameter dies, some of our sizeswould become special order and would cost agreat deal more. Our recommendation is thepurchase of the O.K. B-10 Jr. set by theGreenfield Company. The smaller sizes couldbe purchased separately. When a threadedhole is desired, merely consult your drill index,find the size thread you want listed under tapsizes. Locate the tap drill directly under thethread size. For instance, find tap size 8x32.Directly beneath it, you will find the number28. This will drill the perfect hole for the 8x32tap. There is another line of numbers markedclearly on the body drill. A hole made with this

size drill will allow the screw to fall throughwithout binding. Don’t mistake this body drillfor the tap drill.

There are high speed taps and dies andcarbon taps and dies. Carbon is cheaper andserves our purpose just as well.

The following are the drill sizes for tapsTap Drill0x80 561x72 521x64 522x56 482x64 483x48 444x48 405x40 366x32 336x40 328x32 2810x24 2310x32 2112x24 15

12x28 1514x20 10l1/4”x20 7

Tool GrindingUnlike most tool grinding as performed in

the average machine shop, tool grinding formusical instrument repair is extremely simpli-fied. This holds true for the grinding of lathetools, as well as scraper or any other type oftools used in a shop. In view of the fact thatthe type of material cut by the averagemechanic in the use of his lathe is eitherwood, rubber or brass (soft materials) havinga back rake angle on the cutting tool,becomes completely unnecessary andunwanted. Actually, a flat face to the tool inso-far as the rake angle is concerned, is all thatis necessary to allow for a smooth cut.Therefore, the musical instrument repairmanhas a simplified job in tool grinding. He merelyhas to grind the front face of the tool so thatthe cutting edge remains foremost and thatthe angle of the cutting edge should be lessthan a 90° angle. This, in fact, actuallyrequires the grinding of only the sides of thetool making our tool grinding operation a sim-plified process.

Hollow grinding of this tool is easilyachieved by grinding on the circular surface of

the front of the grinding wheel. The grinding ofscrapers is accomplished in the same wayand manner. To sharpen one’s drills, we mere-ly have to hold the drill at the proper angle toallow for approximately a 59° angular grindagainst the face of the wheel and holding thedrill in such a position so that the front of thecutting edge is the first portion to touch thewheel.

Drill indexes

We flip a drill at it so that it causes the grind

on the back of the drill to grind further at thebottom than it would at the cutting surface ofthe top, thereby giving us a slight back dropallowing the cutting edge to become the fore-most part. We must be careful to maintain theequivalent angle on both sides of the drill. soas to maintain the proper size cut of the drill. Ifone of the sides is ground improperly or at thewrong angle, it will tend to allow the drill todrill an oversized hole.

Once a tool has been hollow ground (allgrinds except those on drills), sharpening ofthe tools is quite simplified since the sharpedge can easily be brought back on any oilstone. Lathe tools should be glass hard. Thescrew-driver should have the temper drawn

from glass hard to a light straw color.Sometimes dark straw is preferable. Springsare drawn to a perfect blue. (See temperingbrass and steel.)

Soft SolderingThere are a few different types of soft sol-

der. The average type used by musical instru-ment mechanics is known as 50-50. The first50 standing for the content of tin, the secondfor the content of lead. In many cases,mechanics prefer a 40-60 soft solder. Thehigher content of lead, the more ease you willfind in using the material. The high tin contentsolder will harden too rapidly and will be a lit-tle tougher to work with. Above all soft soldersI prefer the 40-60. The flux used with this sol-der may be of different varieties. There is ordi-nary soldering paste which is put out by manycompanies such as Kester and Nokorode.These will do the job. However, they are verysloppy to work with since they leave a greasyfilm wherever they are used. There are twotypes of flux made from acid. In both cases,the acid used is muriatic (hydrochloric). Thefirst type is made by mixing muriatic acid andglycerine at the rate of 60% glycerine to 40%muriatic acid. These may be mixed in anyfashion whatsoever, merely shake the bottlewell. The second method of utilizing this acidas soldering flux is to put zinc metal into theacid whereupon a chemical reaction will takeplace releasing hydrogen gas. We merely addenough zinc until finally there is no reactiontaking place. This tells us that all the hydrogenis then out of the solution. The solution that isleft is no longer an acid but rather is chemical-ly known as zinc chloride. This is a perfectsoldering flux. However, it is dirty and prior tousing, it should be strained through a piece ofcheese cloth. Of the three different types offlux, my preference is that of muriatic acid andglycerine since it is the quickest to make andthe easiest to use. However, it is also themost expensive. The cheapest is muriatic acidand zinc. One of best methods of removingexcess solder, especially on large braces, isby warm scraping.

The acid serves a two-fold purpose. Its pri-mary uses are first to keep the part clean andsecondly, to make the solder flow easily) Wecan in many instances through application offlux and heat, cause the soldering acid toImproper drill grinding shows un-even sides.

actually clean a part but this is not too advis-able and should only be used in an emer-gency such as when the tonehole of a saxo-phone is open in a small place and must besoldered. If we cannot reach it to clean it, itcan be cleaned through the application of heatand soldering acid. Another place where itmay be used which will be described in a laterarticle more completely is in the passage of avalve that may be very dirty and may have aslight hole therein. Through heat and fluxapplication, we can bridge such a hole neatlyand cleanly with soft solder. There is oneimportant thing to remember: Do not use sol-dering acid in any form on chrome platingsince muriatic acid will strip the chrome platingand completely ruin such an instrument. If softsoldering has to be done on chrome platingsuch as on bugles, use a soldering paste todo the job. The excess of the paste can easilybe removed with any hand polish.

In soldering, there are certain definite pro-cedures to follow and I shall name them inorder:

1. Fit the part as closely as possible.2. Clean the part prior to soldering.3. Apply soldering flux.4. Apply the heat.5. Add more flux.6. Apply the heat.7. Apply the solder.8. Keep the solder out of the flame whenapplying it. Let the heated metal melt the sol-der.

Very often too much solder is applied.Naturally, we try to avoid this. However, it mayhappen. The removal of excess solder is doneby one of three methods. The first is to heatthe solder and while it is soft, wipe it away

using a clarinet swab. The second is to scrapethe excess away when it is cold. However,there is a third method, one which I prefer byfar. This is known as warm scraping. Heat thesolder slightly, so that it does not run likewater but yet is not fully hard, using an oldscraper, merely knock off the excess solder. It

will take very little practice to make one quiteproficient at this. After the excess solder isremoved, put a drop of soldering flux on thejoint and re-heat so that the solder will flowevenly and neatly around the solder joint. It ispreferable to use an old scraper since theheat applied to the scraper would tend to draw

the temper of this tool. This process of war scraping is extremely helpful especially in the soldering of large braces such as on sousa-phones but works equally proficient well in theWiping away warm solder.

One of best methods of removing excess solder, especiallyon large braces, is by warm scraping.

The part of the instrument to be repaired is usually tied in place with a piece of

binding wire.

soldering of small ones. We must be careful ofthe method in which our heat is applied. Heatshould be applied in such a fashion as toallow the flame to by-pass any other solderedjoint so that we are heating only that partwhich we want soldered. If there is the possi-bility of unsoldering another part while doingour job, it is advisable to tie these parts downwith binding wire. This binding wire should be22 B. & S. gauge black annealed. The besttorch for this type of work is known as a Hi-Heat. This torch may be purchased from anycompany in the U.S. selling supplies. It has 3tips for different type flames. The best typeflame for our work is a small pencil light flameof concentrated heat.

There are two types of scrapers used for fin-ishing our work. One is a 3-cornered hollowground scraper, which may be made quitesimply from a 3-cornered file. The other isknown as a hook scraper and is made from apiece of round drill rod 3/8 in diameter the endof which is flattened out and bent over, andsharpened so that the cutting edge is on theinner circumference of the bend. This shouldbe hardened and have the temper drawn to alight straw color. This scraper is used to reachthose parts that are not easily accessible withthe use of the 3-cornered straight scraper. Thecompletion of soldering should be propercleaning. A sharp distinct edge of the joint ismade by drawing the scraper around the part.

Emery cloth should be used if necessary andfinally, buffing. In the event that such solderingmust be done on silver or gold plating, it isadvisable to obtain for yourself a small quanti-ty, of anti-flux. This can be purchased at ajewellery or dental mechanics’ supply house.The anti-flux should be applied to the outside

of the joint. This would prevent the solder fromadhering to those portions of the instrumentthat would be harmful to the plating. Anti-fluxis not expensive. In such cases, it is advisableto tin the parts prior to soldering, however, it isnot necessary to tin any part of a musicalinstrument in preparing it for soldering. Youneed merely to have the parts clean. Oneimportant thing to remember when working onbrass instruments, is to apply the solder fromthat point that is easiest to reach when remov-ing excess solder. Upon the completion of thejob bear one thing in mind—if you can see thesolder, you have done a poor job. You canassure yourself of ease in working by spend-ing a little extra time to properly fit the part.

If in the application of solder, the solderdoes not seem to run quite as easily as weprefer, another application of acid will solvethe problem. If upon such application you stillhave trouble, immediately warm scrape theexcess and apply more flux and continue yourjob as before.

When using binding wire, we have atendency to press the knot in as we tighten

In finishing a solder job, the hook scraper is used to reach those parts not easily

accessible.

The emery board should be used where necessary in smoothing out surface after

soldering.

the wire. This may sometimes cause a dentunder the wire. This can be avoided byremembering to pull the wire toward you asyou are tightening it. Be extremely careful notto feed the solder too close to the bindingwire, since solder will take its road of leastresistance and may have a tendency to runalong the wire.

To properly clean parts prior to solderingthere are two quick and simple methods. Oneis to bright dip the part that is to be soldered.In the event that you do not have a bright dipsolution on your premises the second line ofprocedure will prove extremely important toyou. Purchase a 4” steel wire wheel. This isknown as a satining wheel. It can be pur-chased with any size hole so that it will fit anyshaft of any small bench motor you may havein your place. Merely run this steel wheelagainst the parts that are to be cleaned. It willdo an excellent job quickly.

Patch MakingThere are basically two types of sheet

brass used by musical instrument repair menin the repair of brass instruments. They comeby sizes, namely, .010 of an inch thick or .015of an inch thick. The heavy stock is used forplates in the manufacture of braces or thereplacement of the same. The thinner materialis used as patch brass for making soft sol-dered patches to cover holes or worn spots onyour brass instruments. The simplified type ofpatch is that which is placed on straight ortapered tubing such as the mouth pipe or bellof the trumpet at a straight portion. To get aperfect curvature on this type of material, it iswise to follow this procedure:(1) cut the desired piece of material using thetype shape that will seem to fall coincidentalwith the shape of the braces on the instru-ment. That is; if the brace plates from bell tomouth pipe are diamond-pointed, cut thesame type of shape from the patch brassmaterial so that it will have conformity with therest of the instrument. After making certainthat the edges are even and smooth, annealthis piece of material by heating it red hot. Itcan be chilled after heating since it will notcause it to harden. At this point, the brass isextremely workable since it is in its dead softstate. It can then easily be formed to fit that

portion of the instrument on which it is to beapplied. The patch is most easily cleaned byslightly warming it and then dipping it in a sol-dering acid. This will eliminate any dirt fromthat portion of the patch that is to be solderedto the body. After the patch and the body areprepared for soft soldering, the patch is tight-ened in place with binding wire,

The binding wire used for this particularjob of soft soldering should be 22 gauge blackannealed. When tightening this binding wire, itis wise to remember to pull the pliers from thepart as the wire is being tightened so that theknot of the wire does not cause a dent ineither part of the patch or the part to which thepatch is being attached. Solder this patch inplace (see Soft Soldering). The more difficulttype of patches to cut are those which mustreceive curves to match the curvatures of thebody. A small patch over the second valve iscurved with the aid of a lead block. After theform of the patch is set in the lead block bymeans of a curved piece of steel which is heldinto melted lead until the melted lead hardens,light tapping strokes against this curved pieceof steel while being placed in the lead blockwill tend to give you a smooth curvature in thelead block so that it can be used as a mold forcurving all patch brass.When the size of thepatch is cut, it must be annealed as heretoforedescribed. It is then placed directly over thecenter of the mold in the lead block. The steelbar used to make this mold is placed directlyon top of a piece of patch brass and the topedge of the steel bar struck with a hammer soas to drive the patch into its mold, there-by

forcing the curvature of this patch so that itbecomes a perfect fit against the slide. Whenthe patch has been curved correctly so as to

Sinking curved patch in lead block.

be the perfect fit, it is then wired down andsoldered as described herein (see SoftSoldering). This type patch fits the outer curveof a slide and it is advisable to use the leadblock for curving outer curve patches.However, should a patch be necessary on theinner curve of a tuning slide, the draw platecan expedite matters, (see Use of Drawplate).Very often the outer passages between thevalve casings become thin, either from havingdents removed or from buffing and theyrequire patches. It is imperative to cut anapproximate curve that will look the shape of

a small Napoleon hat so that when this patchis curved with the use of a lead block and asteel rod, it must fit exactly between the valvecasings so that the upper portions of the cur-vature blend to the shape of the valve cas-ings. The final dressing of this patch to fit isextremely important. If the fit is as close toperfection as possible, the top curvature willblend to each casing and the other cornerswill wrap halfway around the passage so thatthey are not easily discernible. Furthermore,the rounded shape given it by the lead blockwill have a tendency to make it as if they werenever patched in the first place. It is importantthat there be no marks or dents on these partsprior to soldering since it will be quite difficultto straighten these pieces after they are sol-dered in place. It is also wise to bear in mindone thought when making a patch. Although apatch is a sign of a repair in many. cases, thepatch can so be applied as to make it look like

a design on the instrument. This should bedone wherever possible to eliminate theappearance of repaired work and allow thepart to rather assume the appearance of fac-tory procedure. In some instances, a hole maybe worn on the underside of the bell causedby normal wear and tear. In many cases, it isadvisable to saddle patch this part in prefer-ence to soft soldering a patch. This will be forappearance ‘s sake only (see HardSoldering.’)

Hard SolderingThe solder we shall discuss shall have sil-

ver as its basic element. The lowest fusionpoint silver solder is without question the easi-est to work with and the best for our purposes.It is preferable to purchase your silver solderin wire form approximately 1/32 of an inch indiameter. The flux used with this type of solder

must be of a borax base. There are manyproducts on the market sold as silver solder-ing flux and will work very well. The cheapestmaterial, however, is Borax. This, however,has a tendency to swell when heated and maygive us some difficulty in soldering our parts.Nearly all of the special preparations of hardsoldering flux on the market today have elimi-nated this one fault so that the flux will meltrather than swell up when heated. Since theconductivity rate of silver is quite high, heattravels through our silver solder rapidly. To

Fitting curved patch to casing knuckle.

The part to be repaired may be held in a jig

eliminate burning one’s fingers. it is suggestedthat we saw a piece of a tubular hinge from anold saxophone key. Insert the silver solderwire through this key. The key should beapproximately two inches long. The silver canbe pushed through the back applying it at thefront end. The front end of the key should becrimped to hold the silver solder to retard itsfeed. We use silver solder on both brass andreed instrument repairing. There are a fewtricks in each method. The most important ofall that is common to both types of repair jobsis to allow the heat of the key or brass part,not the torch, to melt the silver solder. Thesmaller the amount of silver used, the better

the repair job. We should never apply moresilver solder than is ‘necessary but strivealways to feed exactly the right amount. Silversolder has a tendency to flow along the roadof least resistance. It is for this reason thatprior to silver-soldering, the proper fit is themost important item. Flux should be appliedprior to silver soldering, whether the part beheld in a jig or in a small clamp. The silver sol-der flux should be mixed quite loosely usingwater for its cutting agent. To remove the sil-ver soldering flux upon the completion of thesilver soldering job it is suggested that a pickle be used. This pickle is a combination ofsulphuric acid and water mixed in the follow-ing manner; to ten parts of water add one partof sulphuric acid. It is important to pour the

sulphuric acid into the water. The key is imme-diately immersed in this solution and left thereuntil the flux is eaten off. This pickle may bestrengthened and weakened as desired. It isextremely important to properly clean the partprior to silver soldering. All traces of dirt must

be removed. This can easily be achieved withthe use of a steel wire wheel which can readi-ly be purchased in any hardware store. Do notsilver solder any part that has lead on it untilall lead or soft solder is completely removed,since this lead would crystallize when the partis heated red hot. Over concentration of theflame at one particular spot could possibly

If you prefer, a small clamp may hold the part.

To remove silver soldering flux, use a pickle.

Final polishing is done on a buffing wheel.

burn a hole through the brass. This can beeliminated by dancing the flame slightly whileapplying the heat.

The finest torch I have found for this type ofwork is the high heat torch with a filtered tip.

In silver soldering plates on trombonebraces or 3-piece trumpet braces, it is a smarttrick to insert a small piece of silver in the tubethat is being held fast to the plate. Apply theflux and heat red hot. This will eliminate theseparate application of silver solder. There isanother type of silver solder which because ofits high fusion point and its yellow color isreferred to as brass solder. This solder takesthe color of brass and should be used wherethe color of silver is unwanted but silver sol-dering is necessary such as in saddle patch-ing which shall be described in a later article.This solder is a silver solder. Due to its highfusion point which is, incidentally, very close tothe fusion point of brass itself, we deviateslightly from the aforementioned facts andapply the heat to the part and solder alikeallowing the solder to melt off in small piecesand then allowing this solder to flow outthrough direct application of the flame to thesolder.

Brass SolderingIn this chapter we shall continue the dis-

cussion of hard soldering to take into consid-eration the use of a low silver content silversolder which assumes the color of brass when

hard. We shall here-in-after refer to this mate-rial as “brass solder.” It is used primarily in thesame manner as the normal silver solders.However, this brass solder has a high fusionpoint. Therefore, we must be careful in apply-ing the flame. If the flame is too concentrated,it could possibly burn the material by the timethe brass solder would melt. To avoid this, wemust dance the flame slightly when the metal has been heated red-hot. Contrary to therules, we gave you in silver soldering, weapply our heat to the brass solder as well asto the part being soldered. The same flux isused. Likewise we utilize the exact type ofpickle we used in silver soldering to removethe hardened flux after the job is completed.Brass soldering has its best use for two differ-ent types of work.

Let us assume that there is a crack in amouthpiece pipe or a bell of a brass instru-ment. This can be repaired in one of two fash-ions; the simple method is to make a patch tofit this part and soft-solder it in place.

However, this will definitely show signs ofhaving been repaired. The second methodinvolves the use of brass solder. First we mustclean that crack by filing or scraping theedges of the crack. The important thing toremember is that it must be clean enough toaccept the brass solder. Unlike silver solder,brass solder does not flow too readily. As aresult we must melt small portions of thebrass solder onto the crack when that portionthat is to be brass soldered is red-hot usingthe same flux that we use with silver solder.The flame must then be danced lightly directly

Excess silver solder may be removed with a file.

First, the worn section is cut for patching.

at the brass solder as well as the part untilsuch time as the brass solder seems to meltto a liquid state. It is advisable to use brass solder in excess of the amount that we wouldordinarily use where we silver solder a part.When cooled the excess can then be filedaway and final finishing done with emery clothand the buffing wheel. The brass solder willassume a color very close to that of brass. So close, in fact, that when polished, it will beimpossible for the human eye to detect the dif-ference. There is still another procedurewherein brass solder is used to great advan-tage. Let us assume that on the bell of aninstrument, a man has worn a part very thin,presumably on the tapered section near thevalve casings.This is a usual occurrence.

Through the use of brass solder and saddlepatching, this job can be repaired so that therepair job cannot be detected. This is done inthe following manner: using a half round file,of the smooth cut variety, that is large enoughto cover the worn part, file the instrument as

shown in the illustration.Then using a scaper, cut away at the

excess edge which we refer to as the saddle.Cut this job, it will be impossible to detectwhere the patch was placed. This procedurecan very often prevent the sloppy job of softsoldering patches as well as the cut away atthe excess headache and trouble of supply-ing, a new bell.

How to Take Accurate MeasurementsThe ability to take accurate measure-

ments can be acquired only by practice andexperience. Careful and accurate measure-ments are essential to good machine work. Allmeasurements should be made with an accu-rately graduated steel scale or micrometer.Never use a cheap steel scale or a woodruler, as they are likely to be inaccurate andmay cause spoiled work.

An experienced mechanic can takemeasurements with a steel scale and calipersto a surprising degree of accuracy. This isaccomplished by developing a sensitivecaliper feel” and by carefully setting thecalipers so that they ‘‘split the line’’ graduatedon the scale.

Setting Inside CalipersTo set an inside caliper for a definite

dimension, place the end of the scale againsta flat surface and the end of the caliper at theedge and end of the scale. Hold the scalesquare with the flat surface. Adjust the otherend of the caliper to the required dimension.

Measuring Inside Diameters

Then the saddle patch is soldered in place.

Next step is to remove the dent from the patch.

You can’t detect the patch on thefinished job.

To measure an inside diameter, place thecaliper in the hole and raise the hand slowly.Adjust the caliper until it will slip into the holewith a very slight drag. Be sure to hold thecaliper square across the diameter of the hole.

Transferring MeasurementsIn transferring measurements from an out-

side caliper to an inside caliper, the point ofone leg of the inside caliper rests on a similarpoint of the outside caliper. Using this contactpoint as a pivot, move the inside caliper andadjust with the thumb screw until you feel yourmeasurement is just right.

Caliper FeelThe accuracy of all contact measure-

ments is dependent upon the sense of touchor feel. The caliper should be delicately andlightly held in the finger tips, not gripped tight-ly. If the caliper is gripped tightly, the sense oftouch is very much impaired.

How to Read a Micrometer (EnglishMeasurements)

Each graduation on the micrometer barrelrepresents one turn of the spindle or .025 in.Every fourth graduation is numbered and thefigures represent tenths of an inch since4x.025 in = .100 in. or 1/10 of an inch.

The thimble has twenty-five graduations,each of which represents one-thousandth ofan inch. Every fifth graduation is numbered,from 5 to 25. The micrometer reading is thesum of the readings of the graduations on thebarrel and the thimble. For example, if thereare seven graduations visible on the barrel,since each graduation represents .025 in., thereading on the barrel is 7x.025 in. or .175 in.To this must be added the reading on thethimble which is .003 in. The correct reading isthe sum of these two figures or .175 in. +.003

in. = .178 in. Therefore this micrometer is setfor a diameter of .178 in.

Metric System MicrometerMicrometers for measuring in the Metric

system are graduated to read in hundredths ofa millimeter. For each complete revolution thespindle travels 1/2 mm or .50 mm, and twocomplete revolutions are required for 1.00mm. Each of the upper set of graduations onthe barrel represent 1 mm. (two revolutions ofthe spindle) and every fifth graduation is num-bered 0,5,10, 15, etc. The lower set of gradua-tions subdivides each millimeter division intotwo parts.

The beveled edge of the thimble is dividedinto 50 graduations, each of which represents.01 mm.

The micrometer reading is the sum of thereadings on the barrel and the thimble.

Removing Stuck MouthpiecesThere are many pullers on the market

which make removing stuck mouth-pieces avery simple job. The puller works in this man-ner:

Set the mouthpiece in the puller with the

proper dies to fit the shank of the mouthpiece.Turn the lead screws evenly until the mouth-piece is held firm in the puller. At this point, aslight amount of further pressure will releasethe mouth-piece.

Lathe Operation for Brass WorkUnlike the average machine shop, the

musical instrument repairman must use histools for his own benefit and not alwaysaccording to the prescribed methods set downin the regular manuals. For instance, the firstrule we break. Metal turning bench lathes thefact that most of the work we do on the lathein the cutting of brass is done with the use ofa hand tool and not with the compound rest asall normal texts prescribe, whereas most ofthe turning we do on wood clarinets is donewith the use of the compound rest.

English measurement micrometer.

Mouthpiece puller

It would be virtually impossible to makespecial form tools for each individual job. Forthis reason, we do most of our work with adiamond faced hand tool made for this pur-pose from square drill rod. (see ToolGrinding).

For the aforementioned reason a smallwood turning lathe is sufficient to do all thework in the brass repair department.Use your lathe for the following brass repairs:a. Making bow knobs (see Tool Grind-ing)b. Facing off the edge of tubingc. Cutting beads on the end of outsidetubing (see Tool Grinding)d. Making bracese. The bed of an Atlas lathe is a perfect level-ing block for trombones.

The chuck most applicable for our work isa three jaw universal chuck. Although this isnot the most accurate it is more than sufficientfor our work.

When the lathe is used for drilling a part

in dead center, we recommend the use of aJacobs chuck in the tail-stock. If the part is tobe drilled through the side of a piece of roundstock, put the drill in the chuck at the head-stock and use a crotch center. Use your lathefor cutting a part down to receive threads.(see Tap and Die Threading).

Bow KnobsThese small parts are the pieces soldered

on the small slides which allow one to grip theslide. It is wise to make one hand tool to cutthese bow knobs out of 14 brass rod. (Seetool grinding.) In this manner, each bow knobwill be the same each time. The bottom of thisknob is filed half round to fit the curvature ofthe slide bow. Soldering this knob in place isaccomplished in this manner. Make a smallclip of a piece of small drill rod approximately.100 diameter. When applying the heat, becareful to throw the flame away from the restof the slide. This will allow the knob and notthe rest of the slide to get hot enough to be

soldered.

Slide AlignmentAfter each slide is fitted correctly, assuming

that parallel lines are maintained, there is onlyone other point of trouble to look out for. Don’ttry to solder the slide while all the tubes are inperfect place. Merely tack or spot solder them.Move the slide back so that the tubes do notsolder together and complete the. soldering

jobs. Always grease the slides before mount-ing. Do not let the grease get on the part to besoldered. If the slides are put together in thismanner, you can always be assured of havingperfect butted ends.

Flat bed or rails of “Atlas” lathe.

Metal turning bench lathe

Using crotch center in tailstock

Clamp is used to hold bow knob for soldering

Valve and Casing CleaningMany of these items, though the causes

and the repair of the damage be different, willshow the same symptoms. The proper diagno-sis of the trouble is the most important phaseof valve repairing. A mechanic must first deter-mine what is causing a valve to work improp-erly before he can proceed with the normalprocedure in the proper repair of the same.Very often a valve will act sluggish if the valveand casing are dirty. This is the simplest repairjob that a mechanic can have on valves. Thevalve should be removed and properlycleaned prior to replacement. There are manymethods used in properly cleaning valves. Ofall of these, I prefer the following: if the valveis nickel plated, first degrease this valve byboiling it in a hot solution or if such a hot solu-tion is not available, thoroughly wipe off thevalve and buff it lightly, being extremely care-ful not to cut the valve nor to fold over theedges of the passages. The inside passagesmust be cleaned as well as the outside of the

valve. Upon the completion of the buffingprocess, the valve must be thoroughly wipedoff to remove all traces of buffing dirt.If the valve has a silver plated finish, it is sug-gested that we do not buff this valve for tworeasons, namely: 1. silver plating is very softand as a result, you would undoubtedlyremove some of it possibly causing the valveto leak. 2. silver plating is very porous and toomuch of the buffing dirt would remain on thevalve despite the high luster that would showafter. In the event a valve is silver plated, it issuggested that this valve be cleaned by thescratch brushing process, using soap barkand water and a very smooth, soft brass

brush, turing it at a speed of approximately 4to 6 hundred R.P.M. If the valve is chromeplated, it is suggested that this valve bewashed with warm water and thoroughlywiped off.

Copper plated or German silver valvesshould be treated in the same way and man-ner as silver plating. The valve casings shouldbe cleaned by a thorough wiping using cottonor wool flannel wrapped around a rod. I can-not stress the fact that the wiping of thesecasings must be a strenuous one if we are toreceive a smooth working valve. We mustactually strive to bring up a polish on theinside bore of the valve casing. When placingthe valves in the casings, assure yourself ofthe fact that there is no free lint on the valveor in the casing, since a tight fitting valve willnot ‘have the tolerance necessary to allow forthis. The valve should then be sufficientlyoiled and replaced in the casing allow-ing theoil to distribute itself all over the valve.Sometimes dirt will collect itself in the passagebetween the valve casings. If this should hap-pen, it is suggested that they be cleaned priorto the replacement of the valves.DO NOT USE OIL ON CHROME PLATEDVALVES. When cleaning these valves, theyshould be lubricated with cold cream andwater. Then the packing, known as valve feltsand cork washers, are placed under the capsof the valves to align the ports of the valve inthe upper position. The proper adjustment ofthis position is the perfect alignment of theports in the valves to properly match the likeopenings in the valve casings. The washersnecessary under the finger button are for thepurpose of aligning the valve in the downposition.

Valve Casing Repair (Dents)Dents in valve casings are always of the

very small variety, usually caused by themouthpiece falling loose in the case. It is notwise to try to remove these, but rather to elim-inate them. If we can roll back a small portionof the dent on a surface dent rod, it will notgive complete freedom of working to the valvebut it will bring the damage to a minimum.The balance of the internal nick is removed bygently scraping in the casing of only the nick,thereby not causing the valve to leak. Inextreme instances, the casing may have to be

Top: Proper slide alignment shows parallel lines. Bottom: Improper slide

alignment.

lapped out.

Valve Casing Repair(Retruing oval casings)

Oval casings are the result of a slidebeing pulled out of line thereby causing a ter-rific strain on the valve casing. This, is a usualoccurrence on the second valve casing. It iscaused by the musician (usually a student)putting the instrument in the case upsidedown. When the case is closed, it bends thesecond slide down causing such a strain. Thiswill, in turn, pull the casing out of round. Toalleviate this situation, we. must reverse thisprocedure. Since we cannot always get theproper leverage on such a small slide, a goodtrick is to place the third valve slide in theplace of the second slide. Keep the valve in itsproper casing. Ease the slide upwards slightlyuntil you feel that the valve is completely free.Replace the slides in their proper positions. Todetermine whether or not it is the casing,merely try the valve in a different casing. If itworks free in one of the other casings, it is a

sure sign that the casing is strained. If thevalve jams in the other casings, it is a suresign that the trouble is with the valve.

Bent Valve RepairAfter determining that the valve is bent,

the bend must be located. This is done byholding a straight edge against the valve up tothe light. Rotate the valve. To straighten thisvalve, place the valve in the proper casing up

to the point of the bend, going in from the bot-tom side. Strike the valve at the top solid sideof the valve near the stem to reverse the bendwith a raw hide mallet. Strike very lightly.Repeat this procedure if necessary until valveis straight.

Valve Passage Repair It is not proper to replace passages in

valves in the normal field of instrument repairsince when new passages are inserted in themanufacture of new valves, the valve shell isextremely heavy. However, since we oftenhave the problem of the parent who tries toremove the valve for his child by hammeringat the bottom of the valve with a screwdriver,we are faced with the problem of repairing this

valve. This is the proper procedure of com-pleting this repair:

Using a small ball end dent rod, pressthe edges of the hole in the passage back toas close to a normal position as possible.Apply a very small flame to the passage.Apply soldering flux. Bridge the gap with sol-der. Service the valve to work properly in thecasing.

Valve Casing Thread RepairQuite often the threads on valve casings

rot or rip These can not be repaired and mustbe replaced. The male thread for the top capis no problem, since it is on a marrel and thebarrel is replaceable. The male thread for thebottom cap is the one that usually presentsthis problem. The following is a description ofthe method of replacement. To understand theprocedure, we must understand the originalmakeup of a casing. In most casings, the partis made from one piece of brass tubing. Somecasings consist of two pieces of tubing, oneinside the other. To replace these threads, the

Relieving pressure on second valve casing third usingvalve slide to obtain better leverage.

Top: Note nick in valve casing.Bottom: Using scraper to shave

nick slightly.

old threads must be cut away and a newpiece of tubing with the proper threads mustbe put in its place. Since the new threads canonly be held in place by means of an insert,the valve casing must be prepared, for this.The tool used for cutting off the threads andboring out the casing is a fly cutter. It can bemade simply in your own shop in the followingmanner: Cut a piece of 1/2” drill rod 6” long.Drill a hole 3/16” through the side of the rod ata point approximately in center. (Three inchesfrom end) Grind a cutting tool bit edge on apiece of 3/16 “ drill rod. Insert this tool bit inthe 3/16”hole so that the tool looks like across. This tool should be locked in place bymeans of a lock screw preferably an AllenScrew (headless) with a 4x48 thread. Uponthe completion of this procedure, you will havean adjustable Fly cutter. This tool is a lifetimetool and can be used for any size valve in thefuture.

To properly guide this tool, a pilot must bemade for each particular job. The pilot con-sists of a piece of brass 11/2” long, the out-side diameter of which is a snug, smooth fit inthe valve casing, with a 1/2” hole drilledthrough the dead center of it lengthwise. Atthis point you are fully prepared to do therepair job.

Repair Procedure—Insert the pilot into the valve casing so that

the bottom of the pilot is at a point approxi-mately 1/2” above the bottom of the valvecasing. Your cutting tool is inserted into thehole of the pilot. Set the tool bit to cut 1/2 “the thickness of the valve casing wall. Usingyour lathe or drill press, let the cutter bore outthe casing to a depth of 1/4”. At this point.your casing is prepared to receive the newthreads.

Making the Insert— The insert is made from a piece of brass,

the inside diameter should be exactly the sizeof the inside diameter of the original valvecasing. The outside diameter should be a per-fect fit into the bored section of the valve cas-ing. The threads are put on the insert bymeans of THREAD HAND CHASING TOOLS.These tools can be purchased from theJONES AND AUERBACHER CO. of EdisonPlace, Newark, N.J. They are ordered by the

number of threads per inch. There are insideand outside Chasers. Their cost is approxi-mately $1.50 each.

The final procedure is to solder the insert inthe valve casing and lap out the casing to fitthe valve. If you center all your work, there willbe little or no lapping necessary. This proce-dure takes a long time to describe, but a shorttime to perform. Remember, once the tool ismade, it lasts a lifetime.

Valve Spring AdjustmentVery often the springs of a valve cause

more trouble to the musician than the valveitself. The valve may be free and easy workingin a trumpet or like instrument. However, if thevalve spring tension is maladjusted, the musi-cian will find it an impractical horn to play.There are three types of valve springs; namelythe top outside, the top inside, and the bottomsprings. The top outside spring is a spring thatutilizes the stem of the valve and a retainerplate. This retainer plate hits the shoulder ofthe valve casing so that when the valve ispushed down, this retainer compresses thespring against its stud at the top of the valvestem. Very often scratching noises are heardwith the use of these springs and it is causedby the valve spring being crooked possibly onthe first or last coil or on a center one. Wemust be careful to see to it that this springcompresses evenly without rubbing againstthe stem itself. It is only in this fashion that wecan eliminate the scratching noises that makea musician feel uncomfortable in playing hishorn. The only way we can check this on thevalve spring is to stand the valve spring up ona flat surface. If it leans to one side and doesnot stand up perfectly straight, we must thentilt the bottom coil to allow this spring to standperfectly perpendicular to any level surface.We will then reverse the spring and repeat thesame procedure. The tension of a spring isdetermined by the spread of its coil. We canincrease the tension of a spring by pulling thecoil apart on the overall length. We candecrease the tension of a spring by cuttingdown the number of coils. However, the topcoils must be refitted so as to lay flat againstany level surface with the spring in a perpen-dicular position. We should strive to make thetension on all springs actually the same,except in those rare instances when the musi-

cian requests the feel of some valve a little

heavier than that of another.On the top inside springs the same pro-

cedures are followed with this one difference.The scratching noises are the cause of theoutside of the spring coil rubbing against theinside part of the spring barrel. We must becareful to see to it that our spring coil is smallenough to allow, for clearance in the springbarrel just as we should be careful to allow forclearance on the top outside spring againstthe stem. On the bottom valve springs, thesame procedures are followed with this excep-tion. The bottom coils of the spring must belarger than the size of its own circumference.Upon setting the spring in the bottom cap, wemust assure ourselves of the fact that the spring stands perpendicular to the cap. Thesesprings usually are wound in a tapered form.

In all cases if there is a clicking noise, this is acertain sign of the fact that there are too manycoils on the spring. This noise can be eliminat-ed by cutting the coils off the spring. We canretain the same tension of the springs byspreading the coils.

Valve guides (Keys or Splines) are madefrom three eighths round brass stock, the end

of which is cut down to receive threads. Thesize of the thread depends upon the oldguide. The usual thread is either 3x48 or4x48. On larger than usual valves such assousaphone, the thread size is sometimes5x40. Dress down the side edges so that they

are squared off to a perfect fit in the guidetrack. This is easily accomplished by drillingand threading a hole in the side of a brassrod. Fit the guide in the rod and in this man-ner, you will be able to tell when the guide is aperfect fit in its track. The thickness of theguide is dressed when the guide is replaced inthe valve.

Valve StemsValve stems are of two varieties usually.

The simplified type is used on valves havingbottom springs. This is merely a piece ofround brass rod with a male thread on oneend. This thread is usually a 10x32 or 10x24

thread. The opposite end has a female thread.This thread is either an 8x32 or 6x32 thread.The female thread receives the valve button.

Correct—Each spring is as tall asthe others.

Wrong—All springs not of equal length.

Trumpet breakdown

The other type valve stem is the type usedwhere there is a spring barrel for inside topaction springs. These threads are chased. Thesize thread can be either a 38 or 40. If itbecomes necessary to change the size threadin the female thread of the stem, thread abrass rod with the size thread in the stem.Screw it in place. Silver solder it. Redrill andtap the new hole to any desired size.

Valve Pearl ReplacementBefore replacement of a pearl can be

effected, it is necessary to remove the oldpearl. The easiest method for this job is toburn the old pearl. This will cause it to flakeand fall out. After assuring yourself that therecess is deep enough to hold a new pearl,set the pearl in place and tap the edges downwith a dent hammer. There is a tool for thisparticular job. This tool is called a pearl set.The tool is placed over the pearl with a buttonresting on the edges of the vise. One solid hitwith a rawhide mallet will bend the entirerecess edge holding the pearl in place. Thistool can also be used in the lathe to spin thepearl tight. If used in this manner it acts as aburnisher to spin the edge down. The toolmust have its recess large enough to hit thebrass edge of the button and not the pearl.The recess of this tool has a slight taper.

Mouthpipe RepairThe mouthpipe is one of the two tapered

parts on a trumpet. If there are only smalldents in the tubing these are removed in thefollowing manner:

The dent rod used is 14” diameter. Theend of the rod is rounded. The rod should beapproximately 14” long. If pressure is exertedon the end of this rod, the rod will have a ten-dency to bend in the middle, thereby disallow-ing the use of the end of the rod. Since theend of the dent rod is the important part fordent removal, we must strengthen this tip.This is done by putting a gentle rise on theend of the rod. This will eliminate the possibili-ty of middle bending. This rod can then beused to remove the dent by inserting itthrough the mouthpiece receiver.

If the mouthpipe is badly (lanlaged, it mustbe unsoldered from the tuning slide andbraces after which a tapered mouthpipe man-drel can be inserted from the larger opening

and the dents can easily be burnished out.When a mouthpipe is broken or cracked, theleaks can be repaired by soldering a patch inplace. This sometimes creates the appear-

ance of a repaired part, which is the very thingwe must try to avoid. To maintain the appear-ance of factory work, it is sometimes wise tocut the pipe in half, since such a crack willappear short of the valve brace, After remov-ing the dents in the pipe, solder a sleeve overthe receiver and so that it allows a small por-tion to extend past the end of the cut off pipe.The amount of the extension is determined bythe distance that the tuning slide bead allowsfrom the third valve casing so that when theextension is soldered to the balance of themouth-pipe, the extension will be the samedistance from the first valve casing as the tun-ing slide will be from the third valve casing.When this is soldered together, it will look likethe original pipe from the factory, provided thatthe same type bead is cut on the extension asis on the tuning slide.

Water Key AssembliesA waterkey assembly consists of the

waterkey, gutter (posts that hold thewaterkey), rod, and the spithole. Someassemblies are one unit type such as on thecheaper type foreign makes. The Americantype is a two piece variety. The important thingto remember is to make certain that the sol-dering on the hole is perfect so that no leakcan occur. The spring for the waterkey is usu-ally made of Phospor Bronze. There are twotypes. The inside type is of a smaller gaugeand the hole in the coil is also smaller. Theoutside type has a large enough hole in the

Mouthpiece mandrel can be used where pipe is unsoldered from the tuning slide.

Trombone and trumpet waterkey assemblies.

coil to allow the coils to fit over the tubularhinge of the water-key. In both instances, theends of the spring are cut to size after inser-tion. These springs come ready made.

The trombone waterkey differs from allother waterkey in the fact that they demandmore coils on the tubular hinge than the otherwaterkey springs. As a result, the trombonewaterkey springs come coiled on one sideonly, since the second side must be coiled onthe waterkey. If the ends of the waterkeyspring are short making it difficult to insert thewater key with the spring attached, cut twolengths of tubular hinge 1” long of clarinet keystock. Place each tube over the ends of thespring and crimp the tubes slightly, thus giving

yourself the added length to allow you to easi-ly insert the key in place. After the key is inplace, remove the tubes.

Ferrule ReplacementIf a ferrule is so badly damaged that it mustbe replaced. it is performed in the followingmanner:The tubing used for the ferrule must be thesame size as the outside slide. Face off theend of this tubing. Solder it to the inside slide

so that the inside slide goes halfway into theferrule. Cut the length of the ferrule after it issoldered to the inside slide. The usual ferrulehas a bead cut in the brass on the bow side ofthe ferrule. This is done after the ferrule is cut

to size, and faced off. The ferrules should besoldered to the inside slides before they aresoldered to the bow. When the both ferrulesare on the inside slides, grease the tubesslightly, thus giving yourself side slides so thatthey are flush fitting to the outside slides.Insert the bow and merely spot a tack mark ofsolder on each ferrule against the bow. Nowpull the slide slightly so that the solder cannotadhere to the outside slide. Complete the sol-dering job. This method will tend to give youperfect alignment for a perfect working slide.

Making Adjustable BracesAdjustable braces are used in two differ-

ent places to accomplish the same purpose.They are placed between the bell and themouthpipe of a trumpet and wherever thenecessity for strengthening an instrumentinvolves the use of a longer brace than theaverage. The use of this type brace is a bigadvantage to the repairman since it allows himthe clearance for perfect fitting in the length ofthese braces, whereas the set brace cannotbe changed in length, thereby causing extraproblems in doing the job. The adjustablebrace consists of three parts, the two endbrace studs and the center bar. The end studsare made by cutting two short lengths of 1/4”brass tubing (Standard stock) the length ofwhich depends on the length of the bracerequired. For design, it is smart to cut a beadon the ends of the two tubes. File the oppositeends of the tubes half round to fit the curva-ture of the part it fits against. The plate for thebottom of this brace can be either diamondshaped or round depending on the otherbraces used on the instrument. Curve theseplates to fit the tubing.

Silver solder these tubes to the corre-sponding plates. The length of the brass rodbetween the plates is determined by thelength of the desired brace. When solderingthese braces in place, the important thing toremember is that the plates must be solderedfirst. After this is completed, the center bar iseasily soldered in the tubes.

Fitting Solid BracesTo maintain the instrument without strain

against the tubings thereby allowing the hornto remain in perfect alignment, it is necessaryto fit the solid short braces as nearly perfect

Water key springs.

Bead cutting form tool.

as possible. If a solid brace is slightly short, itcan be lengthened by causing the plates tohave a slightly sharper curvature. This willallow a slight gap in the center of the brace fitwhich can easily be filled with solder. If the

brace is too tight thereby causing a strain onthe tubes which tends to force them apart, thebrace can be shortened by crushing the bracein the vise. However, in order not to destroythe curved plate, it is advisable to place around piece of drill rod in the curvature ofeach plate and apply the pressure against thedrill rod. This will cause the center bead of thebrace to shrink in length and expand slightly,though unnoticeably, in width.

BRASS INSTRUMENT MOUNTING

A.Trumpet and other brass line hornsThe basic point to remember in the mountingof a trumpet is the maintenance of a guide lineas well as the maintenance of parallel lines. Ifa slide is to be dismantled on a trumpet, neverunsolder the entire slide, that is the outside aswell as the inside slides. Let the outside slidesremain mounted on the horn until the work iscompleted on the slide itself. After remountingthe slide, using the outside slides as the guideline or jig for this remounting, the outside canthen be unsoldered to complete any work thatis necessary there on. This allows the instru-ment to act as a perfect jig for all slide mount-ing and removes the possibility of guessworkin the maintenance of perfect parallel lines forslides. Remember that a slide on an instru-ment is a perfect rectangle. If the parallel lineson the rectangle are disturbed, the slide willhave a tendency to be extremely hard work-ing.

When remounting the bell on a trumpet,the first joint to solder is the small end of thebell into the first valve casing. Before solder-ing this, be certain that the bell back is per-fectly parallel with the first valve slide. The bellwill have a tendency, due to its weight, to leanover. If you allow this to happen prior to sol-dering, the front of the bell will have theappearance of lining up below its level line. Ifthis bell joint is mounted according to the par-allel lines with the first valve slide, the bell willfall in perfect alignment with the balance ofthe instrument, provided that the back tube ofthe bell was set parallel with the center of thetapered section prior to mounting. Next, solderthe brace between the first valve slide and thebell back. Finally, solder the braces on thetapered section of the bell. When solder-ingthe brace at the center of the bell, the heat

should be thrown in such a way as to allowthe excess heat to clear the rest of the instru-ment, thereby not causing the valve casing tobe overheated. This will eliminate the possibili-ty of any other part becoming hot enough tounsolder itself.

The mouthpipe will be easily replacedsince it will automatically follow the center lineof the bell. When applying the solder, be surethat you feed the solder from the point thatexcess can most easily be scraped from,allowing the solder to run just to the oppositeend. When soldering, apply a small amount ofsolder at a time. Remember that you canalways add more solder simply but it is a lot ofwork to remove excess solder.

B. TromboneOn the bell section, the important guide line isthe tuning slide. Since this is not a complicat-ed section, it is a simple matter to maintainthe parallel lines by the use of the tuning slide

Trumpet breakdown.

Improper and proper alignment of back turn to bell center prior to mounting.

as a soldering jig for the balance of the instru-ment. Do not forget that the collar pipe of thebell section of a trombone. must have a curva-

ture away from the bell to maintain the neces-sary clearance for the main slide when thehorn is completely assembled. Dents in thecollar pipe should not be burnished. Theymust be raised up with a dent rod from theinside. This curvature is maintained by meansof the adjustable brace between the bell andthe slide receiver on the collar pipe. For theproper mounting of the basic trombone slide,see the article on trombone slides.

TROMBONE SLIDES In view of the fact that there are many

things that can go wrong causing a slide to betight, we shall have to take them in separatesequence.

Slide DentsNever try to remove more than one dent

at a time in any slide. Bearing in mind the factthat a slide (outside) is made with spring tem-pered brass, by virtue of the tubing beingHard Drawn Brass, we must realize that theconventional method of removing dents canriot be used on spring brass. The use of thedent hammer is an art on slides. It must beused in the following way:

Place the index fingers and the thumb ofthe left hand on either side of the dent. Pressdown as strong as you can with these two fin-gers. Using the small side of the hammer,barely tap in the middle of the dent. The tap-ping should be so light as not to leave anymark. Hammer marks are sure signs ofstretched metal. Keep up this procedure untilthe dent springs back out. Light burnishingafter the dent has been removed is advisable.Naturally we must use a mandrel inside thedented slide while tapping and burnishing, thedent rod should be as snug fitting as possible.Always work one side of a slide at a time.Complete burnishing of a slide is only used

when the slide is oval shape. When burnishingthe slide, use a curved or hook burnisher.While using the burnisher lengthwise. keepthe slide rotating. In this manner, we eliminatethe possibility of getting oval slides.NEVER ANNEAL A TROMBONE SLIDE.

Sprung Slides

Sometimes a slide is sprung or bentwith no marks or dents. To repair this we mustfirst determine where the pressure point onthe slide is. Place one inside slide in its corre-sponding sleeve. Apply pressure with your fin-ger at various points on the outside slide todetermine which point will release the slide.When you have located the correct pressurepoint, remove the inside slide and with thepalm of your hand. apply a stroking pressureon the point requiring the pressure. If this isnot sufficient repeat the procedure until theslide operates correctly.

Slide AlignmentWhen both stockings and sleeves are

correct, the proper alignment becomes essen-tial. Please bear in mind that we MUST main-tain perfect parallel lines. To achieve this, wemust set the outside slide and match theinside slide to it in the following manner:

Remove the bottom bow. Lay the outsideslide on a leveling plate so that both tubes runperfectly parallel. Solder the top cross braceafter spacing the brace to the exact measure-ment of the ends of the bottom bow. Check

Allowing for curvature in collar pipe of trombone bell.

Burnishing outside of trombone with rod inside.

the length of the slide to assure yourself thatthere is the same distance between the slideat the top as there is at the bottom. To achievethis end we can bend the brace closer togeth-er or further apart.

Slide remounting is easily achieved if thefollowing is performed. Clean all solder fromthe bottom rings and from the side bow.Assure yourself that the bow fits each slidering easily. The distance between the ends ofthe slide bow should be the same as the dis-tance between the slide itself. When puttingthe bow in place the bow should fall in place.Never have the bow tight fitting. This willcause a strain on the slide and give you theimpression of a sprung slide. When the bow isin place, solder it. To check its parallel linesmeasure the distance between the top of theslide and the bottom. They should be thesame. Next, lay the slide on your levelingblock and check the parallel lines in the fol-

lowing manner: The two outside sides, thecross brace and the bottom bow form a per-fect square. Place the left index finger at oneend of the cross brace. Check for rockingmotion cross corner. A heavy block of glass orthe bed of an Atlas lathe makes an excellentleveling block.

Inside Slide AlignmentTo align the inside slide, place the inside

slide in the outside slide heating the top brace

so as to allow the inside slide to adjust itself tothe outside slide.

To check this slide, place one slide stockingin its corresponding sleeve and check for par-allel lines alongside the opposite slide. Whenboth sides check out, check the distancebetween the ends of the inside slide and theopening of the outside slide.

Slide CleaningEvery slide should be cleaned prior to

attempting any repair work on the same. It iscleaned in the following manner: The inside iscleaned by light huffing and vigorous wipingwith cotton flannel. The outside slide iscleaned by wrapping a 2” piece of cotton flan-nel around a trombone cleaning rod so that allthe length of the rod is covered. Vigorousstroking in and out of the slide does a fine job.Slide grinding is not recommended except inextreme rare instances since grinding tends tocause a leaky slide.

C. SousaphoneMost mechanics run into a terrific amount ofdifficulty when remounting a sousaphonebecause the normal tendency is to follow theold brace marks left when the horn is disman-tled for dent removal. To eliminate this prob-lem, remove the old brace marks when thehorn is dismantled. The sousaphone is usuallydisassembled up to the machinery so thateach individual turn can be burnished for thepurpose of removing all dents. These dentsare pushed up on the ends of the ball enddent rods and burnished on smooth curvedrods. Between all this and the necessary useof the dent hammer, each turn has a slighttendency to lose some of its original perfectshape. However, this is not visible to the eye.Nevertheless, when the instrument isremounted, the old brace marks cannot beused for this reason. The normal tendency isto follow the machinery by replacing one turnafter the other until the sousaphone is com-pletely remounted. This is the wrong thing todo since there will undoubtedly be a differen-tial between the factory jigs and the humaneye. As a result, the last turn will have atremendous strain since it will be the veryends of this angle. Since the horn must bemounted without any strain, we must

Checking alignment of inside slide to outside slide.

reassemble the instrument from the back end,by first placing the curved turns together toform the circle of the sousaphone. Whenthese turns are completely mounted, themachinery is put in place and soldered wher-ever the braces fall against the turn of thetubes. This procedure will maintain the bal-ance of the horn. The final part to be mountedis the neck of the body and this is the onlypart on which we use the old brace mark as a

guide to the proper setting of the bell. Thisprocedure also eliminates the possibility ofhaving the sousaphone look oval shaped.When soldering the braces on a sousaphone,the principle of warm scraping becomes amost important feature. (See article on softsoldering.)

French Horn RepairThe French horn presents a few basic

problems to the repairman due to the fact thatthe dents are not so easily removed as on anyof the other horns despite the fact that thegauge metal used on a French horn is thinner

than all other horns. This problem in dentremoval stems from the fact that most of theportions of a French Horn must be balled out.It is on this instrument that the Dent Masterplays its most important role. The importantthing to remember when removing the dentsfrom the slides is that the use of a slightlyundersized ball on the Dent Master willremove the dents more efficiently than theperfect fitted dent plug. Furthermore, the useof a smaller plug will eliminate the plug fromgetting jammed in place as well as the factthat this allows the smaller plug to more easilymake the turns of the slide without damagingthe curvatures. The same adheres to the cur-

1) Using heavy ball on rod to remove main dents.

2) A double handled curved burnisherevens out the curvature when used

against a curved mandrel.

3) Using an electric sander to remove nicks and marks left by burnisher

and hammer.

4) Belly band is wired down formounting.

5) Dents in large knuckle are rolled from inside.

Sousaphone bell burnishing and rolling.

vature on the mouth-pipe. Any dents in theconnecting tubes between the valve casings

and outside slides are simply removed byusing the ball end dent rods as previously de-scribed.

The bell presents the next major prob-lem. The bell flare dents are removed by firstgently hammering the bell ring into its properplace with a rawhide mallet. Next, burnish thedents from the flare over the saddle iron orhorn stake, taking a small portion at a time,then blending the burnished sections so thatthe smooth curved feel of the bell is main-tained. The worst dents on a French Hornusually occur on the first turn of the bell.These dents should be gently pushed up afterwhich the part must be burnished on a curvedrod to maintain the proper curvature. therebyeliminating the stretch marks that will takeplace. Final finishing of this part is done bylight emerying and huffing. We must reach as

far as possible in the bell with a circular rodwith a ball on the end to try and cut down theamount of plugging to a minimum. This can beaccomplished to a point past the finger restopposite the third valve. We must then

remove the dents from the back turn of thebell with a dent rod that is curved almost inthe shape of a question mark. (?) This typerod will allow you to reach the dents to a pointopposite the first valve. This will leave a dis-tance of approximately four to five inches thatmust be plugged out. This is accomplished byusing the larger set of dent plugs. The onetroubling factor to be careful of is the fact that

the bell will have a tendency to want tostraighten itself out of its curve when all thisdent removal is being done. To eliminate thechance of this happening, solder a bar acrossthe turn of the bell. This will hold the curve ofthe bell intact. When all the dents areremoved, remove the bar brace, finish thedent work by emerying and buffing. Resolderthe bell in place.

Rotary ValvesThere are two types of valves, namely,

the pump type and the rotary type. The pumptype is the average valve used on the regularbrass instruments. The rotary valves are thetype used on the old Italian trumpets etc. and

on French Horns. The rotary valve is basicallythe same even though the action is of twovarieties namely, string action and machineryaction. The rotary valve is actually tapered

Curved ball end rod used for removing dents from French horn bell.

Rods should be curved to fit the shape of part to be burnished.

Rotary and string actions

Holding bar prevents tubing from spreading when being plugged out.

slightly and must be a perfect fit in the valvecasing. The top stem of the rotary valve isalso tapered to fit the tapered tube on the topcap of the valve casing. The bottom platewhich holds the rotary valve in place must bea perfect bearing surface in its tube over thebottom stem of the valve. This plate hasmarks there on. The mark on the outer edgemust be aligned with the mark on the valvecasing. The mark on the tube of the plate isthe guide mark for the distance the valve mustbe allowed to turn in the casing to properlyalign the portholes. This turning allowance isdetermined by the thickness of cork bumperson the top cap. These bumper corks are cut toa point that allows the marks on the bottomstem to correspond to the mark on the bottomplate. After the bottom cap is screwed inplace. assuming that the valve and the casingare fitted and cleaned properly, if the valvebinds, it is a sure sign that the bottom plate isnot set perfectly. To correct this, tap the topstern very lightly with a rawhide mallet. Thiswill allow the valve to work freely. The valvemust be completely free to give the properallowance for spring tension to operate thevalve.

a. Valve Stringing Valve strings on a rotary valve can be either

fishline, nylon, or gut about the thickness of aviolin gut A string. This string is tied on in thefollowing manner:

Put a knot in the string about one inchfrom the end. Put this string through the holein the valve key from the outside to the sidenearest the valve. Bring the string past thevalve stem around the back of the same stem.Coil it around the string screw. Pull the stringto a point that allows the valve key to come tothe desired height. Tighten the string screwallowing the string to continue around thevalve stem. Complete the circle of stringaround the valve stem and put the stringthrough the front hole in the valve key next tothe string screw on the valve key. Draw thestring tight around the string screw on the key.Tighten the string screw. The last coil pulls thevalve around when the key is operated andthe first coil uses the spring tension to returnthe valve to its original position. If the string isnot taut in both positions, there will be lostmotion in the operation of the valve.

b. Machinery ActionThere are two specific types of machinery

action. The difference is in the spring action.The first type utilizes the same type

springs as the string action valve. The springis wound around the tubular hinge of the fin-gerkey. Solid pieces of German silver are thejoiners between the valve stud and the fin-gerkey. To give mobility to these parts, theyare hinged together. The rods that act as pinsbetween these lever bars, although riveted oneach end, must allow the tubular hinge to beperfectly free moving. In this manner, thelevers take the place of the taut string.The second type machinery utilizes the flattype coil spring, such as found in small clocks.This flat coil spring is inserted in the barrel ofthe fingerkey, hooked to the small slot in thebarrel. The opposite end of the spring ishooked to the hinge rod of the fingerkey. Thetension of the spring is applied by winding thepost leg of the key assembly.

Use of the DrawplateThrough the facilities of the A.R.S. and

the Eastern School laboratories, another usefor the drawplate was discovered. Patches ontuning slides, mouth-pipes etc. can be perfect-ly curved by use of this method. After theshape of the patch is cut from sheet brass, thepatch is then annealed. Place the patchagainst the tubing it is to fit. If the tubing is nottapered, insert the tubing, with the patch heldagainst it, into the correct size hole in thedrawplate. Smoothly draw the tubing throughthis hole. The patch will come through as aperfect fit to the tubing. In many cases, it iswise to gradually work one’s way to the per-fect’ size hole. If perfection is not achieved onthe first try due to the temper of the brass,repeat the procedure.

Bending TubingSince tubing will have a tendency to fold

when bending into the proper place or shape,we as repairmen fill this tubing to make it intoa solid rod. Firstly, the tubing must beannealed. Secondly, the tubing must bepacked or filled solid without air pockets.Some people use sand, pitch, or lead as thefiller. It could even be filled with a coil, spring.The material preferred by most repairmen is

SEROBEND. It is a material similar to actuallead. However, its fusion or melting point isthat of boiling water. This material is easy towork with, both in filling the tubing and inremoval of the material. The end of theannealed tubing is plugged. The tubing is filledwith the boiling water that is in the same potas the water lead. The water lead is pouredinto the tubing, thereby forcing the water outof the tubing. When the tubing is perfectlyfilled, it is carefully lifted out and allowed tocool off slowly. After the lead has cooled sothat the tubing is now a solid bar, light tapswith a dent hammer will give you assurancethat the tubing has no air pockets. At thispoint, the tubing can easily be bent into anydesired shape. Small blisters may appear atthe inside curvature of any bend. These

should be tapped back down in position asfast as they appear. Do not wait until the com-plete bend is accomplished. If the tubing is notperfectly filled, the tubing will have a tendencyto crease and crack. There are bendingmachines on the market that do not need tohave the tubing filled prior to bending.However, these machines do require a specialdie for each bend that is to be made.Therefore, they are not practical for repair-men. Since any bend that a mechanic has tomake has to have a decent radius, it is wise tomake these bends around a piece of wooddoweling.

Use of the Valve Casing Lap and ValveBlock

The valve casing lap is a tool used todress out small imperfections in valve casings,such as small nicks, clogged corrosion, or itmay also be used gently to dress out a casingto a more perfect true round. There is a valve

casing lap on the market which has leadsleeves. A piece of wood dowel, split in thecenter, with an inserted small wedge will havethe tendency to act as a casing lap since thewedge will give it enough spring to allow theoutside diameter of the dowel to press againstthe walls of the valve casing. This lap is usedwith pumice stone and oil to grind awayimperfections. The lap must be used in atwisting up and downward stroking motion toeliminate the possibility of continual stroking inthe same position, since this would causegrooves instead of a smooth grind.

The valve block consists of two pieces ofwood hinged together with an oval shapedhole between the two blocks. This allows suffi-cient spacing around the average valve sothat slight pressure can be applied while usingthe block. The block is used with pumicestone and oil against the valve with a strokingmotion while the valve is turning slowly in thelathe. This stroking of the valve eliminates thepossibility of grooving the valve.

Testing for Leaky Valves and Slidesa.Valve testing

Since the air passage must be blockedwhen testing for a leaky valve, we must testeach valve individually. To test the first valve,remove the first valve slide. Place thumbagainst the lower tube extending from thevalve casing. Press the first valve down. Nowblow air or smoke through the mouthpipe ofthe horn as hard as you can. If there is a leak,you will be able to feel the air escaping. If youare testing with smoke, the smoke will escapethrough the valve caps if the valve is leaking.if the smoke comes from the other valve cas-ings, it is a certain sign of a leak on the firstvalve. The second valve is tested by removingthe second valve and repeating this proce-dure. Likewise the third valve. To eliminate thepossibility of cross leakage while testing anindividual valve, it is wise to grease the twovalves that are not being tested at the time.This grease is easily removed with kerosene,with-out damage to the horn. By the sametoken, the slide should be sealed in a likemanner. In this fashion, only the valve inquestion is actually being tested.b. Slides are tested in the same manner.However, the slide itself must first be testedoff the instrument in order to check the solder

Testing for leakage on first valve.

joints. Then each individual stocking of theslide can be tested for leakage in its ownsleeve, testing the tuning slide as the first sec-tion of the horn. There is no particular orderfor testing the rest of the instrument.

Repairing Leaky ValvesThe repair of leaky valves entails plating of

the valve to a point where the valve is too

tight to fit the casing, after which, the valve isground to a perfect fit in its own casing. This isthe procedure to follow:1. If the valve has a nickle plating on it, it musthave the plating removed, as described in thearticle on removing of plating. (Stripping)2. Copper plating is used to build thevalve up to a point where the valve will fit inthe casing from the bottom 14 of its ownlength. (See article on Plating.)3. The valve is then ground lightly as in thevalve block to remove any high spots on theplated surface. (See article on use of ValveBlock.)4. The casing is lapped out with the casing lapto remove any imperfections.5. Clean out the casing thoroughly.6. Solder a brass rod in the bottom of thevalve. This rod should be a smooth fit in theinside wall of the valve. Be certain that the-solder does not extend above the valve.7. Place the brass rod in the vise firmly.8. Apply lanolin to the valve.9. Gradually work the instrument on the valvewith a twisting-turning motion, until the valvewill fit tight but smooth through the entire

length of the casing.10. Add a few grains of fine pumice to thelanolin and repeat the procedure as outlined inthe previous step.11. Remove the lanolin and replace the samewith No. 10 motor oil and a few grains ofpumice. Repeat the procedure as outlined instep No. 9.12. When the valve feels free enough to beable to continue this procedure by hand,unsolder the brass bar, replace the valve stemand button, tie a piece of twine about thevalve button and wrapping the twine aroundyour hand to complete the grinding procedure.This grinding should continue until the valvefeels smooth and firm yet with a free motion inthe casing. Rather than over-grind a valve, itis wise to clean off the valve and wipe out thecasing and try the valve once or twice. If thevalve still requires more grinding, the past pro-cedures can be repeated. When the grindingof the valve is completed, it is wise to apply anickel flash plating to the valve since the hardsurface of nickel plating will give a better bear-ing surface against the soft brass wall of thevalve casing. (See article on nickel plating.) Allscrew type valve guides must be removedprior to plating of the valve. Replacement ofvalve guides on valve plating jobs is definitelyrecommended.

Repairing Leaky SlidesIf the slides of a brass instrument are

worn to a point of leakage, they can berepaired by building the slides up with platingand grinding the slides to fit. They may alsobe stretched slightly and refitted in theirrespective outside sleeves. Stretching of theseslides can be accomplished by either burnish-ing the slide while it is on a smooth fittingmandrel or by striking light blows against theslide with a dent hammer while the slide is onthe same type mandrel. If the stretching isdone by the hammering method, it is impor-tant to remember that the hammer marksmust be kept smooth, light and even. After theslides have been stretched, the slide shouldbe ground to fit smoothly.

Tempering Brass and Steel BrassBrass is one of the base metals used by

repairmen that fall into the soft or malleablecategory, that is to say that it can easily be

Hand lapping in valve to fit casing.

worked with. Temper in any metal is descrip-tive of the tensile strength or hardness of thematerial. When brass is purchased from themill, it may come in any degree of temperdesired. When there is a complete absence oftemper to the brass, it is referred to as “deadsoft.” The other points of temper in the materi-al are: medium soft, soft, medium, half hardand hard drawn. The highest degree of tem-per in brass is sometimes referred to asspring temper. Temper is added to brass byactually working on the material. This can bedone by burnishing, hammering, stretching,shrinking, bending or drawing and spinning.For this reason, some dents cause the mate-rial to become too tempered for easy removal.To bring brass back from a high degree oftemper to its malleable or workable state, it issometimes necessary to anneal the brass.This softening process, known as annealing,is performed by heating the brass on a softflame till it is red hot, then either let it coolslowly or chill it suddenly by immersion in coldwater. Sudden immersion will not affect thestate of the material. If a dent is in the form ofa crease, annealing of the metal will have atendency to lessen the chances of the materi-al cracking.

SteelUnlike brass, temper cannot be added to

steel in a gradual fashion. It can only beadded suddenly. Temper can gradually beremoved from steel. To properly understandthe process involved, it is necessary to segre-gate the types of steel. For the most part, thesteel used by repairmen falls into two cate-gories, namely, carbon steel and high speedtungsten. Since the tools made by the aver-age repairman are made of drill rod which iscarbon steel, we shall confine the discussionof the tempering and drawing of temper to thecarbon steel. When steel is purchased fromthe mills, it comes in a malleable or workablestate. We can soften this steel further byapplying heat. When steel is red hot, itbecomes medium soft. When steel is yellow ororange hot, it is dead soft. Molten steel isreferred to as white hot. Sudden chilling ofred, orange or yellow steel will cause the mol-ecules of the steel to freeze causing the steelto be extremely hard or brittle. At this point, itis referred to as glass hard. Any further heat

application will cause the temper of the mate-rial to draw out, thereby lessening the degreeof hardness of the material. Heat applicationto glass hard steel will cause color changes totake place. These color changes will takeplace in this order: light tan or straw color,dark straw color, purple, blue and gray. Thefull hardness is used for tools such as lathebits, etc. where the glass hardness will main-tain a cutting edge for the longest period oftime. However, this degree of temper leavesthe steel extremely brittle. The light strawcolor can also be used for cutting tools.However, some of the temper being removedleaves the steel hard yet not quite so brittle.This degree of temper works well on chisels,etc. The dark straw color will work efficientlyfor screwdrivers, etc. The purple color will bebest for heavy duty screwdrivers. The bluecolor designates the perfect spring temper.The gray color designates the original state ofthe steel. Remember that temper can only bedrawn from and not added gradually to steel.

Metal, Wood and RubberComposition Metal

Very few fine metal clarinets have beenmade. There have been clarinets such as theFrench Selmer, the SilvaBet by Bettoney andthe King by the H.N. White Co. Aside from theimported cheap variety clarinet, the bulk ofmetal clarinets in the U.S. were made by threecompanies, namely, Pedler, Bettoney and thePenzel Mueller Co. These clarinets as a rulewere made of German Silver. However, someof these companies could not obtain as muchGerman Silver as they wanted during WorldWar II and they had to resort to using whatev-er metals they could to complete their manu-facturing schedules. For instance, the PenzelMueller Company put out the Gloriatone clar-inets with copper bells. The Bettoney Com-pany put out the Bettoney clarinets with manybrass parts on them. Although metal clarinetsdo not break such as the plastic and the rub-ber types, they do get bent easily. When thisoccurs, it has a tendency to break loose thesoft soldered tone holes. These instrumentsare easily repaired since the toneholes areabove the body unlike the recessed variety onthe wood or rubber clarinets. Metal clarinetsare usually plated. In most cases either nickelor silver plating is used to give these instru-ments their final finish. The posts on theseinstruments are always silver soldered to thebody except for the one model of the Pedlerclarinet that used ribbed posts. On theseinstruments, the posts are silver soldered tothe rib and the rib is soft soldered to the body.

WoodWood clarinets are easily recognized by

the definite grain in the wood. The wood usedis an extremely hard variety known asMadagascar or Mozambique Grenadilla. Thereare many grades of this type wood. This woodcan easily crack since the widening of anyportion of the grain of this wood must be con-sidered a crack. Should a tenon joint break ona wood clarinet, it would have a tendency tosplinter rather than to break cleanly, since it

would have to break cross grain. The normalcolor of Grenadilla wood is dark brown. Its

black color is achieved by a series of treat-ments in seasoning of the wood as well as theuse of dyes. Since it is the common belief ofthe musicians that wood clarinets produce thebest tonal qualities, all of the better and themore expensive clarinets are made of this ma-terial. Oboes and English Horns are made ofthe same material. Raised fingerholes areseparate pieces usually threaded and glued inplace. Therefore, these pieces are easilyreplaced. Being a hard wood, Grenadilla isalso a brittle wood. Therefore, all small endsthat require some strain such as the femaletenons, must be braced and this is usuallydone by means of a metal tenon ring

RUBBER AND COMPOSITIONRubber was one of the first members of

the so-called plastic family. Hard rubber clar-inets have been given many names, Ebonite,Processed wood, rubber, etc. The Eboniteclarinet is merely a high polished rubber andis not to be confused with Ebony which is avery black expensive hard wood. Hard rubberis very brittle and will break easily, leaving avery clean break on its edges very similar toglass. Hard rubber can be softened easily with

Boehm System Clarinet

CHAPTER 3

CLARINET REPAIR

heat since heat will soften the sulphur in therubber. Hard rubber is an extremely nicematerial for a mechanic to work with since itcuts easily, accepts threads simply and isquickly made pliable. Plastic materials on theother hand are extremely difficult to work with.To thread plastic, a special tap and die must

be used which is called a “backed off cutter.”Plastic, such as used on the Bundy Resonite,some Bettoney and Conn Clarinets, isextremely brittle and will break with the leastamount of strain. These plastic joints arereplaceable at very reasonable prices by theindividual concern manufacturing them.

CRACK FILLINGThe filling of a crack in a clarinet, oboe

or any other wood instrument is basically donefor the purpose of disguising the said crack.Actually this is not a guarantee that the crackwould not still reopen thereby causing a leak.To properly disguise this crack, a crack fillingmaterial is used which is comprised of shellacand ground wood. The two mixed togethergive a black appearance to the crack filler.The crack filler is then used in the same man-ner as any stick of hard shellac. Small dots ofthe crack filler are applied along the length ofthe crack. This crack filler is then melted witha hot slick, and forced into the open crack.After this procedure is completed, the excesscrack filler is dressed away by means of filing.Filing marks are removed with fine emerycloth. These marks are removed by use ofpumice stone and oil. Hand polishing insteadof buffing is recommended, since buffing withthe machine will have a tendency to removesome of the crack filler.

CRACK PINNING

Pinning of a crack is actually an obsoletemethod of repairing a crack. This is done byone of two methods: the first method is to usethreaded wire of a standard thread variety. Inthis method, we must not only drill the holeto receive the pin but we must also thread thehole. These holes are drilled at irregularangles to act as cats. These holes should bedrilled to approximately half of the thickness ofthe wood body. The usual wire used for thistype of work is threaded with a 2x56 die. It isfor this reason that a similar tap is used tothread the holes. The drill size for this tapshould be a number 50 drill.

The important thing to remember whenthreading these holes is to remove the tap fre-quently to allow the chips to fall out.Otherwise, they will pack up in front of the tapthereby causing the tap to possibly break.These catted pin holes should not interceptthe bore of the clarinet, nor should they showthemselves on both sides of the body. Afterthese holes are threaded, the pinning wirealso threaded with a 2x56 die is screwed inplace. The pin is then measured so that thelength of the pin would fit below the outsideedge of the body of the clarinet. At this point itis marked, removed, and cut to size. The topof this screw is then slotted so that a screw-driver may be used.

When this screw is firmly in place, theopen hole above it is then disguised by theuse of crack filler (see article on Crack Filling).The second method of using pinning wire isself threading hardened steel wire beingforced into the pin hole. If this type of wire isused, it is imperative to remember that asmaller clearance is allowed for the thread lestthis wire break off. We should not allow morethan .010 of an inch for these threads. Thelength of this wire must be first measured anda slot filed in the side of the pinning wire. Thelathe is then used manually to force this Wireinto place. As soon as the wire is firmly set, itcan easily be snapped off at the marked pointby bringing a little pressure against the wire ina bending motion. Being hardened this wirewill snap at that point. Crack filler is then usedto disguise the open hole as heretofore men-tioned.

POST TIGHTENINGPosts in all wood instruments are thread-

Drilling hole for pinning wire.

ed into place. As a result they may have atendency under normal spring tension to turnslightly. This would cause the posts to improp-erly align themselves on the pivot points.To correct this situation, this post must bemade extremely tight in its proper position. Toaccomplish this, we have three methods; thefirst method is done by removing the post andusing a small doughnut shaped piece of paperunder the post. Replace the post. This smallpaper will have the tendency to build up theshoulder of the post, there-by causing the postto hold firm in its proper position. The secondmethod is to tighten the post by means ofapplying a small amount of pumice stone inthe post hole before returning the post to itsproper position. This will cause the sameeffect. The third method is to tie a small quan-tity of string around the bottom of the post justbelow the shoulder. This will give the sameeffect as the post shim. Of the three methods,the most advisable method to use is that ofthe post shim. Post shims cut to actual sizeare priced reasonably and can be purchasedfrom any instrument supply house.

POST BUSHINGPost bushings are used only if the threads

in the body of the instrument are completelydemolished. This requires replacement of thethread and it is completed in the followingmanner: Since basically, the average post isapproximately the size of a No. 6 tap, we mustthen use a No. 8 thread, preferably an 8x32.To put this thread in the body it is usually nec-essary to re-drill the present hole with a No.28 ‘drill. This will clear out a few chips therebygiving you the perfect size to receive the 8x32tap. The threads are then ap-plied to the bodyby using an 8x32 bottom tap. The bottom tapwill cut threads with an extremely short leadthereby allowing you to have threads in thebody as far down as possible. Once the bodyis prepared, the post must be prepared toreceive the same type of thread.

To prepare the post to receive an 8x32thread, it is necessary to build the post up to apoint where the base of the post is a .164 ofan inch. This is done by chucking the post upin the lathe and removing all of the threads ofthe post so that the bottom of the post ismerely a small pin. The post bushing is asmall piece of brass with an 8x32 thread on

the outside diameter through the center ofwhich a hole is drilled the size of the end ofthe post. The post bushing is then placed over

the end pin of the post and silver soldered inplace. This will then give you a post with an8x32 thread which will be a perfect fit to thenew threads in the body. When the post isreplaced in the body it should be lined up inits proper position. If at this point the postmoves too far, shim the post so as to keepperfect alignment (see article on Post Tighten-ing). If the post already has an 8x32 bushingand requires a new bushing, the new bushingshould be a 10x32 bushing. This will then giveyou a diameter of .190 which is smaller thanthe shoulder of the average post.

NEEDLE SPRINGSNeedle springs are purchased in all sizes

and dimensions; however, they must be prop-erly prepared before they can be used assprings on a musical instrument. To measurethe length of the spring, we must pick out thespring that fits the hole in the post. Put thespring through the hole in the post using thekey to measure the length by means of thespring hook. Always allow the spring point tojust reach the spring hook.

When we have it set at that point, bend theback edge of the spring so as to properlymark the length. Remove the spring and cut toexactly that size.

To flatten the end of the spring so that itcan be riveted into the post we must removesome of the temper from the steel spring. Thisis done by applying a small amount of heat to

Needle and flat springs in cabinet.

the back end of the spring, and as soon as thecolor starts to change, chill the back end in oil.This will cause some of the temper to drawthereby bringing the spring to a point wherebythe end could be flattened out by light hammer-ing so that it will have a dove tail. This heatingprocess is quick and it takes very little time tocatch the right amount. The small amount ofdrawing still allows the spring to maintainenough temper so that it has a proper amountof bounce. This spring is then re-inserted in thepost and forced in place by placing a cuttingpliers against the back of the spring and thefront of the post and squeezing the two jawstogether. This will force the spring into the postin a riveted fashion. The spring must, at alltimes, be tight in the post. To check the firm-ness of the spring in the post, merely pluck thespring with your fingernail. If it gives you a per-fect musical tone, the spring is tight. If thespring is not tight, it will give a rattling sound.The tension of the spring is then applied byactually bending the spring into the position sodesired. Closed keys obtain their spring tensionby having the spring bend away from the tonehole. Open keys require the spring bent towardthe tone hole. Open keys require less tensionthan closed keys since open keys are heldclosed by fingers.

FLAT SPRINGFlat springs are held in place by means of

a small screw that has an 0x80 thread. The flatspring is picked out according to its thicknessso that one can derive the proper amount ofspring tension for that particular key.

The length of the flat spring is cut to sizeafter the flat spring is firmly affixed to the key.The end of the flat spring should be smoothand slightly upturned so as to allow for asmooth sliding action. It is also advisable to puta small spot of oil in the flat spring track. Thiswill cause the key to work smoothly.

KEY WORKDue to the fact that there are many small

jobs which must be taken care of in the courseof overhauling a clarinet, we shall take theseating of pads as our last procedure. In theproper disassembly of the clarinet we musttake each joint separately and think of it in thatmanner. The system of disassembly used bythe mechanics is optional. I personally prefer to

line up my screws in the screw-block “nearestthe top.” When disassembling any key, swedg-ing should be done.

We swedge keys to remove lost motion ofthe key between the post. This is done in thefollowing manner: first insert the rod in the tub-ing hinge. Using a swedging pliers, grasp thetubular hinge in the grooved slot firmly andmove the hand in a circular motion around thetubular hinge. It is advisable to do this only acouple of times and then move the rod in thetubular hinge, since there is a shrinking tenden-cy of the diameter of the tubular hinge to therod. By moving the rod in the tubular hinge, itwill have a tendency to keep the bore of thetubular hinge true. This may be done witheither a swedging pliers, the jaws of a Jacobschuck, a collet attachment on the lathe or aregular Universal chuck from any standardlathe. In swedging the key, we should be care-ful to keep our swedging marks on the tubularhinge as evenly as possible so that it will notbe too noticeable to the human eye. It is advis-able, in all instances, to over swedge the keyand then mill the end down with a tubular hinge

shortener to the perfect fit. This will allow youto retain a smooth bearing surface on the key.The tubular hinge should be swedged in thismanner, should swedging be necessary. On the

Swedging pliers.

solid hinge, such as on a Bb bridge key on theupper joint, lost motion, if very slight, may betaken up by counter-sinking the pivot hole inthe post to allow the pivot screw to go in fur-ther. If there is too much lost motion in such akey, it should be elongated in the followingmanner: using the No. 50 drill, drill a holeapproximately ‘1/8” into the dead center of thesolid hinge. Using a German silver rod of thesame diameter of the solid hinge, trim it downas a male stud. Allowing for a tight fit in theNo. 50 hole, place the two together and silversolder the same. Then trim the key down tothe desired length.

On the Ab key of the upper joint the sideextension of the spatula will not allow you toswedge this tubular hinge normally. You mayuse one of two methods to repair this: filedown approximately 1/16” of the side spatulato allow us to have a tubular hinge to swedge,then merely proceed with the swedging of thiskey. The second procedure is to elongate thiskey in the same manner described for solidhinges after which, using the proper size drill,drill the complete hole through from the oppo-site end. The tubular hinge itself will act as theperfect pilot for your drill. After which, you maycut it to the desired length to remove the lostmotion.

In the swedging of double tubular hinges,it is advisable to first swedge the male hingeso that it is a perfect fit between the post.After which, take a piece of drill rod which isthe same size as the outside diameter of themale hinge of the high C trill key. Insert this inthe female hinge of the high Bb trill, andrepeat your swedging process. You must be

extremely careful in swedging this key sincethe tubular hinge is so thin that too great anexertion of pressure might tear this hingeapart. The tubular hinges of the B and C#levers of the lower joint are swedged in thesame manner. To finally free the key if thetubular hinge is tight on the rod, the perfecttool should be an exact size reamer for thetubular hinge. However, I will not be so foolishas to believe for one instant that the averagerepair shop maintains such high quality toolsso as to allow themselves to have the perfecttools at all times. It is for this reason that Isuggest that you use a drill. In the event thetubular hinge is too tight against the rod, con-trary to other beliefs, I advise you to grind therod to lit the tubular hinge using pumice stoneand oil. To properly clean the tubular hingeafter such a grind, you merely have to use apipe cleaner wet .with kerosene. All of thiswork should be done prior to the polishing ofthe keys.

Very often, the finger rings are a little toolong to allow for the perfect fit over the fingerholes. To shorten the arm leading to theserings, may I suggest the following procedure.Using a small Swiss pattern file or a smallsaw, cut a slot on the underside of the ringextension as close to the solid hinge as possi-ble. This slot should be half way through theextension. Using your finger, bend this closerto the solid hinge. Now silver solder thisextension which will assimilate a cracked key.Upon the completion of this job, the finger ringwill be much lower than it should be. Merely

place the finger ring in the vise and twist therest of the key so that the finger ring will cometo its normal position. This will allow the twist

Using file to cut away side of spa-tula extension to allow for key swedging.

Pivot screw counter bores and hinge shortners counterbor-ing post to set pivot screw deeper.

to take place in the solid hinge and will, ineffect, shorten the extended arm of the fingerring.

To elongate a finger ring, we merely haveto crimp the extension with a side cutting(diagonal) pliers. This will cause the finger ringto move forward. Of course, any marks left bythe pliers should be removed to keep yourwork neat. Upon many occasions, we find thatthe key cup will extend beyond the recess ofthe tonehole. To cure this ailment, the follow-ing procedure is advised; using a small sawblade, saw a slot on the bottom of the key justat the edge of the key cup. This slot should beexactly the depth of the key cup, which isapproximately half way through the key.Applying silver solder flux (borax) heat thispart until it is red hot at which time, we canvery gently move the key cup backward. Ifmore silver solder is needed to keep this jobneat, it is advisable to apply the same. Uponthe completion of this procedure, there will bea very small point extending from the top ofthe key cup. This can easily be removed. Thethickness of the saw blade will determine theamount that the key will be shortened.Elongating such a key, if it is flat stock, can bedone in the following manner: use a rivetinghammer, the width of the riveting edge to thewidth of the key. Hammer across this part. Itwill leave marks. However, by hammeringlightly and evenly, these marks will be slight.After which, you may reverse the rivetinghammer and using the flat side of the same,hammer down most of the marks. The bal-ance of the marks can be removed through fil-ing, emerying and polishing. You may elon-gate a key quite a considerable amount insuch a fashion.

CLARINET NOMENCLATUREClarinets are made up of five joints. The

first joint of a clarinet is actually the clarinetmouth piece. The second joint is known as theclarinet barrel.The third point is referred to asthe upper joint. The fourth joint is referred toas the lower joint. The fifth joint is referred toas the clarinet bell. The clarinet barrel has twotenon rings. These are used to protect thefemale sockets of the clarinet barrel. The corktenons of the upper and lower joint arereferred to as the male tenons. The lower jointalso has a tenon ring at its top. The keys of

the upper joint and lower joint are usuallymade of German silver. However, there havebeen occasions where pewter and brass havebeen used to make he fame specific keys.These keys are held in place by means ofeither rods or pivot screws. The tone holes ofthe clarinet (wood, rubber or composition) areusually recessed by means of clarinet. endmills set at approximately 3O° angle so thatthe open edge of the tone hole is even to thetop edge of the clarinet. The finger holes onthe clarinet are separate pieces that areraised above the body of the instrument.These are usually screwed and glued in placeat the factory. The keys of the clarinet havespecific names. However, the clarinet being acylindrical bore instrument is built in twelfths.As a result, every key on the clarinet will havetwo different names (see chart).

Clarinets are made in the keys of Eb, Bband A. The clarinet family then goes into thealto clarinet, the bass clarinet and the contrabass clarinet. Most clarinets are (ring) instru-ments. However, there is such an instrumentknown as a plateau clarinet, referred to as aclosed tone hole clarinet. On the open tonehole clarinet, the musician’s fingers act askeys. On the closed tone hole clarinet, there isa tremendous amount of regulation involved.As we approach the larger instruments suchas the alto clarinet and bass clarinet, the sizeof the tone holes makes it almost impossibleto use ring instruments. As a result, theseinstruments have plateau keys. There aremany articulations that can be put on a clari-net. These are usually put on at the factory inaccordance with the different models of theinstruments. These articulations are: the artic-ulated G# or C#, the articulated Bb, or Eb;the articulated D# or G#; and the low Eb. If aclarinet has all of these articulations on it, it isreferred to as a full Boehm.

CLARINET DISASSEMBLYBefore a clarinet can be worked on, it

must be completely disassembled so that thepolishing, corking, padding, etc., can be com-pleted. The disassembly of a clarinet entailsplacement of the screws in a block of wood insuch a manner as to allow the repairman toreplace them in their proper positions. Thereare many orders of setting up these screwblocks. This depends upon the actual system

desired by the average men. When theseinstruments are disassembled. the necessarykey work should be completed at that time.(See Article on Key Work.)

Keys that are loose fitting should beswedged. Solid hinge rods may require exten-

sions. In removing a spring from a post, it isadvisable to use a regular spring pliers. Thesesprings must be put in the proper order so thatthey can be replaced properly. In replacingthese springs, it is wise to remember tworules; rule No. 1, a spring faces toward thetone hole for which it operates; rule No. 2, thetension of the spring is applied according tothe action of the key. (See Article on NeedleSpring.) It is at this point that the post shouldbe re-tightened and all other type of work thatwill tend to hinder the polish of the instrumentmust be accomplished. When the instrumentis completely disassembled, the bore shouldbe polished by strenuous swabbing with anywhite lime polish. The outside surface of thewood is polished in the following manner:those places that are easily accessible withthe buffing wheel are so polished. The buffingwheel will tend to apply a fine finish to thegrenadilla wood. Those places that are noteasily accessible with the buffing wheel mustbe polished by hand in a stropping fashion.However, when the buffing wheel is beingused, it is advisable to lightly touch all of theposts on the clarinet. This will tend to applythe polish to the bulky part of the post and thehand stropping will polish the base of same.The tone holes should be clean and the aver-age tone hole can be cleaned by means of asmall brush. The top edge of the tone hole is

easily cleaned by using circular cup brusheson a slow speed motor. The bore of the tonehole is usually cleaned with either small pipecleaners or brushes. However, in someinstances, the saliva and dust cause a heavypacking in the tone hole which is more easilycleaned out by using circular files such as the

circular burr put out by any jeweller’s supplyhouse.

We must be careful when using these tochoose the exact size burrs so as not toincrease the size of the tone hole.

SPRING REMOVALIt is necessary, such as on the metal clar-

inet, to remove the springs for polishing. In thepast, the only approved method for this partic-ular job involved the use of side-cutting (diag-onal) pliers, together with round-nose, pliers.You would clip the spring in the jaws of theside-cutters and, by applying pressure withthe round-nose pliers to the side-cutters and

the post at the same time, you would un-rivetthe spring. This method is still being used bymost repairmen. It is the belief of your writer,however,that this method is becoming obso-lete. It was always a poor method becausethe side-cutting pliers left a mark and nickedthe spring; this had a tendency to weaken thespring and possibly cause it to snap later on.

To eliminate the hazard of making marks

Polishing wood body

Circular burrs can clean out hardened crust in holes.

Spring removing pliers work easily on bronze as well as steel springs.

with the pliers, get a pair of 4 1/2-inch round-nose pliers with a box joint. Cut the nose offthe pliers, leaving only the box joint. Then usethese pliers in preference to the side-cutters inremoving springs from both saxophones andclarinets. These pliers are also ideal forremoving springs from flutes, piccolos, oboes,etc. They will work as well on the smallestspring of an oboe and piccolo as they do onthe largest spring of a saxophone. You willfind that these pliers permit you to use atremendous amount of pressure because ofthe leverage.

These pliers will not slip on the springor mar it. In fact, the bite of the pliers is sopowerful that you won’t have to use the sec-ond pair of pliers in most cases. To remove a

spring with these pliers, merely grip the springin the box joint approximately 1/32-inch fromthe post and, with a slight turn of the wrist,press the spring back firmly toward the post.In most cases this will remove the spring. Ifthe spring is exceptionally tight, you mayrevert to the pressure of the second pair of pli-ers. Since there is very little danger of marringsprings with these pliers they can be used togood advantage on the gold springs of flutesor piccolos. We feel certain that this procedurewill eliminate one of the mechanic’s biggestheadaches.

If the spring is broken so close to thepost that it cannot be pushed out by un-rivet-ing, then remove the post from the clarinet,place it in a lead block and, using a centerpunch directly on the hole post of the spring,tap the center punch lightly. This will drive theold spring out, causing it to imbed itself in theblock of lead. Or, you can use, in most cases,a pair of special spring punching pliers.Should the pivot point of these spring punch-ing pliers become defective, you can replace it

with a hardened Martin pivot screw since thisscrew has the same thread and also has afine point.

Springs should be replaced in the followingmanner: first, locate a spring of the proper

diameter; it should fit smoothly in the springhole. Insert this spring in the hole, extending itso that the point of the spring comes exactlyto the far edge of the spring hook on the key.At the back end of the post, bend this springsharply; this will determine the proper length.Remove the spring and cut it at the bend.The spring must then be pounded out to ahead. Since the spring is tempered steel, it isnecessary to draw the temper slightly at thehead of the spring so that the head can beproperly hammered. You can draw out thetemper by heating the head very slightly overa Bunsen burner flame. As soon as you detect

Removing broken springs with special pivot point pliers.Punching out broken piece of spring in lead block.

Applying shellac to cork track

Top: Overlapping seam. Bottom:Butting edge seam.

a color change taking place on the spring (itshould happen almost immediately), immersethe spring in oil. This will halt the drawing ofthe temper, leaving enough temper in thespring so that it does not lose its life, but issoft enough to be hammered out.

With a riveting or ball-peen hammer, strikelight blows on the spring while it is held inplace on the anvil edge of the vise. This willallow the spring to assume a gentle dovetaileffect. Then replace the spring in the post,forcing it into place with either diagonal orround-nose pliers. For cutting the steel spring,we recommend Swedish steel diagonal plierssuch as are sold by band instrument repairsupply houses.

Joint CorkingJoint corks are applied to two types of

instruments: metal or wood (composition) clar-inets. On wood clarinets the size cork used as1/16 of an inch in thickness. Metal clarinets,the size cork used is 1/32 of an inch. Sincethey are applied in different manners, we musttake them as separate procedures. To apply ajoint cork to the wood clarinet, there are twomethods used. The first method is to measurethe size of the width of the cork to match thetrack of the tenons. If it is not to be a buttseam, the exact length of the cork is not tooimportant. But rather, one edge of the corkmust be beveled to allow for the overlap. Hardshellac is applied evenly in the track. The corkcan then be applied to the track by means ofeither a hot slick, melting the shellac as thecork is applied or a more rapid procedurewould be to spin the clarinet quickly throughthe flame whereby the clarinet will not bedamaged and yet it will draw a sufficientamount of heat to melt the shellac. In thismethod, the cork must be applied quickly inone motion while the shellac is still hot. Theoverlap seam is sealed together by using thehot slick. Any excess shellac must be thenchipped away prior to cutting the cork to thedesired size. The second method of applica-tion of this cork is t6 cut the cork wider thanthe track, and after the cork is wrappedaround the clarinet, it must be tied down withtwine, after which the twine is heated throughthe flame quickly, which will allow the heat tomelt the shellac under the cork. The width ofthe cork is then cut to size on a lathe by using

a cork turning knife after which the cork is cutto size (diameter) in the same fashion as thefirst method; that is, using emery cloth (size2/0 or fine) while the clarinet is being turned athigh speed in the lathe.

Metal clarinets differ from the wood clar-inets insofar as the joint cork is concerned, inthis manner. While we heat the shellac on thewood clarinet, on metal clarinets, the heatapplication is directly against the metal jointwhereby we allow the heat of the metal joint tomelt the shellac rather than the flame. It isalso advisable to make a butt seam on ametal clarinet in preference to the overlap. Onmetal clarinets, we must also cut the width ofthe cork exactly to fit the track. This 1/32 inchcork is then applied while the tenon is hot

enough to keep the shellac soft. This is held inposition with fingers for the few seconds that ittakes for the shellac to cool off. A smart trickon metal clarinets is to paint the cork withshellac, usually 2 coats. When this is dry, useonly a small amount of heat to melt the shel-lac and you will have exactly the right amountof shellac whereby no excess will be visible,thereby disallowing the necessity for chipping.Cork applied in this manner will have a ten-dency to give a finer seam. When applyingjoint corks to rubber or plastic, we must beextremely careful concerning the heat applica-tion, since heat will have a tendency to meltthe rubber thereby causing it to lose its propershape, and heat application to plastic materi-als will cause the plastic to shrink. However, alittle care, properly exercised, will eliminate allproblems of this nature.

Key CorkingCorking of keys can be done in one of

two fashions. The first method is to heat thekey allowing the key to melt the shellac and

Applying shellac to hot key.

then applying the cork. In using this method,we use hard stick shellac. However, there isan even more simplified method.

This method entails our painting thecork with 2 coats of shellac (liquid orangeshellac). When this shellac is dry, it requires alot less heat and eliminates the possibility ofsloppy workmanship. To apply this type ofcork, one merely has to lightly heat the keyand press a piece of cork against it. The keycan then either be held until cooled sufficientlyor it can be held against a wet rag to speedup production. Corking of the keys cannot beset down in a set amount of rules insofar asthe sizes of the corks are concerned.However, there is a basic set of rules to followthat will meet the average requirements with asmall amount of exceptions. This set of rulesis as follows:

Bb fork key 1/64 corkC# or G# key 1/16 corkTop ring F key 1/64 corkBb Bridge key 1/64 corkA key 1/16 corkAb key 3/32 cork

(trim to fit body)

Slide Bb key 1/16 corkHigh C trill key 1/16 corkHigh Bb trill key 1/16 corkF# trill key 1/16 corkBack thumb ring key 1/64 corkRegister key 1/64 corkLow F4# trill key 1/64 corkThree ring F key 1/16 corkC lever key 1/64 corkC# key No corkB key 1/64 corkD# key 1/32 corkC crow foot key 1/64 cork

(2 places)B lever No corkC# lever No cork

Padding Bladder

Bladder pads are made of the same mate-rial as any other type pad with one exception.The covering of these pads known as bladderskin is made from the lining of cattles’ stom-ach. This skin is quite airtight. As a result,when these pads are to be applied, a small

hole, usually made with a needle spring, mustbe punctured on the side of the pad, not thetop. This will allow the air to escape when thekey is heated. Otherwise, the pad would swellor expand. Therefore, after the proper sizepad is picked out, prior to’ shellacking inplace, the important rule is the puncturing ofthis pad. Bladder pads come in 3 sizes; thick,medium or thin. The preference of the writer isthe thick pad. However, certain instrumentssuch as Selmer clarinets actually demand theuse of medium size pads and in this instance,the thin pad can also be used to good advan-tage. However, the difference between thesethree is the amount of shellac used with eachindividual pad. The thick pad merely has to beshellacked in place. The medium pad requiresa small amount more of shellac to a pointwhere it half fills the keys. The thin pad mustbe completely floated in the keys by filling thekey cup entirely with shellac and letting thepads rest on top of the shellac in the samemanner as piccolo pads are applied. (Seechapter on Piccolo Repair.)

Kid PadsKid pads, sometimes referred to as skiver

skin pads are applied in the same way andmanner on clarinets as they are on saxo-phones. These pads are not floated in placebut rather are merely held in the key cup withhard shellac. The seating of these pads isquite simplified in view of the fact that theytake an impression quite easily. If it is neces-sary, due to deep cups, to float these pads, itis done in the same way and manner as thefloating of the thin bladder pad.

It is most advisable to use these pads onmetal clarinets or on those types of instru-ments for anyone other than professionalmen. It is further advisable to cut a smallpiece of cardboard away from the large padsso that the small portion of the felt is visible.This will eliminate the possibility of the padbulging in the center. It is unnecessary topuncture a hole in these pads in view of thefact that skiver skins are slightly porous andwill not swell such as the bladder pads.

Pad SeatingThe seating of the pad is the most im-

important bit of work in the actual over-haulingof the clarinet. No instrument can be properly

regulated unless the pad is actually seatedperfectly. To properly seat a pad, we mustsoften the shellac in the key cup by applyingheat from the flame directly to the key cup.The pad is then moved to a point of perfectcoverage with the aid of a pad slick which isnothing more than any flat piece of steel. Toapply heat to a key cup without burning thepad, it is advisable to use the bottom of theflame since this portion of the flame is a con-trollable area. After the pad has been movedto cover the pad seat perfectly, allow the keycup to cool slightly to a point where it is mere-ly lukewarm. At this point, apply a little bitmore than normal finger tension. This willcause an impression to take place in the pad.Allowing the key to cool will prohibit the padfrom shifting while the seating is being

applied. A smart trick on bladder pads is tomoisten the pad prior to seating since bladderpads are quite similar in nature to raw-hide.The moisture has a tendency to soften theskin of the bladder pad there-by allowing thepad to accept a seating easier. In rareinstances, where the brown kid covering onbrown clarinet pads is extremely heavy, thiskid can be softened by applying a smallamount of denatured alcohol to the pad. Thiswill allow the pad to accept an impressioneasily. However, to eliminate staining of thepad, the pad must be wet uniformly. Beforethe pad can be perfectly seated, it is extreme-ly important to achieve the perfect feel in theoperation of the key.

Adjustment and RegulationThere is very little actual regulation

involved insofar as a clarinet is concerned.Most of the adjustment on a clarinet is actuallythe removal of lost motion in the operation ofeach individual key and the height adjustmentnecessary on each key to give clarity of toneto each individual note. In view of this fact, weshall first discuss all of those keys that areconsidered to be individual working keys and

the two points of actual regulation of the clar-inet, we shall save for last.

Upper JointThe height of the register key should give

the maximum opening still allowing the spatu-la of the key not to exceed the height of theback ring key. The A and Ab keys must be setso that there is a hairline of lost motionbetween them. However, when the A key isapplied, it should open the Ab, key to its fullextent and it must not hit the open F ring key.

The side trill keys must be set in a levelplateau. The high C trill and high Bb, trill mustnot hit one another but the spatulas of thesekeys must be set at an equal height. The F#trill key must be set at the same height as theside Bb, key. However, these must not strikeone another and there must be a very definitestep down from the plateau level of the highBb and C trill. The Bb fork key must be, set soas to give the maximum opening. However,the spatula of this key must be set so as notto interfere with the fingering of the C toneholeand the Bb bridge key. The C# or G# keyshould have its maximum opening, yet have asufficient amount of clearance from the spatu-la of the G# or C# to the C tonehole. The topring F key must be set at its absolute maxi-mum insofar as height is concerned. Thismaximum is determined by the position of theA key when the A key is applied. The top ringF key must be raised to a height just belowthe spatula of the A key. This height is main-tained by the thickness of the cork on the footof the back ring key. Fingertip rings must beset a hairline above level to the finger holesso that the individual playing on the instrumentcan cover the key and the tonehole at thesame time with the ball of the fingertip.

Lower JointThe F# trill should maintain its maxi-

mum height with the assurance that the top ofits spatula has clearance under the three ringF key. The three ring F key must be set sothat the height of this key is equivalent to theactual diameter of the tonehole. This will allowthe C or G to give a full tone. The regulationpoint between the F ring key and the Bb,bridge key of the upper joint determines theactual height of the Bb, bridge key of theupper joint. The C lever key is a constant key

Seating pad with slick.

on the lower joint of the instrument and isbasically the determining factor for the heightof the B and C keys of the lower joints.

The actual regulation between the threeadjustment points (C, B, and C# keys) is cou-pled together with the removal of lost motionfrom these keys. This is completed in the fol-lowing manner: It is important to rememberthat we must always regulate first and removelost motion last. As a result, the first job is toregulate the B and C keys so that they coverperfectly together by raising or lowering thespatula of the C key. When this is completed,the removal of lost motion between these keysis performed by allowing the C key to open toa height whereby there is no lost motionbetween the C lever and C key foot. This mustbe done since the C lever key is our constantkey. If it is necessary, at this point, to achievea higher opening on the C key, we must thentrim the cork on the foot of the C lever key.When the C key is set at its proper height (thisis done without bending any key) the C# keyis then bent to a point where it exactly touchesthe C key at its crow foot without causing anylost motion between the C lever key and the Ckey or between itself and the C key. The Bkey is then brought down to the exact same

point by raising or lowering the foot of the Bkey. This can be done through either the appli-cation or removal of cork to the foot of the Bkey or by bending the foot of the B key in thismanner. If the B key is too far open, hold theheel of the left hand against the key cup withthe thumb of the left hand against the spatulaof the B key. Hold these two points with anequal pressure. With a dent hammer strike alight blow on the foot extension of the B key.This will cause the foot to drop without chang-ing the regulation point of the B key itself. TheB key, when brought to the exact point of theC crow foot, will then eliminate all lost motionfrom the entire lower section of the clarinet. Insome instances, the B lever and C# lever of

the clarinet receive cork in view of the fact thaton this type of clarinet, there is no bladderskin used at the connection points betweenthe levers and the keys.

On this type of instrument, it is necessaryto put on the C# and B levers before final reg-ulation takes place. Final application of the C#and B levers on the average clarinet requiresthe application of a small piece of bladderskin in the small hole of the C# and B keys’ atthe connection point of the levers. A simpleway to apply this bladder skin is to touch thetip of the levers to your oil so that a smallspeck of oil is picked up by the lever keys. Ifthe lever key is then placed against the blad-der skin, it will pick up and hold it so that itcan be properly applied. Excess bladder skinis removed by merely touching it slightly to theflame. This skin will not ignite but rather it willshrink to a point where it is’ unnoticeable.However, there will always be a sufficientamount to do the job. If this bladder skinshould tear, it will not effect the playing of theinstrument. However, it will cause the instru-ment to be quite noisy. It is extremely impor-tant to remove all the lost motion between thepost of the B key so that the B key is firm andsolid in place. If the B’ key is loose fitting, itwill disallow perfect regulation from both sidesof the instrument. This, in effect, will cause themechanic to get good regulation when’ finger-ing the spatula of the B key itself, whereas animproper adjustment will show itself when theB is fingered from the B lever key. To eliminatethis possibility, the pivot points that hold the Bkey in place must be sent further into the postby means of counter boring the pivot hole inthe post. (See Chapter on Key Work.) Theheight of the B and C keys determines theclarity of the low G or middle D. It is importantto remember that the position of the B levershould be slightly above that of the C4 leversince the musician s hand has a natural ten-dency to curl and this will eliminate the mu-sician striking both keys when reach-ing forthe B lever.

Tone Hole RepairThere are two types of tone holes on the

clarinet. The first type are pad holes which arecut into the actual outside diameter of thebody so that the actual pad can be slightlysmaller than the outer diameter of the cut in

Various types of end mills (tone hole cutters)

body itself. These tone holes are cut in placeby using clarinet end mills which consist of 2cutting edges and a pilot. Therefore, in orderto cut these tone holes, the hole itself must bedrilled prior to the application of the end millitself. The end mill used for this particular typeof work may have either 2 or 3 cutting edges.The important thing to remember when usingend mills is that chatter of the tool will have atendency to tear the instrument apart.

However, chatter can only take place if thereis an improper fit on the pilot. A perfectlysmooth fitting pilot will allow a sharp tool totake an extremely neat cut without the use ofany special jigs. When cutting these holes, thedepth of the cut is determined by the size ofthe tone hole being cut. The curvature of thebody will cause the end mill to cut the side(width) before the opposite direction will betouched by the cutting face of the tool. Whenthe lowest part of the instrument shows its fullshape, this is the point at which we must stopthe cut. The usual angle on the rise of the.tone hole is actually a 300 included angle, ora 150 rate of taper on the face. In most cases,we are not called upon to use one tool for thecomplete cut of the tone hole since this isused basically in either manufacturing or whena section of a clarinet has been replaced suchas tenon repairing on broken clarinets. Theusual repair of these tone holes is caused bya chip, a crack or something that will hinderthe pad seat of the tone hole. In such a case,we merely have to shave the tone hole slightlyto allow a new pad seat to show itself. Smallchips are easily dressed away with the use ofpad seat reamers, which are actually circularfiles. This has a tendency to widen the mouthof the tone hole. However, if the cut is slight, itwill not vary the intonation. If a crack in anyclarinet intercepts a tone hole, not only mustthe crack be glued and closed but it is wise toreplace this tone hole and it is done in the fol-lowing manner: using the correct end mill and

pilot for that hole, cut the tone hole to a pointwhere there is a thin shell left just short of thebore of the instrument. At this point, cut apiece of either grenadilla wood or hard rubberwhichever the case may require so that theoutside diameter is identical to the cut. Theinside face of this piece of material must havethe same angle as the tool applied when mak-ing the cut in the clarinet. The same diameterhole is drilled dead center to this piece. Thispiece is then glued in place in the clarinet.When the glue is hard, the same end mill thatmade the original cut, will make the final cut tobring the tone hole to its exact proper position.When this job is completed, a pad can beseated perfectly on such a tone hole. The sec-ond type of tone hole is the raised finger type.This tone hole is a separate unit when theinstrument is built at the factory. These toneholes are replaceable. However, when thesetone holes are applied at the factory, they areusually threaded and glued into position. Thetaps used for this type of work are specialbacked off taps. These taps cannot be readilypurchased by the average mechanic. As aresult, we, in the repair of these tone holeswhich in practice consists of the replacementof the same, do not have to thread them if wecut the recess for them and fit the new piecesperfectly.

This is done in this manner: using an endmill with a perfect pilot, cut the depth in thesame way and manner as replacement of atone hole. The outside diameter of the end millshould match the outside diameter of its ownrecess. The new finger tip hole must be cutseparately and apart from the instrument onthe lathe so that replacement of the part in thebody allows only the height of the replacedportion to be cut to size. This is easily doneeither by the use of a flat mill or a file. Thefinal cutting to size is done after the glue iscompletely hard. We recommend Plastic Steelas the glue for this type of work. The CharlesMiller set of end mills allows one to performthis job in a different fashion. If use of thesetools is preferred, then the recess is cut disre-garding the full width of the outside diameterof the original recess. When the new piece isreplaced, this set of tools has special endmills that cut the outside diameter or theshape of the fingertip tone hole. However, ifthis tool is used, it is extremely important to

Various types of end mills (tone hole cutters).

cut the height of the fingertip tone hole prior tousing the outside end mills. A third method isto use the end mill that is the exact outsidediameter of the fingertip hole required. Thereplacement part would then have the exactoutside diameter so that merely the heightwould have to be cut and there would be noshaping necessary to the replacement part. Ifthe replacement of the fingertip tone holes ison a rubber clarinet, the broken tone hole canbe removed from its thread by warming a tool

and actually burning out a small portion of therubber finer hole. This in turn will allow you tobreak loose the balance of the broken partsince it will come away from its own threadswith very little effort. If this can be achieved, itis wise to thread the new replacement so that

they can be put back in the same way andmanner as if it was made at the factory.

The usual thread on this type of workis a number 40. Some factories have on occa-sion used a number 38. Thread chases canthen be used to good advantage. (see Thread

Chasing).

TENON REPLACEMENT

REPAIR #1

Male center tenon broken.

Diagram 4—(Tone Hole Undercutting Tool) Circular file or deburring tool. 1/2” diameter at large end.Soften or anneal. Remove back stud. Drill hole with No. 36drill. Thread 6 x 32. Face off small end to 3/16”. Threadmust be left hand. Screw driver holder threaded on end 6x 32 left hand. Small hookbent approximate right anglehook end ~46. Wire to be 1/8” drill rod. Hook circular fileon wire, large end down. Insert in clarinet to desired tonehole. Screw in from face of tone hole and revolve handleleft hand. Upon completion of cutting, reverse handle andremove same.

Diagram 3—Pilot length 1/4”. Thread hole 6 x 32. 15 degree angle on one end to 1/4” face on same end.

Diagram 2- Drill 1/2” hole in 1/2” brass rod 2” overalllength. Drill 1/8” hole at 15 degree angle to furthest end.Cut away excess stock to allow half of hole to show asrecess on both ends. Similar type tube made with .025 wall.Any nut with 1/4 x 20 threads to act as lock.

Diagram 1- Tone Hole cutter-Material used 1/4” drill rod-1/4x20 thread 2” long on back end. Front end 6x32 thread1/4” length. Tool hole 1/8” diameter. Tool bit 1/8” drill rod.Hole drilled at 15 degree angle.

There are many clarinets that seem tobreak more readily than others. This is espe-cially true of the plastic variety and the hardrubber or Ebonite. Although wood clarinets docrack, they are rarely broken but this state-ment does not mean that it cannot happen.

There are three tenons that we are usuallyconfronted with. They are the following:Male Tenon on the lower joint (to fit the bell)Male tenon on the upper joint (to fit lowerjoint) Female tenon on the lower joint to fitmale tenon on the upper joint.

There may be many methods of doingthese specific types of repair jobs. However,we shall describe the two types of methodsthat are most commonly used. This does notmean that if any repairman has anothermethod, that we frown upon it. In fact, we arealways open to new suggestions from any-one. It merely means that we know that thesetwo methods do work to good advantage.

The first method is that which calls for boringout the body, and the tenon is inserted andglued in place, with or without safety pins tolock it.

The second method is that which calls for thethreading of the parts, gluing and allowing theposts to act as the pins. The boring tool, con-sists of a 6” length of drill rod, 1/2” diameter,with a 1/4” hole through the side of the rod.The front edge of the rod is cut down to 3/8”for 1/2” from the end. This under cut is for thepilot which is made of brass. To hold this pilotin place, a 1/2” washer and an Allen screw

(8x32 thread) are used. The front end of theboring rod is: drilled out to 1/2” depth with a28 drill and’ the hole ‘is threaded with an 8x32tap. The cutting, tool is 1/4” drill rod, sharp-ened and hardened so that the .tool has thecutting edge. This tool bit is inserted in the1/4” hole -and locked in place by means of aheadless Allen- screw. The resulting tool is’ apedect fly cutter. The pilot used on this tool’must ‘have its outside diameter a perfect fit tothe bore of the body of the clarinet. The lengthof the cutting bit is dependent upon the size ofthe cut desired. If the method of repair usedis ‘that of threading the tenon and the body,we recommend the use of 27/32x20 tap anddie. To bore the body out the bit should be set.152” extended from the boring bar. This willthe bore out the clarinet to a diameter .804”.Since the decimal equivalent of 27/32” is.84375 or .844”, this will allow .040” forthreads, This procedure is used to repair themale tenon on the upper joint. The depth ofthe cut should be past the open C tone hole.Thread the body, making certain that thethreads are cut true and straight and using acutting oil with a sulphur base. To cut thesethreads true to the center, the tap should havea pilot end. Replacement tenons can be pur-chased. If you prefer making the tenon, theoutside length should be the length of the pre-pared bore plus the length of the tenon. Thediameter of the end to be threaded should be.844”. If this repair is performed on a woodjoint, we recommend the use of plastic steelfor the gluing agent. Cut the diameter of thetenon to fit the female socket of the lowerjoint, then cut the recess for the cork. Sinceeven a bottom tap has a lead on its startingthread, we must allow for that lead on thethreaded tenon by under-cutting the firstthread on the tenon. This will assure you ofthe fact that the tenon will screw in to matchthe opposite end. By the same token, a diehas a lead as well. Therefore we must under-stand the last thread.

If this tenon is not to be threaded in place,we must bear in mind that we need morelength to the gluing service. Therefore, theinternal cut should be made past the Bb or Ebtone hole.

After the tenon is set in place, the toneholes must be rebored and the post holesredrilled slightly, since the boring out of the

Tap and die for upper tenon 27/32” x 20” for bell tenon -1” x 20” bore drill

Tenon repair tools

body interferes with the post hole. It is for thisreson that all the posts must be removed fromthe body if they are in the length of the cut. Inboth methods of repair, the posts upon reset-ting, will act as pins for the tenon.

If the tenon is made on a rubber clar-inet, we must use plastic steel. Rubbercements will seal any leak, but they never fully

harden. The best glue I have found for thispurpose is plastic-steel. It comes in wet pow-der form with a small bottle of liquid. After mix-ing, it does a terrific job of holding.

On clarinets made with plastic materialssuch as Resonite (Bundy, etc.,) I suggest thatyou do not attempt to use the threadedmethod.

If the tenon is threaded and glued in place,we can proceed with the finish cutting immedi-ately since the threads, being right hand, willhold the part firmly. If the tenon is merelyglued in place without the use of threads, it iswise to let the glue set for twenty-four (24)hours before making the finish cut.

The above description is merely for thereplacement or repair of broken male tenonson the upper joint that fit the female tenon ofthe lower joint.

MALE TENON LOWER JOINT Tooling Up

For bell tenon replacement theContinental Tool Division brought forth a toolthat did the job excellently. However, they areno longer in the tool business. Our suggestionis to reverse the tool bit on the Charles Millerboring tool. This will allow you to use the backend of the tool as a pilot. The main stock ofthe boring bar is 1/2”. The bit is set to cutaway half of the wall of the body.To use thistool in boring out the body to receive thetenon replacement, it is necessary to changethe tapered bore of the instrument to astraight bore with a 1/2” hole. This is done by

cutting a piece of brass 3/4” in diameter 1”long. Cut the outside diameter to a 7 degreetaper so that it will fit snugly in the bore of thelower joint in the middle of the low E tonehole. Drill out this piece with a 1/2” drill. Insertthis brass piece in the lower joint from the bellside. Jam it in place. This insert will now giveyou a straight bore with a 1/2” diameter. If thetenon replacement is to be threaded in place,the tool bit in the boring bar must be set moreexact than if there are to be no threads. Ifthreads are preferred, the thread size recom-mended is 1”x20. Since we have to allow.040” for the threads, we must bore out theclarinet to .960 to receive the 1”x20 tap. Thetool bit cuts twice its own length since it cutsthe same amount off each side while turning.Therefore, the bit must extend from the baronly 1/2 of the difference between the size ofthe bar (.500) and the desired bore (.960).The bit must, therefore, extend .230 from thebar. At this point, you are ready to prepare thebody to receive the new tenon.

Preparing the BodyAfter reversing the tool bit in the boring bar

so that the 1/2” stock is extended as a pilot,lock the small end in the chuck or headstockof the lathe. The body of the clarinet will beguided on to the boring bar correctly becauseof the tapered inserted sleeve. Hold the bodyfirmly against the dead center of the tailstockwhile feeding the tailstock forward slowly. Cutup to but not into the low E tone hole. This willgive you a distance of nearly 1/2”.

Making the TenonThe length of the inserted tenon will

include the insertion and the extension. Drillout the inserted tenon with a drill. Bore outthis piece with the boring tool of your latheinserted in the compound rest, to the diameterat the end of the remaining tapered bore ofthe lower joint. Continuance of this taper tomatch the original taper of the instrument isobtained by using the angular feed of thecompound rest. When setting this feed,remember that six to eight degrees is theaverage size taper in the average clarinet.This is an included angle. Therefore, set thetapered feed for half that amount. The outsidediameter of the tenon is cut to size and thecork, recess cut in only after there is definite

Male tenon lower joint (bell section).

assurance that the tenon is firmly in place.

Female Tenon Lower JointThe usual break of the female socket of

the lower joint is such that a tenon will breakjust at the point of the main bore of the body.If the break is such, it is repairable in thismanner. Chuck up the clarinet in a lathe sothat the dead center of the lathe is placedagainst the actual bore of the body. Cut theoutside of the body to a diameter of .843 of aninch. This will give you the perfect size diame-ter to receive a 27/32x20 die. The length ofthis cut should be to the very edge of therecess of the finger hole. This will give youcomplete clearance over the three ring F keytone hole. The replacement part must be asleeve that fits over this extended end of thebody so that the extension of the sleevebecomes the replaced female socket. After thebody is cut to the diameter of .844 of an inch,the mechanic may elect to either thread thispart with the aforementioned die or thereplacement piece can be made as a slip fitover this section of the body. If the part isthreaded and the replacement part equally thesame, the job can be immediately worked onsince the thread will hold the part in placewhile it is being cut to fit. If it is not to bethreaded, the job must then be held up untilsuch time as the glue is completely dry. Toobtain a perfect seam, it is wise to knife edgethe cut of the body so that a straight cut onthe replacement part will give an absolutelysnug fit. When the part is properly glued inplace, the outside diameter of the replacementpart is then cut to match the outside diameterof the body. The instrument is then removedfrom the lathe and if the part is rubber, imita-tion graining of the rubber is accomplishedwith emery cloth in a vertical direction andlight buffing thereafter so as not to remove allof the emery marks thereby simulating the ac-tual grain of the material. When this is com-pleted the instrument is once again placed inthe lathe. However, when cutting the recessfor the ring on the female tenon, it is wise toplace the dead center of the lathe against theouter center of the female so that even on awarped instrument, it will have the appear-ance of being perfectly true after the ring islaced on its recess. When this portion of thejob is completed, the relocation of the three

ring tone hole is the next operation. The actualkey itself will show the approximate positionof the hole. A smaller hole is drilled at thatpoint and with the use of circular files, the holeis then brought to match the old hole which isstill in the body of the clarinet so that upon thecompletion of this operation, the recess of thetone hole can be replaced in perfect positionby the use of an end mill. (See chapter onTone Hole Repair.) Relocation of the post forthe three ring key must then be completedand the key itself will show the position of thepost. Final relocation of the post hole for the Clever key must take place. Post hole drills areselected for the outside diameter of the drillsince the drill not only drills a hole but coun-terbores a shoulder as well. It is this shoulderwhich is the most important part in a selectionof these tools since the actual drill point on allpost drills is approximately the same size.Most clarinets use a special wood thread, the

post tap for which can be purchased frommusical instrument supply houses. It is quitesimilar to a 6x28 thread. Some clarinets suchas the Prueffer have a post with an 8x32thread. In this case, the post drill is still used.However, after drilling the hole, redrill on tothe top section of the clarinet extremely tightfitting so that it has a tendency to pull thecrack in the clarinet together. It is wise to forcea little glue into the crack before driving thering in place. To prepare the body to receivethis end band is a simple procedure. Cut theedge of the body on the lathe just past thetenon. The width of the cut should be a .002”or .003” smaller than the width of the ring toallow for dress off. The depth of the cut shouldbe. approximately .003 to .004 larger than theinside diameter of the end band. When this isaccomplished, bevel the edge of the clarinetso that the ring can be driven home. To drivethis ring home, a piece of brass tubing that fitsloosely against the ring should be placed in

Makes cut on body to receive end band.

such a manner and with light blows of thehammer, the ring can then be forced on. Afterthe ring is forced in place, replace the clarinetbody in the lathe and dress the length of thering so that it is a perfect match to the end ofthe wood. Cut the top face of the ring so that itis a perfect match to the woo In view of the

fact that a cracked clarinet has a tendency topull the body of the instrument out of round, itis sometimes necessary to do final dressingby hand with a file, fine emery cloth and buff-ing.

Flush Banding If the crack in the upper joint of a clarinet

or oboe passes far enough down the length ofthe body so that an end band is insufficient todo the necessary repair, the application of aflush band is required, it is shrunk into arecess in the middle of the body and tightenedto a point that will, in most cases, close thecrack. It is done in the following manner:

The cutting tool should be ground in thesame way and manner as a cut off tool. Thatis, a straight face tool with side clearanceedges. The groove in the body is cut so that itdoes not intercept or interfere with any toneholes or post holes. The selection of the spotis usually optional depending upon the severi-ty of the crack. The width of this grooveshould be cut one-half of one millimeter widerthan the ring to allow for side expansion of thering as the diameter of the ring shrinks to fitthe body. The depth of the cut should beslightly smaller than the thickness of the ring.

The flush band should be annealed prior tothe shrinking process. When the ring iscooled, place it over the body so that it fits inthe groove prepared for. Squeeze the ringeasily in a vise so that it retains an oval shapeand is set in the recess cut in the body. Placethe ring in the flush band die of the shrinkingpress, assuring yourself of the fact that thering is placed evenly in the die; the ring is notplaced evenly in the die, the shrinkage wouldtake place in an off center manner which willhave a tendency to not only ruin the job butmay possibly ruin the instrument as well.When the ring is placed evenly in the die,steady turns on a shrinking arm will shrink thering back into round as well as shrink thediameter. It is wise to turn the body before youreach the bottom of the shrink. This will allowthe ring to settle in its own prepared spaceperfectly. We must be careful not to over-shrink the ring or we will have a tendency todamage the bore. When the ring is fully set inthe groove so that it is tight fitting, there willbe marks left on the ring from the shrinkingpress. It is for this reason we allow the depthof the cut in the body to be less than the thick-ness of the ring. This gives us a small amountfor dress off. The dress off is completed in thelathe with a normal cutting tool to a pointwhere it is flush to the body. We must remem-ber, however, that when an instrument cracks,it throws the instrument out of round.Therefore, final finishing must be done byhand, with filing, emerying, and finally buffing.There is another method of flush banding putout by the Linton Manufacturing Company.This method consists of cutting the groove inthe body any way whatsoever. In the kit theyprepare for this job, they supply a small pieceof aluminum that fits around the body and isheld in place with binding wire. The type ofmetal used for this ring is a form of lead.However, this lead has an extremely lowfusion point and will melt at approximately thetemperature of boiling water. This flushband isapplied by heating some of this metal in asmall retainer they supply with the kit andpouring this metal into the grove through theopening allowed by the aluminum band. If thismetal does not completely fill the groove afterthe band has been removed more of the sametype material can be added in the same wayand manner as any crack filler. After the band

Hammering end band on body

has been applied in this manner, its final com-pletion is arrived at by hand dressing with lightfiling and easy emerying. However, this typeof material should not be buffed as the frictionof the buffing wheel can be sufficient to meltthe material. Hand buffing in this particularcase is recommended. This method of flushbanding does not pull a crack together butmerely holds the instrument in its already setposition so that the crack will have very littlechance of expanding further. This methodworks extremely well on oboes since it elimi-nates the problem of the extremely largeshrinkage necessary to clear the crown of theoboe. Furthermore, in view of the fact thatthere is no required width to a groove, thisflush handing can be applied in any positionwhatsoever.

Rubber RingsIn many instances the rubber ring is pre-

ferred to the application of an end band. Toapply this rubber ring, the following procedureis recommended:

We prepare the body in the same way andmanner as if an end ring were to be applied.However, in the application of a rubber ring,the body is not cut to fit the rubber ring butrather the rubber ring is cut to fit the body. It isfurther advisable to cut the body much deeperso that the rubber ring being thicker has morestrength. It is also wise to cut the body to thedepth that will match the tenon end. The rub-ber ring is bored out so that it is approximatelytwenty thousandths smaller than the diameterof the body at the cut. It is wise to cut a slightknifed edge on the body and a straight edgeon the rubber so that you can obtain a perfectseam. To apply this rubber ring, the rubbermust be stretched so that it can be forcedover the end of the clarinet. Stretching of thisrubber is accomplished by heating the rubberover the torch to a point where the rubber ringbecomes softened. At this point, the rubberring is driven in place.

No glue is necessary. When it is drivenhome tight, it must be allowed to cool slowly.This causes the rubber ring to shrink and it isthis shrinking that will cause the rubber ring tohold extremely tight, to the wood. When it isfully cooled, the length and diameter of therubber ring are cut to fit the body. Final dress-ing of the rubber ring should be done by hand.

However, imitation graining can be easilyaccomplished across the rubber ring into thewood so that it becomes extremely difficult toascertain that there is such a ring applied.This is strictly for the purpose of disguising.

Body PolishingGrenadilla wood can receive a very fine

luster by polishing this wood on a slow speedbuffing wheel (preferably a bench motor) usingany white lime compound. Naturally, we muststay clear of the tone holes when polishingthis body. There will be enough polish left onthe body by the buffing wheel so that polishingbetween the posts and around the tone holescan be easily accomplished with a small stripof cotton flannel. While polishing the body onthe wheel, it is wise to polish the side of thepost. Final hand stropping will give us the nec-essary luster in the smaller spaces. Thecleaning of dirt around the tone holes is easilyaccomplished with the use of small cup brush-es placed on a slow speed motor. This shouldbe done prior to final hand stropping. The boreof any instrument is easily cleaned by wrap-ping a small strip of cotton flannel around atrumpet valve cleaning rod. Apply some buff-ing compound to this rod and vigorous strokesin the inside of the bore will bring a fine luster,to same. In this manner, we will be putting ashine on the inside as well as the outside. Thebell and barrel of a clarinet should be com-pletely polished on the buffing wheel. We mustremember never to use a red rouge com-pound in the polishing on Grenadilla wood orrubber as the red rouge will imbed itself in thepores of the wood and rubber.

The polishing of a rubber or plastic bodyis accomplished in the same way and manneras the wood clarinet. However, we must becareful while polishing either plastics or rubberto keep the pressure against the buffing wheelvery slight since the buffing wheel, throughfriction, will generate heat. Metal bodies arepolished in the same way and manner asdescribed in the chapter on polishing depend-ing upon the finish of the instrument.

Silver Soldering (keys, etc.)Silver soldering is a process used when

the parts to be soldered will have insufficientstrength if lead were used as the bindingagent. To silver solder, we must bear in mind

two important facts. First, that silver will takethe road of least resistance. Therefore, thepart must be thoroughly cleaned. This can beaccomplished either by filing or brushing witha steel wire wheel prior to silver soldering. Donot touch these parts with your fingers as yourfingers will leave oil spots at this point. Theflux used in silver soldering has a borax base.There are many types on the market that aremuch better than borax itself since the formu-lae for these different types of flux are suchthat it will eliminate quite a bit of the expan-sion that usually takes place when borax isheated. It is also important to remember thatsilver solder will only flow when the part is

clean and flux has been applied to that point.Tremendous quantities of flux are not needed.Keeping the flux to a minimum will have a ten-dency to give you neater work. The partshould then be heated slowly to a point whereit is red hot. The silver solder is then applied.Silver solder should never be applied until thepart is red hot. The piece to be silver solderedshould be held in place with a silver solderingjig. There are many of these on the market.Application of the heat should take place untilsuch time as the silver flows like water. If thesilver cannot be seen flowing as heretoforedescribed, there will be very little holdingpower. When silver soldering two thin piecesof material such as brass, one must be carefulnot to keep too forceful a flame and not toconcentrate the flame in one particular posi-tion but rather to dance the flame lightly sothat the material that is to be silver soldered

does not reach its own fusion point and melt.If small pieces are to be silver soldered, thereis a material known as Perma-Jig, which willhelp you do a very fine job on those itemswhere a soldering jig is too clumsy. The im-important feature to be remembered in silversoldering is the control of the heat, bearing inmind the fact that we must always heat theheaviest part first. Furthermore, control of allof the heat is important and many times welose half of the heat as the flame passes thepart. This only prolongs the silver solderingprocess. To utilize this lost heat, it is smart toplace a sheet of either asbestos or magne-sium pad behind the part as the heat is beingapplied. These materials do not absorb butrather reflect any excess heat. As a result,your job can be accomplished more easily andbetter. After the part has been silver soldered,it must be removed from the jig and the scaleon that part must be removed. This isremoved by immersing the still warm part in asolution of nine parts of water to one part ofsulphuric acid. This is known as a pickle.Pickling of the part will remove all of the scale,after which final dressing of the broken piecesshould be done so that the part has theappearance of never having been broken.This dressing is accomplished with the use ofSwiss pattern files, emery cloth and fine lightbuffing. When buffing silver soldered parts, itis wise to remember that silver solder is muchsofter than brass or German silver. Therefore,do not apply too much pressure to the buffingwheel at the soldered joint or it will remove sil-ver solder faster than the other materials.

Ring machine or press.

Complete set of dies of ring machine forclarinet, oboe, English horn and sub press

for flush banding.

Using the Ring MachineThe ring machine is an instrument used for

the purpose of shrinking rings so that they aretight fitting on the tenons and the bells of thevarious musical instruments such as clarinets,etc., that require these rings. The small tenonrings should be removed. The proper die, thatis the die that fits inside the ring loosely sothat the ring rests on its shoulders, is insertedin the machine with the ring face down. Setthe lead screw of the ring machine firmlyagainst the die so that the ring is going in theshrinking die straight. A sudden quarter turn ofthe lead screw usually gets the best results.However, we must remember that the shrink-ing press is nothing more than an oversizeddraw plate. As a result, it only shrinks the oneend facing in the shrinking die. Therefore, thering must be turned around and this processrepeated in this manner so that the ringshrinks evenly. The ring should then be tightenough so that it must be driven on to thepart. If it is still not tight enough, this processcan be repeated. After the rings have beendriven back on the part, they may have a ten-dency to shrink the end of the female socket.Dressing of these sockets may be necessarywith tenon reamers. The bell ring is notremoved but rather, the bell is placed in itsproper die so that the small end faces down.The top die should be such that its diameter isslightly smaller than the outer diameter of thebell ring, yet large enough so that its edgesrest upon the bell ring, and do not hit thewood. Leveling of the bell in the ring die isaccomplished by moving the bell from the bot-tom end so that the die will seat itself close tothe center of the ring machine as the part fitsdirectly under the lead screw. Bring the leadscrew firmly in place and with a suddenmotion of a quarter torn of the screw, you willshrink the ring. If this is insufficient, repeat theprocedure. Some bell rings have a tendencyto want to turn while shrinking. Should-thishap. pen, the bell is then inverted in the sameshrinking die and with a small plate placedover the female socket and the lead screwapplied to this plate, a slight amount of pres-sure with a large part of the bell facing downwill reverse the turn of such a ring. Tighteningof this ring can then be accomplished by repe-tition of the first procedure.

The ring machine is also used for applica-

tion of flush bands as described in the articleon Flush Bands.

Shrinking of oboe bell rings is also accom-plished by use of the ring machine and theoboe dies. The entire procedure is the sameexcept that the oboe die must be picked outso that the diameter of the tube or die doesnot hit the wood of the oboe bell but rather,rests upon the round ring of the bell. The bellis placed in the shrinking die, tenon sidedown. A large tube is placed against the bellring and the large plate used with the oboe dieis placed on top of the large tube or die. Thelead screw is then turned down so that thereis a firm fit against the top die. A quarter turnof the lead screw in a quick motion is usuallysufficient to tighten this ring; if a quarter turn isinsufficient, repeat the procedure. If the bell ofany instrument stays too firm in the lower dieafter the shrinking process has been complet-ed, a light tap with a rawhide mallet to the pro-truding part of the bell will remove same. If aring is held too firmly after the shrinkingprocess in the shrinking die, this is removedby placing a softer piece of material than thering itself is made of against the ring, (prefer-ably copper) and a light tap in this lower diewith the die removed will drop the ring out ofplace.

Clarinet Assembly (Order) This order of clarinet assembly is not to

be considered the only possible order.However, it is the recommended order ofassembly of your writer. It is as follows:

Upper Joint1. Bb, fork key2. C#, or G# key 3. Top ring key 4. Bb bridge key5. A key6. Ab key 7. High C trill, High Bb trill & F# trill

(these 3 keys are put on at the same time)

8. Side Bb key9. Back thumb key 10. Register key

Lower Joint1. F# trill key

2. 3 ring F key3. Side C lever key 4. Low C# or F# key5. B orE key 6. C crow foot and D# keys7. B and C# levers

Checking for LeaksLeaks on a clarinet should be checked for

as each pad is seated. Since pads are madeof translucent skin, it is difficult to use a leaklight and the use of such tool requires atremendous amount of practice to truly ascer-tain whether or not there is a leak. However,this is one method that can be used. Themore widely used method is that of using atesting feeler. This consists of a very narrowslip of tissue paper or cigarette paper. Thispaper is inserted between the key and thetone hole and the key is held lightly in placewhile the paper is removed. If there is a slighttug against the paper, it will usually assure usof the fact that pad is covering at that point. Ifthe paper slips out easily, it is a sure sign ofthe fact that the pad is not hitting the tonehole at that point, thereby causing a leak.When an instrument is completely repaired,testing of the entire joint is accomplished byholding the fingers over the upper holes ofeach joint individually, the heel of the hand atthe bottom of the joint and sucking the air outof the joint with your mouth. If the instrumentis completely covered, you will create a partialvacuum in the instrument which you can read-ily feel. In the lower joint, if you create thispartial vacuum, you may release the pressureof your pinky from the low E key. Normal airpressure at 14.7 lbs. per sq. in. will be morethan sufficient to hold the low E and F keysclosed allowing you to make a complete pop-ping sound when the instrument is drawnaway from your mouth. If there is a leakage,you will not be able to create such a partialvacuum. It is extremely unwise to use ciga-rette smoke to test for leaks because whileyou are blowing the cigarette smoke into theinstrument you build up pressure in the instru-ment which may sometimes be sufficient tooffset some of the spring tension on some ofthe closed keys. They will, in effect, give you afalse idea of leakage and will leave nicotinestains on the bladder skins. It is also advis-

able to change the pad should there ever be anicotine stain since this only deteriorates thepad and causes the key to stick to the body. Itis for this reason that we never test an instru-ment for leaks by trying to blow air through itbut rather test it by sucking air out of it. Ifbrown clarinet pads are used, small inspectionlights are the smartest checks for leaks insuch a case since the material covering thebrown pad is opaque.

Correcting Buzzy Tones on ClarinetsOccasionally, certain tones give a buzz-

ing effect. This is due to the fact that the blad-der skin used on the pads has a tendency tobe in sympathetic vibration with the note beingplayed. This will occur very commonly on whatwe term the throat tones which are the middleA and middle B flat. Also referred to in thesame grouping is the open G. To eliminate thisbuzzing sound, it is necessary to replace thebladder pad with another made of a differentmaterial so as to eliminate the vibration of theskin. The register key pad is the cause of thebuzzy tone on the middle Bb. Therefore, if thispad is changed so that the new pad is either akid pad or a cork, clarity on this note will beachieved. Of course, we must remember thatthe fingering of B flat using the A key and theregister key is actually a false fingering. Thetrue fingering for this note for the perfectsound is the A key and the B flat trill key. Theopen G can have its buzz removed by chang-ing the top ring F pad to a cork or kid pad.The buzz on the A can be removed by chang-ing the A pad to a kid pad. If there is a buzzon the low C#, this can be eliminated bychanging the G# pad to a cork pad. In manycases, buzzing tones or dead notes are some-times caused by too close an action on the 3ring key. To eliminate this, opening of theaction is advisable. On the low G, it would re-quire the opening of the low E and F keys.However, these cannot be opened unless theheight of the F# key is also brought to a pointwhere there would be no lost motion betweenthe F# and F keys as well as the E and Fkeys. This also takes into consideration theadjustment between the C and F lever and theF or C key. Very often the register key holewill become clogged with dirt or lint from aclarinet swab. This must be removed prior totrying the instrument out. Likewise the thumb

insert on the upper joint of the clarinet mustbe kept clean or it would affect the F#. Onclarinets where there is an articulated G#,grease from the joint cork may sometimes col-lect in the G# tone hole. This should be keptclean or it will have a tendency to change theintonation of that particular note.

Finger Ring Replacement and RepairFinger rings on a clarinet may have to be

replaced or repaired. We do not repair wornfinger rings. They are merely replaced by sil-ver soldering on a new ring. However, veryoften we are faced with finger rings that aretoo snug fitting around the raised finger hole.To correct this, we may either grind out asmall amount from the ring itself or slightlystretch the ring by forcing the same over atapered mandrel and lightly hammering thesides of the ring with a dent hammer whiledoing so. This stretches quite easily. If fingerrings have to he bent into position, we mustbe careful to keep the ring flat while so bend-ing. Therefore, it is advisable to bend theserings by placing the entire ring in the jaws ofthe vise so that when the balance of the key isbent forward or backward, it does not changethe complete lay of the ring. For simple adjust-ment or regulation of the ring keys, it is advis-able to place a flat slick between the ring andthe finger hole and press the key cup down. Ifthe ring is to be reversed, the slick is placedunderneath the pad and the ring presseddown. These rings should be set so that theyare very slightly above the finger hole sincethe musician plays the instrument by coveringthe holes with the ball end of each finger; theperfect feel can, in this way, be achieved. Afterthe rings are set on the three ring key as wellas the Bb bridge key, the final adjustmentbetween these two keys is made by raising orlowering the bridge of the Bb bridge key. It isadvisable to keep a fairly decent size openingon the three ring key so that it does not impairthe intonation or sound of the three finger C orupper G.

If a finger ring is bent out of shape, itmust be straightened two ways. Firstly, so thatit is perfectly round and secondly, so that it isperfectly flat. This is done by forcing the ringgently over a tapered mandrel so as to bring itback into a true round. If light hammering isnecessary, the use of a rawhide mallet is

advisable so as to eliminate any possibility ofstretching. To be sure that the ring is flat,place it against any flat piece of steel andlightly tap it into position with the rawhide mal-let. This will eliminate any possible hammer orstretch marks on the part. If, in the repair ofthese rings, marks are left on these rings, wemust remember that appearance is extremelyessential in the proper repair of any instru-ment. Therefore, these marks must beremoved by light filing, scraping, emeryingand buffing. To eliminate any marks coming onthe keys, through the use of the vise, it isadvisable to either use brass jaws in your viseor make brass sleeves to fit over your visejaws. These rings, although replaceable, donot have to be made since they can be readilypurchased from any supply house. They arepurchased in either rough cast form or as fin-ished casting.

Register Keyand Back Thumb Inserts

Too many people believe that the regis-ter key and back thumb insert must be a forcefit in the body of the instrument. This will workon rubber instruments. However, it is notadvisable to have these parts too tight oneither wood or plastic instruments. However,to seal a leak around these parts, it is advis-able to heat them and apply hard shellac tothese parts and while they are still hot, pushthem into place so that the shellac acts as aseal against any leakage. If these parts aretoo tight on wood clarinets, they do not allowfor either shrinking or expanding of the woodand as a result, may’ be one of the causes forthe cracking of the upper joints of clarinets.The register key insert should not be tam-pered with insofar as the size of the hole isconcerned, lest it have a tendency to changethe entire intonation of the extreme register. Ifthe hole in the register key insert is too small,it will have a tendency to throw the extremeregister flat. The back thumb insert is curvedat the bottom to match the bore of the clarinet.This curvature should be set in its proper posi-tion when the insert is replaced in the body ofthe instrument.

Removing Broken Lyre screwsThe removal of broken lyre screws is a

common occurrence on metal clarinets since’

the musician has a tendency to tryand over-tighten the lyre in its socket. As longas the lyre is made of brass or German silver,it would have a tendency, when it is beingforced, to snap at its weakest point. This isusually flush to the end of the lyre socket, atwhich point, it is quite tight and should beremoved in the following manner: Using aNumber 50 drill, drill a hole as close to deadcenter of the broken part as possible. Thehole should be drilled to a depth of the bodyitself but not into the body. Place a Number 1E-Z Out extractor (which has a left handthread on a taper) in a tap wrench. Set thisextractor in the already drilled hole, turn it tothe left and as it starts to engage its ownthreads in the hole, it will take a firm bite onthe broken part and unscrew it easily from thesocket. Removal of the broken pieces fromthe E-Z Out extractor is performed by using asmall pliers and turning the part to the right. Ifthe hole drilled in the broken part is close todead center, the broken piece will removedwithout any damage to the threads. The lyrecan then be threaded further down its end sothat the same lyre is still usable. On small lyresockets on the brass instruments or on saxo-phones, the same procedure is followed.

However, upon the removal of the broken part,the lyre screw would have to be replaced.

Rusted Rod RemovalVery often, through lack of oil, a rod

becomes rusted in place. Before we canremove this rusted rod, we must ascertainwhether or not the rusted portion so holdingthe rod and key is in the post that is threaded,

the post that has a clear hole or in the tubularhinge of the key itself. If the rusted portion isin either one of the posts and not affecting thekey, this becomes discernible due to the factthat although the rod would seem frozen, thekey would move freely on the rod. If, however,when the key is being operated, we can seethe ears of the screw or rod moving with thekey, this is positive assurance of the fact thatalthough the rod is free in both posts, it isfrozen to the key. Since there are two differentmethods for the removal of these two types offrozen rods, we must take them individually indiscussion. Removing or breaking the rust ineither of the posts is quite simplified. Thelubricant used to dissolve the rust can be apenetrating oil or “Liquid Wrench” works tobest advantage in dissolving rust due to thefact that this is nothing more than the moisturetaken from gas mains and it will dissolve oxi-dation. Rust is nothing more than oxidation ofiron referred to as ferrous oxide. However,application of this material alone, althoughadvisable, is insufficient. Light tapping with adent hammer on the side of the post aroundthe threads or the rod, while the post is placedagainst a flat piece of steel so as to eliminateany shock against the body, will cause the rustor corrosion to crack so that the liquid wrenchcan then dissolve it, after which the rod caneasily be removed.

If the rod is rusted in the key, it is neces-sary to break the rust allowing the liquidwrench to dissolve the same before using ascrew driver to remove the rod. To accomplishthis, we can lightly tap the side of the key sothat it moves slightly, along the rod betweenthe posts moving it back and forth until suchtime as the key frees itself on the rod. Slightheat application in many instances is advis-able. When the key is completely free, on therod, the use of a screw driver will removesame. However, it is advisable not to use thescrew driver until such time as you are com-pletely sure that there is freedom of move-ment between the key and rod. In rareinstances, the rod is so rusted that it is advis-able to drill out this rod in preference toattempting to save it and the cost of therepairing, in time, is much cheaper by replace-ment of same. To drill out this rod, we mustuse a post drilling jig which allows us to drill ahole smaller than the diameter of the rod itself

Post drilling jig.

through the dead center of the end of the rodto a depth that passes the end of the post.Two different drill sizes are used in view of thefact that the threaded end of the rod has asmaller diameter than the head of the rod.This rod must be drilled from both sides sothat the remaining portion in the post is noth-ing more than a mere shell. This operation iscompleted by placing a screw driver under thetubular hinge of the key and with a light pryingmotion, raise the screw driver. The thin shellleft in the post will snap so that the key will liftout of the position. The broken piece in thekey can be driven loose. The remaining shellin the front post can also be easily pushedout. However, the thread post should berethreaded to the same size thread as on theremaining screws. This will either be a 1x64 or1x72 on clarinet screws or a 2x56, 2x64 or3x48 on saxophone screws. (For RodReplacement, see the following article.)

Rod ReplacementIn the event that rusted rods must be

drilled out or rods be damaged to a pointwhere they should be replaced, it must bedone in the following manner: The size drillrod to be used should be a snug, smooth fit inthe tubular hinge of the key. To determine thesize thread to be used on this rod, we mustmeasure the old thread with a micrometer anduse our formula in reverse to determine thecode number for the diameter of the thread.The formula is the number multiplied by 13,add .060 to give the diameter in thousandthsof an inch. In reversing this formula, we takethe micrometer measurement of the thread,subtract .060, and divide by 13. For example,assuming that a rod at the threaded endmeasures to .099 of an inch, subtracting .060,this leaves the balance of .039, dividing by 13gives us a code number of 3. This tells us thediameter of the thread in code number. Thenumber of threads per inch is determined bythe use of a thread gauge. In the event thatone is not available, your set of taps and dieswould serve the same purpose. Most instru-ment repairmen have use for 2 sizes of theNumber 3 tap, namely, the 3x48 and the 3x56.To determine which of the two is to be used,select either one and place it against the oldthreads so as to try and mesh the threads ofthe tap against the threads of the rod. The

perfect number of threads per inch will meshperfectly. The incorrect size would show itselfby not allowing the threads to mesh. (See arti-cle on tap and die threading.’) After we havedetermined the size thread to be used, the rodmust be prepared to receive this size die. Forinstance, assume that the rod measures to.112 of an inch and the thread to be used is a3x48 (this is usually the perfect size) Toreceive this 3x48 die the rod should be .099 ofan inch. Therefore, we must not attempt toapply the 3x48 die over the end of the rod aslong as that rod has a diameter of .112 sincethis will cause a tremendous amount of strainand would result in either breaking the end ofthe rod or hurting the die. Therefore, we mustplace the rod in either a bench motor or latheand trim the end of the rod, usually by light fil-ing, to a point whereby the diameter of thepart to be threaded is reduced to .099 of aninch. The threads are then cut with the 3x48die up to a point that has been trimmed toreceive the same allowing the threaded end tobe a little longer than necessary. Upon thecompletion of the threading process, we mustremember to remove the final burr that iskicked up by the cutting teeth of the die in thefinal cut. This is done by drawing a file againstthe last thread lightly while the rod is beingturned in the bench motor or the lathe. This issometimes referred to as cutting a back lead.When this is completed, the rod is removedfrom the lathe and screwed in place in thepost so that the final thread is completelyengaged in the post. At this point, the front ofthe rod is marked as well as the threaded por-tion that will protrude from the back post.Remove the rod and cut off the excess at thepoints of marking. This may be cut with adiagonal pliers and finally the two ends of therod are dressed smooth with a file. The finalprocess in the completion of making this rod isthe cutting of the ears of the screw. This canbe done by means of a midget hacksaw or byusing the screw slotting tool such as the onesold by many tool manufacturers in this coun-try.

Clarinet Pad ChartsNot all clarinets take the same exact size

pad. Therefore, we list for you a few of themore standard set sizes that you willencounter in overhauling clarinets. The aver-

age clarinet takes 17 pads in each individualset. However, a few of the sizes vary in accor-dance with the size of that particular key cup.This actually is one of the peculiarities usedas a determining factor in ascertaining themake of the average instrument despite themany different names engraved there on. Forinstance, the Pedlar clarinet has 3 small sizepads and these are: the C# G# key; the topring F key; and the Bb bridge key. Thesesizes are 8 1/2mm. There are eight Number10mm for the balance of the smaller keys onthe upper joint. The three ring F key and F#trill key are larger than normal on this makeinstrument and they use a Number 13mmpad. The four larger pads are one Number 151/2mm and 3 Number 17mm. The peculiaritiesof this instrument to help you determine themake is based upon two factors; firstly, the 3small pads on those 3 aforementioned keysand the larger size pads on the three ring Fand F# trill key. Being able to tell the make ofthe instrument from the pads can be helpfulbecause this also tells us the size of the pivotscrews (2x56) such as described in tap anddie threading article, and the fact that youhave German silver keys to work with. This istrue in either the wood, metal or rubber clar-inets.

The Bettoney clarinet has its pad pe-culiarities in the fact that the register keyaccepts a number 8 1/2mm such as the topring key. The C# G# key accepts the samesize pad as the three ring F and F# trill key,namely, 12mm. The balance of the keys onthe upper joint use 10 1/2mm sizes. Of thefour big keys on the lower joint, the C and Bkeys use a No. 18mm pad. While the C# keytakes the odd size of 16mm and the D# key a151/2mm. The Bettoney clarinet is easily rec-ognizable through these pad sizes.

The French type clarinet has the mostsimplified of all sets of pads in the fact that theonly small pad on the instrument is on the topring F key whereby it uses an 8mm pad.There are ten Number 10mm pads for the bal-ance of the keys on the upper joint. There aretwo Number 12 mm for the three ring F andF# trill key. There is one Number 15 1/2 mmfor the D# key and three Number 17 for thebalance of the keys in the lower stack. Whenpads are bought in sets, these are the stan-dard sizes of the average sets of pads. There

are many brands of clarinets on the market.However, they will fall into one of these threecategories. Your better brands such asSelmer, Buffet, and LeBlanc utilize the morestandard set such as listed on the Frenchtype. However, many Italian imported clarinetshave proven that they do not adhere to any-thing. The Czechoslovakian clarinet utilizes ahalf mm larger on the upper joint than theFrench type. The Rampone clarinet (one ofthe better Italian makes) uses pads approxi-mately 1 1mm in size on the upper joint whilethe B and C keys of the lower joint run to theweird size of 20mm.

If the clarinet in question has an articulat-ed B# of the modern variety, the pad size forthe articulated key (such as on Buffet andSelmer, etc.) is 7 mm. It is sometimes wise touse a cork pad on these keys to eliminate anybuzzy tones. If there is an articulated G#, thepad size of the average instrument is approxi-mately lO 1/2 mm (such as on Buffet).Selmer’s use an 11mm pad.

Clarinet pads (bladder) come in three vari-eties; namely, thick, medium and thin. The thinvariety, sometimes referred to as Piccolopads, must be completely floated in the keys;by this we mean filling the key cup with shel-lac and letting the pad lay on top of the shel-lac in such a manner as to make it appear asif the pad were filling the key cup without anyshellac visible. The medium size pad must behalf floated. The thick pads merely have to beshellacked in the key cup. To eliminate theswelling of such a pad, upon heat application,it is imperative to puncture a slight hole at theside of the pad so as to allow an escapehatch for the air under the bladder skin. If thisis not done when the key is heated, the padwill have a tendency to blow up so that appli-cation of an impression in the pad will not befeasible. Very often, the center of the pad willtend to belly up. This happens due to the factthat the shellac does not actually come in con-tact with the felt of the pad but rather, it is usu-ally glued to the cardboard back. On the smallpads, this item is negligible.

However, on the larger size pad of thelower joint, this belly can cause us a tremen-dous amount of trouble and prohibits us fromattaining perfect coverage and a solid feel inthe seating of the pad. To correct this situa-tion, it is sometimes wise to cut away a small

portion of the cardboard back so that the feltof the pad is visible, thereby allowing the shel-lac to adhere to the felt. The LeBlancCorporation of Kenosha, Wisconsin, has man-ufactured the Noblet pad which has a cut outin the cardboard for exactly this purpose.Clarinet pads are often made with single blad-der skins. These pads usually leak directlythrough the skins since the single skin is quitethin and is porous. The better type of pad con-sists of a double skin wherein the two skinsare actually glued together there-by bringingto a minimum the possibility of the leakagethrough the porosity of the material.

Brown clarinet pads can be applied withoutpuncturing the skin since the kid pad is porousenough to eliminate the aforementioned trou-bles. However on the larger pads, removal ofthe portion of the cardboard to allow the shel-lac to hit the felt is also advisable. Pad sizesremain the same in either brown or bladderpads.

On many clarinets, the size of the tonehole may seem to be quite large in com-pari-son to the key cup such as usually found onthe articulated G# and on the three ring F keyof Selmer clarinets. To facilitate the seating ofsuch a pad, it is wise to use a thin clarinet padand float same in place. The differencebetween the brown and the bladder pad con-sists of good and bad points on both sides.For instance, if brown pads are used on aclarinet, they will have a tendency to giveslightly muffled tone by comparison to thebladder pad. However, they not only lastlonger than the bladder pad since the coveringis that much stronger but they eliminate allpossibility of buzzy tones. Bladder pads give amore professional sound to a clarinet but donot last as long and may cause certain notesto have a buzzy effect. It is for this reason thatif bladder pads are used in the overhaul of aclarinet, it is wise to apply a cork pad in theregister key and sometimes on the top ring Fkey. (See chapter on correcting buzzy toneson clarinets.)

Cutting Clarinet BarrelsThe average clarinet when manufac-

tured, comes through with a barrel supposedlycapable of setting the instrument at a pitch theequivalent of A-440. However, this is usuallytoo long a barrel for the average musician and

may sometimes have to be cut to allow themusician to tune slightly sharper. In cutting aclarinet barrel, we must remember that wemust always cut from the mouth-piece sidesince this will allow the barrel to still retain itsproper appearance. If the barrel were cut fromthe upper joint side, it would definitely showdue to the fact that we would be cutting intothe larger diameter of the barrel leaving anedge. To properly cut a barrel we must firstremove the ring of the mouthpiece side, thenplacing the barrel in the lathe and centeringthe same with the dead center of the tail stockand while the tail stock is so engaged, cut therecess for the ring for as much as you wish tocut off the length of the barrel. Remove thebarrel from the lathe and replace the ring driv-ing the ring home to its new seat. Replace thebarrel in the lathe with the tail stock engaged.Cut off the end of the barrel to a point where itis a perfect match to the edge of the replacedring. The final process is to bore out the barrelto the perfect depth to receive the mouth-piece. To accomplish this purpose there aremouthpiece socket reamers which are moreeasily used than the boring tool on the lathedue to the fact that we do not have to worryabout centering the barrel when using themouthpiece socket reamer or whereas theonly positive way to truly center the barrel forboring with a boring tool would be with theuse of a four jaw independent chuck. If themouthpiece socket reamer is used, the mouth-piece socket reamer is fastened in the chuck,and the barrel is held in the hand while thefemale tenon is so bored. The mouthpiecesocket reamer cuts the perfect depth anddiameter for the average mouthpiece. Thistool can be purchased from any one of thetool companies. The final procedure is todress off the burr at the very edge of themouthpiece socket.

Saxophone Explanation and Description

The saxophone is a comparatively newinstrument in the musical instrument field. It isthe youngest of all modern musical instru-ments. It is a conical bore instrument. In viewof this fact, the saxophone is built in octavesas compared to the clarinet, which as a cylin-drical bore instrument, is built in many keys orpitches to accomplish the needs of the com-posers for different sounds in various arrange-ments. The smallest saxophone is the Ebsoprano. This instrument does not, as a rule,

go to high F as other saxophones would butrather the highest note is Eb in its own partic-ular pitch. The next larger saxophone is the Csoprano. Next, the Bb soprano. As we stepinto the alto line, an instrument that is veryrare is the F mezzo alto. One of the morecommon instruments is the normal Eb alto.The next instrument in line is the C melodysaxo-phone which is followed by the Bb tenorsaxophone, the Eb baritone saxophone, andthe Bb bass saxophone. There is a contrabass. However, this instrument is so rare thatit can be called extinct. Of the afore mentionedinstruments, the three most popular are theEb alto, the Bb tenor and the Eb baritone.

There are peculiar instruments in the saxo-phone line such as the saxella which was putout by the King Company and is actually a Bbsoprano saxophone. However, it was shapeddifferently from the normal saxophone so thatit actually had a stand of its own with practi-cally no curvature except on the bell flare anda curved neck so that it could be differentiatedfrom the normal straight soprano saxophone.The soprano saxophone comes in eitherstraight or curved forms. The differencebetween the two is not only in the appearancebut rather in the sound. The straight sopranowill have a much bigger sound in view of thefact that the curvature of the curved sopranohas a tendency to be slightly muffled by com-parison to the straight soprano since this cur-vature is responsible for disallowing the soundwaves complete freedom of exit from the horn.There are such instruments as the straightalto saxophone. However, these are extremelyrare. They were made by the BuescherCompany. On today’s modern saxophones,we find that many items have been added tofacilitate the musician’s articulation. Forinstance, the extra high F key which actuallyconsists of a high F lever and a pearl tip leverallows an extra fingering of a note that isalready there. The articulated G# allows themusician to easily make the change fromeither low B, low Bb or to G# without hesita-tion. To accomplish this end it needs merely asmall extension under the spatula of the G#key that fits under the low B and C# keys so

that when either of these notes is ap-plied, theG# key is brought into play. More recently,some baritones have come forth with a low Akey. This key is operated by the musician withthe right hand thumb. The Mark VI Selmer

CHAPTER 4

SAXOPHONE REPAIR

Saxophone assembled and disas-sembled bodies.

Set of saxophone keys

Saxophone has come forth with an extra highF# key. This key arrangement consists of alever running parallel to the keys on the lowerstack which operates a long key with its tonehole slightly above the high F tone hole. Thesaxo-phone is an instrument made of brass. Ithas, aside from its mouthpiece, a good gooseneck or mouthpipe, separated and detachedfrom the main body of the instrument. It is asingle reed instrument and in effect is builtalong the lines of all of the reed instruments.There are many different makes of saxo-phones on the market. To properly discussthese different makes, we must take them in-dividually.

SelmerMany years ago, the Selmer Saxophone

(Model 12) was actually an ad-vent for themusicians in this country. The Model 22 wasthe first improvement on this instrument sincethey eliminated the key arrangement of theside Bb key, modernizing it to match the pres-ent day system. The Model 12 utilized the Apad as a side Bb key allowing the spring ten-sion of this key to keep the key closed where-as the spring tension on the A lever wasstrong enough to offset this key so that whenthe A key was applied, the A pad fell closed ofits own spring tension and then could beoperated manually by the finger top lever ofthe side Bb key. This allowed the Bb key tovibrate since its spring tension as a closedkey had to be quite light, and allowed toomuch opportunity for lost motion due toimproper cork adjustment, thereby giving themusician a terrible feel. With the advent ofSelmer Super Saxophone, the fine quality oftone achieved by the Selmer Saxophonemade it one of the finest instruments of ourday.

The Cigar Cutter model gave the mu-sician the Selmer quality of tone and eliminat-ed the poor working octave key of the aver-age Selmer Saxophone since at that time theSelmer saxophone had as its one fault theoctave arrangement. This unquestionablymade this horn the best horn on the market.However, the Selmer Balanced action and thelatest Mark VI Saxophones are so far superiorto anything put out in the past by the SelmerCompany that it is not worth discussing.

BuescherThe Buescher Saxophone has made a

few improvements from the old round G#model. Today’s model still has the finest work-ing octave assembly. The Buescher snap onpad was the first and original tone boosterpad of all saxophones and anything thereafterhas merely been a copy. The BuescherCompany, at the present time, puts forth twosaxophone lines with their name on them.They are the Buescher 400 and the BuescherAristocrat. The Buescher 400 gives a differenttype of key arrangement which uses steelangles in grooved slots for the purpose ofeliminating action of metal keys against cork.The low B and Bb keys are on the stack sideof the bell, unprotected by guards. It is muchmore complicated in key arrange-ment thanthe Aristocrat model. It has a much larger bellthan the Aristocrat and all the long rods aremade of nickel silver to give more strengththan brass which is a much softer material. Itis the opinion of the writer that the BuescherAristocrat Saxophone is an extremely wellbuilt horn insofar as sturdiness is concernedand this horn is to be considered as one ofthe top American brands.

The Conn SaxophoneThe Conn Saxophone has long been one

of the forerunners of achievement in theAmerican music industry. Conn was the firstto apply the extra high F key to a saxophone.The Conn Company will long be rememberedfor having the first tenor saxophone with aclear middle D and it was for this reason thatthe Conn tenor gained a worldwide reputation.The Conn Company, on its older horns, hadreinforced tone holes by virtue of rolling theedge of the hole. However, on today’s market,this point is eliminated. The octave assemblyof the Conn Saxophone, modern as it mayseem, uses the same principle as theBuescher octave in reverse. It is a well builthorn and, at the present time, one of the topAmerican brands.

Martin SaxophoneFor many years the Martin Saxophone

was nothing more than a student line instru-ment. By comparison to other instruments, itwas old fashioned and out-dated. In recentyears, when the Martin Company made its

first major change in its saxophone styling, bybringing forth the Martin Committee ModelSaxophone, the Martin Company took itsplace as one of the leaders in the field. Thisinstrument had solid nickel silver keys on abrass body. It was completely modernized.However, the one old fashioned feature wasits octave assembly. This instrument was anextremely fine horn. However, the tenor saxo-phone had a slightly muffled middle D. Today’sMartin is practically a copy of the older modelwith a modern octave assembly and clarityhas been achieved on the middle D of thetenors.

If ever there were changes made on saxo-phones, the Holton Company made them.What would normally seem to be changes forthe better. made this saxophone in the pastseem like a farce. The high Eb trill key put outby the Holton Company with the advent oftheir Rudy Weidoft Model was a museumpiece. Their attempt of clarification of the mid-dle D by the insertion of the C auxiliary tonehole was. without question, the worst keyarrangement that could possibly be conceivedby the minds of men.

Their G# trill lever was, without any doubt,one of the biggest mistakes ever made by anysaxophone company. The insertion of anextremely long rod to hold the Eb trill leverand the high E key was undoubtedly a horriblemistake in saxophone planning. However, themore recent Holton instrument, although itcannot be considered among the finest in theprofessional field, has made such fineimprovements that it ranges as one of the topinstruments for the amateur student lines.

King SaxophoneThe King Saxophone for many years had

a reputation of being a soft sounding sweettone instrument that no professional woulduse. It is what we considered to be a confi-dential horn. That is to say, only the personplaying it could hear it. However, it has aarrangement with a hook system of engage-ment between the G# key and the G# leverwith the trill lever built on the lower stack insuch a manner that it was a virtual impossibili-ty to keep the key in proper adjustment. Itcalled for an extremely large cork on the G#lever in an attempt to remove the lost motionin the G# key. Evidently, this was one of the

poorest examples of engineering that could beimagined. To try and clarify some of theoctaves, tone holes in both the G octave andthe A octave were drilled on an angle.Mechanically, this was supposed to allowclearance for the sound waves. Actually, itonly allowed extra reason for improperappearance and leakage. For many years, theKing Saxophone was not even considered bymusicians. However, on today’s market theKing Super 20 is, in the opinion of the writer,

the only saxophone that can compare to theSelmer and it does this rather easily. It has fullbody and clarity and almost flawless intona-tion on every note. It is the most completelychanged instrument on the market. Its designallows it being compared to any other instru-ment.

Some models come through with a sterlingsilver neck and bell. It uses small nuts to actas lock screws. It has rollers wherever there issliding action on the horn to allow for betterfingering. It is completely different in design,all of which is for the better. This makes it oneof the finest saxophones of our time. The KingSaxophone is equipped with tone domes orboosters built in each individual pad with avery similar appearance to the resonators onthe Conn Reso pad except for the fact thatsome of them run slightly larger.

Other MakesThere are many other makes on the mar-

Screw block with sax rods and springs in order.

ket such as the second rate horns or studentline put out by the American companiesheretofore mentioned. There is also the BuffetSaxophone which is, in effect, a completeinnovation in the old Buffet which in simpledescription was a mess. The tone domes onthe Buffet are built so high that it has thesame effect as closing the action on a saxo-phone which can do very little good. Theimported instruments such as the Kohlert,made good student line horns but they are inno manner comparable to the better’ Americanmakes. The SML put out by Strasser MarigauxLeMa ire is one of the heaviest saxophonesthat was ever built, and its tone and make upare certainly not in comparison with the priceof the horn. We do not place this instrument ina comparative category of either of the betterAmerican brands or the Selmer.

Order of DisassemblyThe disassembly process involves remov-

ing all the rods, pivot screws, springs, padsand felts so that the instrument can be proper-ly polished. Most repairmen use a small blockof wood (Screw Block) to hold the rods, pivotscrews and springs. The only thing we canoffer for your benefit is to use some kind ofsystem so you will be able to find the properrods easily when assembling. All key rollersshould be removed prior to polishing.

The recommended order of disassembly isa simple system of “nearest to the top”. In thismanner, one can easily be able to pick out theproper rod from the screw block and replace itin its proper hole. A saxophone is two sided.The lower stack rod and all of the assemblyimmediately around it make up one side of thesaxophone and the balance of the instrumentis its opposite side. In this manner, replace-ment of all parts is facilitated. In disassem-bling a horn, all extra work on the instrumentother than the normal overhauling should bedone. For instance, swedging of keys,removal of rusted rods or removal of brokensprings from posts; dent work and solderingshould take place in the disassembly processso that upon completion of the disassemblythe saxophone is immediately prepared forpolishing and lacquering process.

Tone Hole Refacingand Soldering

Tone holes in saxophones can either bedamaged through dropping, denting, or inmost cases, buffing by an over-zealous polish-er. Tone holes that are damaged insofar asdents are concerned are usually brought backinto round by driving the proper dent plugthrough the open hole so that it falls into thebore of the body. Nicks or marks on thesetone holes are removed by letting the dentplug rest firmly in place in the tone hole andlight tapping against the side wall of the tonehole would remove same. Sharp cuts on topof the tone hole have to be removed by ham-mering against such a plug, the tone holeresting between the plug and the dent ham-mer so that the metal stretches at that point toclose up the sharp cut. However, these proce-dures, simple as they may be, do not consti-tute the bulk of the work for the musical instru-ment repairman insofar as tone hole repairingon the average saxophone is concerned.Musical instrument repairmen have alwaysbeen plagued with cockeyed tone holes. Thebulk of these are not caused by the musician,but rather by former repairmen and especiallypolishers who forget themselves. High speedbuffing cuts down the instrument; a portion ofthe tone hole is cut away leaving us anextremely crude edge that can be called any-thing but level. To properly seat a pad on asaxophone tone hole, we have to have eithera level tone hole or suffer through a deepimpression in the pad. A new tool for levelingthese tone holes has finally come forth on themarket. In the past, repairmen have had touse their eyes, their hands and their imagi-nations to try and set these tone holes to apoint whereby their work of seating was atleast partly reasonable. Hand filing may bringus close to the truth but can in no measurewhatsoever, give us complete accuracy. As aresult, these small deviations cause small pin-point leaks which will, in turn, hamper anydecent musician in the performance of his jobon this instrument.

The industry has been crying for manyyears for a design of a tool that wouldenable us to quickly and efficiently level thetone holes of a saxophone body so that easypad seating of same could take place. Yourwriter has in his possession such a set oftools, completely and effectively designed sothat leveling of all of the tone holes of a saxo-

phone body regardless of how bad, becomesa ten-minute operation. It is important that wedescribe these tools so that the procedureinvolved in the use of these tools can beproperly described. The tools consist of a setof circular files; this tool comes in four sizes.They have adjust pilots that allow them to holdtheir level in the tone hole socket. Mere over-all description of the tool would be to call it alollypop. The adjustable pilots are set up on aleft hand and right hand thread arrangementso that these adjustable pilots can be set tomatch the tone hole merely by turning thehandle of the tool. The perfect set of thesepilots is to turn such a handle to such time asa pilot holds firm in the tone hole at whichpoint, we release the handle slightly so as toallow for the fact that all tone holes are not atrue concentric. The thumb is placed firmlyagainst the top of the file which, incidentally, isa leveling plate to check the level of the tonehole after it is cut. With the thumb in this posi-tion, the handle is moved in quarter turns backand forth. The file teeth set on these tools aremilled slots or edges on angles so that nochips can clog a file; as a result, you have nocleaning involved insofar as the use of thistool is concerned. The movement of the handin this procedure is kept until such time as thetone hole is completely levelled. Checking forthe level of this tone hole is done by reversingthe file, the back of which is your levelingplate. Since these files come in four sizes, it isnecessary to pick the proper size prior to per-forming the job. The hardness of these tools is58-62 Rockwell. This, in effect, is to state thatthese files are so hard that cutting the brasswould make it almost impossible for thesetools to go dull; therefore, one can simplystate that these tools are a lifetime proposi-tion.

Many of the older instruments, such asthe Buffet, the Holton and the Martin saxo-phones had soft soldered tone holes whichhad a tendency as the solder grew old and pit-ted to leak at the soldered joint. Dirt thatwould collect in these tone holes at its sol-dered seam. had a tendency to make it prettyrough to resolder these parts. In these cases,it is advisable to remove the entire tone holeand after leveling out the top edge, clean theparts and resolder as a complete job.However, small leaks do not require the

removal of the entire hole but rather, clean thepart that is to be soldered by scraping theinside edge and in some cases, dig betweenthe tone hole and the body with a small toolso as to clean any dirt out. If there is stillsome dirt that might prohibit the solder fromflowing smoothly, this could be burned cleanwith the application of heat and soldering acid.However, please remember in soldering thesetone holes that solder will take its road of leastresistance. Therefore, after the part is properlycleaned and prepared to receive the solder,the edge of the body on which the tone holerests should be fitted as close as possible tothe tone hole so that the solder can flowquickly and easily along the seams. It is ad-visable to apply the solder from the inside ofthe tone hole. This will enable one to get thebest soldering job and allow for easy scrapingof any excess solder. It is completely advis-able, upon the disassembly of any horn thathas soldered tone holes, to check for leaksprior to polishing and lacquering since anyleaks that would show themselves after thehorn is lacquered would put the mechanic in abad spot for soldering up the same. The easi-est way to check for this open tone hole is tohold the body of the instrument in front of anylight and any leak would show itself by allow-ing the light to come through its opening. Inthe event that you have an open tone hole ina newly lacquered instrument and you do notwish to hurt the lacquer on this horn, it issometimes possible to secure a small pinholeleak with the application of a material knownas plastic aluminum. This only takes a shortwhile to harden and it will secure any opening.This is only used in an emergency and shouldnot be considered the perfect repair job inview of the fact that soldering of the toneholes is the proper method.

Dent RemovalPrior to polishing and lacquering, the dent

should be removed from a saxophone so thatupon the completion of the polishing and lac-quering job, the instrument can have its bestappearance. Actually, large dents would impairthe tone since they do change the bore of theinstrument. There are four sections of theinstrument that can be dented. They are: thegoose neck, the stack section. the bottom bowand the bell section. In each case, the type of

rod used for this dent removal is the basicdetermining factor. The dents on the neck areremoved with a dent rod curved in the sameshape as the neck. If it is a major dent so thatthe neck will have to be burnished, the rod

should be completely smooth for the burnish-ing process. If it is a singular dent, a raisedball end on the end of the rod works to bestadvantage. The neck has three sides insofaras dent removal is concerned. If the rod isplaced in the vise so that its curvature faces tothe right, one whole side of the neck can easi-ly be straightened with the tool. (See chapteron Dent Removal with Rods.) By reversing therod so that its curvature faces in the oppositeside, the dent in the opposite side of the neckcan be removed by setting the rod in the viseso it stands straight up from the jaws of thevise. The dents in the top curvature of theneck are easily removed in this manner.

One of the usual damages to a saxo-phone neck is caused by the musician bend-ing the neck in a downward motion while put-ting the neck in the saxophone. This causesthe bore of the neck to go into an oval shapewith a large part of the oval being the twosides of the neck. To straighten this, we mere-ly have to place a tight fitting rod in the bottomof the male tenon of the neck. Holding this rodin the vise, pull back very gently on themouthpiece side of the neck with a slight jerk-ing motion until the neck goes back into a trueround. Absolute perfection is not alwaysachieved even though it will return to its origi-nal shape. The neck may then have to beslightly burnished on the neck rod. The stacksection of the body has its dents removed byusing a rod of either 5/8 or 3/4in. diameter, the

end of which is slightly raised by curving ofthe tip of the rod. It is important to rememberthat when using this rod to remove a dent, it isnever used in a pulling motion but rather thedent is located above the rod and removed bya gentle rolling motion of the rod from side toside, never across the length of the body. Veryoften, dents can be pushed up even thoughthey are under a soldered post on the stacksection. However, when pushing up such adent, it should be pushed by a steady applica-tion of pressure on the rod directly under thedent. Final rolling out of this dent should takeplace by rolling toward the post. Rolling awayfrom the post will have a tendency to makethe rod bounce there-by stretching the metalalongside the post. Very often the rod will notfit down the stack section of the horn due tothe fact that the G octave tone hole protrudesinto the bore of the body. It is advisable tounsolder the small tone hole and resolder it

upon completion of the dent removal.If an instrument is extremely dented, it

might be advisable to unsolder the stack sec-tion so that we can use larger mandrels fromthe bottom bore of the stack section. In mostcases, however, under normal conditions thisis not necessary.

The bottom bow of the saxophone has itsdents removed by application of the dent rodthrough the D# tone hole. The end of the rod

should give as wide a curvature as possibleand still be slightly raised above the balanceof the rod so as to have the tip of the rod,Which is curved in the opposite direction, theforemost part so that the dents are removedat that end. It is with this rod that the dentsare gently pulled up and with the use of a dent

Dent rod for use on goose necks.

Dent rod for bottom bow of sax bodies.

Tone hole protectors when using rod.

hammer, the metal lightly tapped into perfectposition. We must bear in mind that the saxo-phone repairman has no chance of burnishingon this bottom bow. Therefore, this dent workmust be done with gentleness so as not tostretch the metal and he must remember thatpatience is one of his finest tools. Sharp cutscan be removed by direct hammering on thecut while the dent rod is directly beneathsame. When the dents are brought up and theshape of the horn kept by use of the denthammer, the final finishing of this portion ofthe instrument is achieved by extremely lightfiling, emerying and buffing, bearing in mindthe fact that the filing must take place follow-ing the contour of the part on which the dentsare removed. A dent rod so applied as hereindescribed will remove the dents up to that por-tion of the bell section so that the balance ofthe dents are removed through the opening ofthe bell. There have been many tools put forthfor use on the bottom bow of the saxophone.Some of these tools have tone hole protectorsfor the D# tone hole.

The dents are removed from the bell sec-tion of a saxophone by using a rod longenough to reach the bottom of the bell and stillhave clearance of stack section against thevise. The end of this rod should be a largecurve so that the best surface is achieved.This will continue the removal of dents at theback end of the bottom bow into the bell sec-tion. The curvature of the rod will allow you toshape the curvature at the bottom bow. Inusing this rod, it is wise to remember thatthese dents must be removed by rolling theinstrument over the dent rod using the ham-mer to merely shape the instrument. Do notpull along the length of the bell. These dentsmust be removed by merely rolling each dentas an individual item. Do not try to removemore than one dent at a time regardless ofhow many dents there are in that portion.They must be taken individually. As soon asthe dents are removed from the bottom curva-ture, it is then Wise to use a rod with a ball onthe end of it, such as the ball holding rodsdescribed in all tool catalogs bearing in mindthe fact that the larger the dent removal sur-face on a dent rod, the finer the dent removal.This rod can be used up to the outer flare ofthe bell. The outer flare of the bell is a bur-nishing job in the same way and manner as

any other instrument.

Soldering Posts, etc.Soldering on the different posts of a sax-

ophone, as well as the flat spring tracks, dif-fers from the soldering that is usually per-formed on other instruments, such as trum-pets, trombones, etc. In this respect, whenbraces are soldered on brass instruments, it isnot unusual to apply a little extra solder andremove the same by means of a scraper.However, the important thing to rememberwhen it comes to soldering the different com-ponent parts of a saxophone is that the mini-mum amount of solder should be used inorder to eliminate the possibility of scrapingupon the completion of the soldering job.Furthermore, a particular point must be cho-sen at which the solder is applied, assuringourselves of the fact that the exact amount ofsolder is used so that we eliminate the scrap-ing procedures. This is done because of thefact that many posts are soldered so closetogether that if scraping were necessary, itwould be virtually impossible to keep the sol-dering neat and clean. For instance, the poststhat make up that area of the instrumentwhich involves the high F, Eb, and D keys areso close together that it eliminates the possi-bility of clean work if the work has to bescraped. To accomplish proper soldering inplaces such as this, perfect control of thetorch is necessary; in other words, while theheat is being applied to the part that is to besoldered, we must be certain that the overflowof heat does not heat any other part and wemust also apply the solder from that pointwhere-by any excess is most easily removed.When applying the solder, the part should beheated and the flame slightly moved so thatthe heat of the part will melt off a slight speckof solder. The flame is then moved back intoposition to allow the slight amount of solder toflow out evenly. If this is an insufficient amountof solder, the process should be repeated withparticular care in watching the opposite side ofthe part that is being soldered so that weallow the solder to perfectly flow to exactly thepoint that is desired. If there is any excess sol-der, it would then be left at the point of appli-cation. To remove this excess, we barely heatthe soldered part to a point whereby the sol-der just begins to soften and with a light flick

of a scraper, we remove the excess. This willeasily come off. When this excess has beenremoved, apply another drop of soldering acidto the soldered part and gently reheat thepart. This soldering acid will cause the solderto flow smoothly. The minute it does flow, thetorch should be removed. This will give thetype of soldering job that eliminates the needfor cold scraping. Before the second post issoldered in place, the area, surrounding thesoldering job should be completely polishedeither by hand or on the buffing wheel since,when the next post is put on, we will not beable to properly clean between them.

If a post is to be soldered on in themiddle of many posts, the smart trick is not toheat the body hut rather to heat the top of thepost until such time as the solder at the bot-tom could melt. This will concentrate your heatin that area surrounding the post itself, there-by not allowing the other parts to come loose.In the event that soldering is done on an itemsuch as a post on a lacquered instrument, it iswise to buff the lacquer off the post therebyeliminating the possibility of burnt lacquer onthe post. Now by following the procedure aspreviously described, we can solder this postto the body without burning the lacquer on thebody. Touch up lacquer on the post is easilyaccomplished with a small brush. Lacquer insuch a place can be touched up without beingvisible due to the fact that there is a definitebreak of contour from the post to the body.Warm scraping is a complete help when sol-dering where the elimination of regular scrap-ing is desired and this can be useful not onlyon the posts of the saxophone but onextremely large braces as well, such as thebell brass of a saxophone, Sousaphone, etc.The whole idea of warm scraping is to actuallyapply a little too much solder to the point thatis to be soldered and as this solder flows intoplace to remove the excess, by , reheating thepart to a point whereby the solder is barelywarm, yet soft enough to be removed with astraight scraper. A little practice can make onequite proficient at this. However, we mustremember that after the part has been warmscraped, a drop of soldering acid must thenbe applied and the part reheated to allow thesolder to flow out smoothly.

It is a smart trick to use the different rodson the’ saxophone to hold the post in theproper position and, if at all possible, eliminatethe use of binding wire since binding wiretends to pull the post out of alignment where-as the use of the rod itself will have a tenden-cy to hold the post in the proper position. Theeasiest solder to work with while performingthe job of warm scraping is made up of 50percent tin and 50 percent lead. It is common-ly referred to as 50/50. The first numberalways refers to the tin content. In otherwords, if we have solder that is 60/40, itmeans that 60 percent of the solder is pure tinand 40 percent lead. There are many fluxeson the market; however, the best type of fluxfor our type of work is made up of 60 percentglycerine and 40 percent muriatic orhydrochloric acid. The muriatic acid is actuallydeadened by the association of glycerine.However, it retains a sufficient potency toallow it to work as mere soldering acid. Manymechanics prefer muriatic acid killed with zinc.If this is to be used, it is prepared in the fol-lowing manner: For as much acid as you wishto make, you merely have to add zinc metal toit. This will release the hydrogen gas from thehydrochloric acid. The zinc will be eaten up inthe process. Continually add zinc until you seeno more reaction taking place in the solution.Upon the release of the hydrogen gas, it willleave us a solution known chemically as zincchloride. This solution is a perfect solderingflux. However, it will be quite dirty upon thecompletion of the release of the hydrogen gas.

To clean the solution so that it can beused as a solder flux, we must strain itthrough a piece of cheesecloth. This flux thenworks equally as well as the mixture of muriat-ic acid and glycerine. There are many solderpastes on the market, such as Kester solderpaste or Nokorode. This paste should be usedonly where chrome plating is involved sincemuriatic acid is a perfect strip for chrome plat-ing. We must remember that we never usesolder acid on chrome. As a result, we mustdefinitely use the paste and even though itmakes for a greasy job, the greasiness is eas-ily removed without damage to the chromeplating.

Very often, we may find, when disas-sembling a saxophone, that the stack postsare not in perfect alignment and it is some-

times easier to resolder such a post in prefer-ence to hammering it into alignment. Thisdoes not require the complete removal of thepost for remounting. Instead, push the rodthrough the post and apply a small amount ofsoldering acid around the complete base ofthe post. Gently heat the post to a pointwhereby the solder melts. You will hear aslight snap as the post pushes itself into itsproper position. This allows the spring tensionof the rod to accomplish the alignment of thepost for you. (See Post Alignment.)

In the event that the saxophone is so dam-aged that it becomes necessary to dismantlethe body for the purpose of removing dents, itis wise to remove all traces of solder fromboth sections of the body. This allows us tomore easily fit the parts back together. Uponthe completion of the dent removal when thebody is placed in its proper position forremounting, the soldering flux should beplaced completely around the joint that is tobe soldered. When applying the heat to thisjoint to remount the body, we must be carefulnot to allow the overflow of heat from the torchto heat any portion of the instrument otherthan the part that is to be soldered. In thisway, we eliminate the possibility of any of theother parts falling off. Please bear in mindwhen soldering a body joint that the force ofgravity can be used to good advantage. Inother words, do not try to make solder runuphill but it will easily flow in any joint if youhold the instrument in such a position as toallow the solder to flow downhill. In this fash-ion we can achieve a much neater job.

Heat alone does not cause the solder toflow. When solder at a certain point seemsstubborn and refuses to flow out, it is wise to

remove the torch and put another drop of sol-dering acid on the part and reheat. We mustbear in mind that the solder flux serves a dualpurpose. Firstly, it keeps the part clean andsecondly, it causes the solder to flow. Heatalone is insufficient.

Post AlignmentProper alignment of the post is a necessity

insofar as having a smooth or easy feel on theassorted keys of a saxophone. To bring thepost into proper alignment, we must lightly tapit to the position desired. However, in manyinstances, it might be necessary to use a dentrod to roll the post in an upward fashion fromthe inside of the body. This is done by usingthe stack rod that we will normally use forremoval of dents. (See Dent Removal, StackSection.) In some cases, it becomes neces-sary to re-solder the post in its proper posi-tion. (See soldering posts, etc.) We mustremember that two points determine a straightline so when the rod goes through the first twoposts and leans slightly to the left side of thethird post, it is not always the third post thatmust be tapped into position, but it might bethe first post that might have to be tapped inthat same direction, thereby allowing the rodto straighten itself insofar as the third post isconcerned. It might also be the second postthat will have to be tapped in the oppositedirection to properly align the rod to the thirdpost. If the rod is a good deal out of the way, itmight possibly require a little tapping of eachpost. This is taken from the standpoint that theposts are out of line side to side direction.However, if the post would seem to be per-fectly in line and the rod tight fitting in thepost, this is usually a sign of the fact that thepost that is causing the bind is out of line byeither being bent forward or backward. A lighttap-ping in either direction will show you whichway said post is bent. If the post is tapped inone direction and it seems to bind even more,merely reverse the tapping procedure. Thismust be done by trial and, error since it isvirtually impossible to discern with normaleyesight.

The proper alignment of the post is anabsolute necessity since posts that are out ofline have a tendency to cause the rod to takea bend while going through them. Should thishappen, it disallows a smooth feel on the keys

Using a lathe to spin a long rod thereby causing centrifugal force to straighten

any bends.

affected by this post so that even though thekeys and the rods are perfectly straight, theywould not work perfectly, thereby giving themechanic and the musician a completely badfeel.

Straightening Bent RodsDrill a hole in a block of wood the same

size as the diameter of the rod. Chuck the rodup in the lathe or a slow speed motor. Insertthe rod in the hole in the block of wood. Holdthe wood at the extreme end of the rod awayfrom the chuck. Turn, on the lathe. Move thewood block up to the chuck but hold the farend of the rod between your fingertips. Twistthe block slightly and draw it gently away fromthe chuck. When the block has travelled to thefar end of the rod, turn off the lathe or motorwhile still holding the end of the rod in theblock. Centrifugal force will spin the rodstraight. Sometimes it is necessary to reversethe rod and repeat this procedure. The impor-tant thing to remember is: Never let go of theend of the rod while the lathe or motor is turn-ing. This is dangerous since centrifugal forcewill cause the rod to whiplash and it will cometwisting around like a knife blade. However,there is no danger if you hold the end of therod at all times.

Smaller rods can be tapped straight whilelying on a level steel block by rolling the rodagainst the steel block to a point whereby wecan see light beneath the rod and the levelblock so that the high spot of its bend is ontop. A light tap at the apex of the bend willtend to straighten the rod. If this is insufficient,repeat the procedure.

Rusted Rod RemovalUnlike the rusted rods on clarinets, the

saxophone presents a much easier problem inremoval of these rods, in view of the fact thatit is sometimes much easier to unsolder apost and thereby easily remove the rustedrod.

The post is resoldered using the rod tohold the proper alignment of the post. (SeePost Alignment and Soldering.) It is wise toattempt to remove the rod in the same wayand manner as described in rusted rodremoval on clarinets. However, if the rod doesnot come out easily with this procedure, donot waste time but rather unsolder the post; it

is much simpler.

Rod ReplacementRod replacement on saxophones is com-

pleted in the same way and manner as onclarinets. However, the average saxophoneuses two sizes of thread. The larger rods usea 3x48 thread. The diameter of this thread is.099. The small size keys use a 2x56 thread.The diameter of this thread is .086. TheSelmer, Buffet and other imported makes ofinstruments use foreign threads and it issometimes wise, in rod replacement on theseinstruments, to change the metric thread toour American sizes to facilitate your work. Thiswill not hurt the instrument in any manner,shape or form, but it will allow you to performyour job easily. If these threads are to bechanged, it is wise to change them to thesethread sizes: on the large rods, 4x48; on thesmall rods, 1x72, the diameters of which are.112 and .073 respectively.

Spring Removal(See chapter on spring removal on clarinets.)

Key Swedging(Removing Lost Motion)(See key work, clarinet swedging and keyextension.)

Very often when disassembling a sax-ophone the removal of lost motion is easilyaccomplished by movement of the post. Ifthere is a rod that holds a key to these posts,the elimination of key swedging may beaccomplished by moving the post forward inthe following manner: With the key in placeand the rod engaged, heat the post to a pointwhere the solder melts and gently tap the postinto position. This will maintain the alignmentand eliminate the lost motion. When there arepivot screws involved, the posts merely haveto be tapped together. The Conn saxophoneutilizes the patented lock screws so that inmost cases the lost motion can easily beremoved by sending a pivot screw in a littledeeper and locking it in the proper position.This is accomplished by sending the pivotscrew into a point whereby it actually bindsthe key. Release the pivot screw gently to apoint where the key is free moving without lostmotion. At this point, tighten the lock screw.The King Saxophone (Super 20 Model) uses

small nuts to accomplish the same end.Removal of lost motion on solid hinge rodscan also be accomplished by counter boringthe post so that the pivot point screw can godeeper. (See page on Clarinet Key Work.)

Norton Springs

The Norton spring is, in the opinion ofthe writer, the finest spring ever made for sax-ophone or clarinet. It is a rare occasion whenthese springs are used on clarinets. In thepast, many years ago, the Norton springscould be applied to any instrument. At thepresent time, they are only found on theBuescher Saxophone. These springs consistof two types. One type is made of piano wirethat is gold plated. The second type is bluesteel. Of the two, the piano wire is the prefer-ence of the writer. The purpose of thesesprings is to allow the mechanic the privilegeof using any diameter spring he wishes forany given key to allow him to receive the mosteven spring tension in any post. This isaccomplished because of the fact that thesesprings do not fit in different size holes butrather each spring hole is the same size andthese springs are screwed in place by virtueof the fact that each spring hole is a threadedhole, with a 3x48 thread. Clarinets use a 2x56thread. To apply these springs, we merelychoose the size we desire for the particularkey. Screw the, spring in place so that it isfirmly in the post. Set the key against thespring and cut the proper length. It is for thisreason that we do not prefer the blue steelspring since in applying the blue steel spring,we might have to cut off the needle point.

Since it is this needle point on a blue steelspring that gives us the perfect feel in a springtension of the key, we would thereby bedefeating the spring’s own purpose. ToNortonize a saxophone, we must use what isreferred to as the Norton drill. This consists ofa small motor with a flexible shaft and a drillhandle shaped as a number 7. This allows usto get between the posts so that the old holecan be drilled out with a Number 47 drill.However, in view of the fact that there isalready a spring hole in the post. We cannotuse a twist drill. For this purpose, the NortonCompany sells special drills to fit its machine.This special drill not only fits and can belocked in the drill handle of the aforemen-tioned drill but more important, it has straightflutes so that it is actually a drill reamer combi-nation. If a twist drill was utilized to do this job,it would have a tendency to rip, thereby caus-ing too serious a strain both against the drillbit and the drill holder and would undoubtedlybreak the small gear into the head of the drill.When the post has been drilled to receive thethread, it is necessary to use a ratchet tapholder in order to eliminate the necessity of acomplete turn on a tap holder. To allow us toget between the different posts in the smallerspaces, the Norton Company sells its 3x48taps in long and short sizes. Likewise the drillscome in long and short sizes. The Nortonspring is so flexible in view of the fact that it ismade of piano wire, that it could easily becalled indestructible.

Neck FittingVery often the male tenon of the saxophone

Norton flexible shaft drill.

Belly band at neck unsoldered

neck becomes loose fitting in its female tenonsocket. This neck can be tightened with eitherthe saxophone tenon expander or by use ofthe Thompson tenon expander. The old fash-ioned method for accomplishing this job wasto hammer the neck tenon lightly while it wasplaced over a steel mandrel, thereby causingthe metal to stretch to a point whereby uponthe elimination of any hammer marks, it wouldbe tight fitting in its socket. The old fashionedmethod was doing it the hard way. If a neck isnot tight fitting, it could cause a serious leakon a saxophone. In many cases, however, it ismerely a question of the fact that the neckscrew does not tighten the neck. In suchcases, it is sometimes smart to cut the slot inthe female socket so that there is more room for tightening the neck. However, on

instruments such as a Buescher, Martin,Holton, Selmer, etc., where the female necksocket has its tightening screw built on a sep-arate band, it is wise to remove the screw andcheck the soldering of this band. This bandhas a tendency to become unsoldered due tothe continual force that is applied against it bythe neck screw. It is virtually impossible totighten the neck in its socket if this band isUn-soldered. This is a common occurrence.These bands should always be checked onevery saxophone that is to be over-hauled,prior to polishing and lacquering. If the band isloose, remove the screw and bend the bandaway from the body of the instrument.Properly clean the parts to prepare it for sol-dering. When these parts are clean enough toreceive the solder, put the band back in placeholding the band in position with the neckscrew so as to allow a small opening betweenthe two ends of the band. At this point, resol-der the band. This will usually allow you a suf-ficient amount of room for tightening of theneck screw.

In many cases, the screw will actually bindin its own thread to a point where-by one can-not tighten the screw sufficiently even thoughthe ends of the band are not sufficiently closetogether to warrant your being unable to tight-en the neck. This is simply cured by removingthe neck screw. Apply a little grease to thescrew and replace it. When the neck screw isretightened, hold same with a pair of pliersand, in a gentle motion, gradually force thescrew a little tighter, working it back and forth.

This will ease up the tension in the threads sothat the screw can then be tightened easily byhand. Remember this procedure is only usedwhen the ends of the neck band show us thatthere is still room for more tightening. Theaverage neck screw on the modern instrumentuses an 8x32 thread. On the older Buescherinstruments, a 6x40 thread was utilized.

Guard RepairVery often the saxophone guards which

surround or enclose the D#, low C, low B andlow B b keys become either damaged or bro-ken at the silver solder joint through dropping,bumping, etc. The particular damage displaysfor us the type of repair necessary. To facili-tate the explanation of these different repairs,we must take them individually. For instance,if a guard is bent, it merely has to be straight-ened without being unsoldered from the body.In straightening this guard, properly brace the

guard prior to hammering same so that itcomes back into its proper position. To bracesuch a guard, we merely have to hold a heavypiece of steel at the base of the guard in theopposite direction of which the guard is to bestruck. The opposite side of the guard is thenhammered with a rawhide mallet until theguard assumes its normal position. If the cen-ter of the guard is bent down, this is broughtback into position with a heavy flat nose pliersapplied in such a manner as to bend theguard back to its normal position. In the eventthat a guard is broken from the body at its softsoldered joint, it is sometimes wise to soft sol-

Top: Using asbestos to reflect head so that guard can be silver soldered without

removing it from the body.Bottom: Fitting guard plates.

der this guard back into position so that theplate fits the old solder joint. Straighten theguard as previously described. In some cases,straightening of the guards is done prior tosoldering. However, in most cases, it is advis-able to solder the guard to the body first andhammer it back into shape later. In the eventthat the plate of the guard accepts the breakand silver soldering of the guard wire to theplate becomes necessary, it is done in one oftwo ways. The first way would be to removethe entire guard, silver solder the plate to thewire and replace the guard on the saxophone,soft soldering same into position. However, asimpler method would be to bend the wire ofthe guard approximately 14 of an inch of thebody, remove the old plate and cut a newpiece of brass to match the same. Place asmall sheet of asbestos on the body under theguard wire. The new plate is placed againstthe asbestos sheet and the guard wire bentdown firmly against the plate so that the guardwire acts as its own jig. In this manner, theasbestos sheet will act as a protector and notallow the heat to hit the body but rather, willreflect practically all of the heat applied to thejob that is to be silver soldered. Upon comple-tion of the silver soldering, remove the as-bestos sheet and soft solder the plate to thebody. If the job is done in this manner, it is notonly easier and quicker but it also eliminatesthe job of trying to line up the three points ofthe guard. In many cases, the cross section ofthe wire of the guard breaks at its silver sol-dered joint. To repair this, bring the wire backto its proper position, place a piece ofasbestos under the wire at the break and sil-ver solder same. The asbestos will achieve,heat reflection and tend to speed up the oper-ation. Finishing of this type of work requiresmerely ernerying and buffing. This type of re-pair eliminates the three soft soldering jobsnecessary in mounting a guard.

Pearl and Socket ReplacementPearls on a saxophone are usually worn

out by the musician who, through sweat andconstant use, actually wears down the pearlsocket. In so doing, he wears away the pearl.These pearls are made of sea shell. As aresult, they do burn and in the replacement ofa pearl socket, it is easier to burn up this pearland replace it with a new one that will fit the

new socket, than it would be to try and savethe old one. To replace the pearl socket, thekey must be heated red hot since the pearlsockets are silver soldered in place. When thekey is red hot, the pearl socket merely has tobe pushed away. New pearl sockets are avail-able and can be purchased from any supplyhouse. They are merely silver soldered inplace. Replacing the pearl in the new socket

is definitely simplified by virtue of the fact thatthese pearls are set in the same way andmanner as any jewel. That is to say, they useno adhesive but rather, the top of the edge ofthe pearl socket is burnished or hammered tofit over the beveled edge of the pearl. The factthat the new pearl socket was heated red hotin the process of silver soldering causes thepearl socket to be in an annealed state. This,in turn, facilitates the setting of the pearl.These pearls can be set with a special toolwhich, when placed against the top of theedge of the socket and tapped lightly, will tendto shrink the top edge of the pearl socket sothat it presses firmly against the pearl, hold-ing the pearl very solidly in place. In theabsence of these tools, the same job can beaccomplished with the use of a dent hammerand extremely light tapping against the edgeof the pearl socket. We must be careful in theuse of any method of setting the pearl not tostrike the pearl since the pearl is quite brittleand will have a tendency to chip. The high lus-ter is brought to the pearl upon the comple-tion of the job through the use of the buffingwheel and any white lime compound. The

Extra high F key and levers.

pearls used on the keys of a saxophone areindented to fit the balls of the fingers.However, the pearl used on the left handthumb rest under the octave key is roundedon its top to allow for the rolling of the musi-cian’s finger against the thumb octave. Thereplacement of the pearl socket for the leftthumb is merely a soft soldering job againstthe body. The type of socket retainer used onConn saxophones is that of tubing. OnBuescher saxophones, etc., the back thumbsocket is actually solid brass. Therefore, whensoldering this type in place, it is wise to applythe heat directly to the socket so that theheavy piece of material will become warmenough to receive the solder. The Conn thumbrests are usually sent through with their pearlsalready in the socket. In the event that it isnecessary to solder this one in place, we sug-gest that when the thumb rest is placedagainst the body a protective cap, such as akey cup, big enough to cover the entire pearlbe placed over it before clamping it to thebody and the heat application be against thebody rather than the socket. In soldering anytype of socket to the body, please bear inmind that the overflow of heat is not actuallylost, but it will have a tendency to heat anypart in its paths. Therefore, when applying thetorch at the part, apply it in such a position asto allow the overflow of heat to completelybypass any other portion of the saxophone.The extra high F assembly is a combination oftwo keys whereby the finger tip key pressesdown the B key and C key of the upper stackand opens the High F key. This is not to beconsidered a true tone of the instrument. It isa false tone that comes fairly close but cannever be perfectly in tune. Its finger-ing is inconjunction with the C fingering of the saxo-phone so that actually the musician is playingthe note A and opening the High F key, there-by forcing an overtone which is the equivalentof High F. The finger tip key presses a leverwhich in lowering one side of the lever raisesits opposite end which is placed under thehigh F key. This arrangement was first put ona saxophone by the Conn Company manyyears ago. They were the leaders in this field.It is done for the purpose of allowing better ar-ticulation in the change from a High C to aHigh F. However, in recent years through theuse of this fingering, musicians have been

able to apply other fingerings that allow themto go far beyond the actual registers of thehorn. If an extra high F key is on the saxo-phone, it eliminates the need for a cork on thefoot of the B key since the B key of the upperstack will use the felt on the pearl tip of thehigh F finger tip key for its stopping action.The F finger tip key not only requires the feltunder its pearl tip but a 1/16” cork on its foot.The lever it presses against requires a 1/64”cork at its point of contact to the F finger tipkey and a 1/64” cork at its point of contact tothe high F key. In view of the fact that thisentire arrangement is based upon slidingaction. it is advisable to oil both places to re-ceive a smooth feel in the operation of thiskey. The insertion of an extra high F assemblyrequires the fitting of the finger tip key in theupper stack section of the saxophone whichmay necessitate the shortening of the lengthof the tubular hinge of the B key. The auxiliarylever is merely held in place by its two postssoft soldered in its position between the C keyof the upper stack and high E key. The adjust-ment is such as to allow a slight amount oflost motion before the high F key is actuallyraised. This assures us of the fact that thehigh F key will remain in a closed positionthereby not causing a leak.

Automatic Octave Replacement fromDouble Octave

The double octave key assembly consistsof two separate octave keys where-by themusician had to actually change his fingeringas he went past high G# to high A. The auto-matic octave allows the musician to keep histhumb in a stationery position whereby theoctaves change in conjunction with the use ofthe G key. Very often, we are faced with thereplacement of the double octave on a bari-tone saxophone which would still be worth agood deal to either the musician or the dealerif the octave assembly were changed. On anyother type of instrument, the application of thedifferent octave keys by soldering the postsinto proper position would be all that would benecessary. However, on a baritone saxo-phone, it requires a different operation. Beforethese keys can be applied, it becomes neces-sary to change over the curvature at the topbow of the neck so that it faces in a complete-ly opposite direction thereby allowing us the

necessary room for the rod removal on theupper stack. In changing this bow, it necessi-tates changing the turn that holds the necksocket to its opposite position thereby com-pleting the absolute turn of the top assembly.When this portion of the job is completed, theoctave is changed over by replacing the keysin this manner. Since the double octave doesnot require any extra use of the G key, the Gkey consists of merely the pad, the finger tipand foot for stopping action. It becomes nec-essary then to bridge an extension from the Gkey to the top of the horn and apply a tubularhinge at that point so that an arm can be builtoff this tubular hinge to contact the G octavekey. In view of the fact that this arm restingagainst the G octave key that gives the G keyits stopping action, we must eliminate the footat the bottom of the key near the pad. Oneextra post is necessary on the upper stackwhich will allow room for a G octave key sothat the G octave key becomes part of theupper stack. The arm of the G octave keyshould rest under the G key. The auxiliarylever or teeter key of the octave assembly isthen put on by soldering two posts in positionso that the lower arm of the teeter key restson top of the arm built on the G key. The toparm of the teeter key is in such a position asto contact the A octave on the neck. Thethumb octave key is applied by soldering twoposts in position where-by the arm of thethumb octave key must contact the teeter keyand the G octave. The thumb tip is broughtinto position directly above the thumb pearlsocket. (For regulation of these keys seechanter on Octave Assembly and Regulation.).

Straightening Bent KeysRemove all the oil from the key and rod so

that a proper touch may be felt. Insert the rodin the tubular hinge gently until you feel thekey bind. Mark the distance. Insert the rod inthe opposite side of the tubular hinge until youfeel the bind. Mark this distance. The twomarks will overlap. The center of the overlap-ping is the point of the bend in the key. Thedirection of the bend is easily determined bypushing the rod through the hinge to the op-posite end of the hinge. The side of the hingethat the rod favors is the point of contact.Using a dent hammer, strike a light blow at thepoint of the bend on the side or point of con-

tact. If necessary repeat this procedure. Ondouble hinge keys, straighten each hinge ofthe key in the aforementioned manner. Next,using pliers, bend the arm extension of thetubular hinge so that the rod lines up with thehole in the opposite hinge. Place the rod inthe opposite hinge and repeat this procedure.

Key CorkingThe first procedure in the preparation is to

cork the entire set of keys. The size of thecorks is definitely determined for you withoutguesswork. Merely follow these rules: If thekey hits the body and the cork is used for astopping action, use 1/16 inch (thick cork).This will allow you plenty of room for trim soas to remove lost motion later on. If the keyrequires a cork for sliding action againstanother key, use 1/64 inch cork (thin). Thisprevents one key from digging into the cork ofanother. Very few keys are used for both pur-poses at the same time. These keys require1/32 inch cork (medium). An example of thelatter is the extended arm of the F# key of thelower stack. It is used for stopping action onthe G# key and it must slide over the arm ofthe Bb bis key of the upper stack. The finger-tip Spatula of the low Bb key is another exam-ple.

To do a neat job in the corking of thesekeys, remember never to put the shellac in theflame. Let the heat of the key melt the shellac.This will prevent you from applying too muchshellac. To prevent the shellac from sticking tothe side of the key, making a sloppy job,squeeze the cork against the key as it is cool-ing off. To cut these corks, I advocate the useof a single edge razor blade. The cuttingstroke should be toward the key in a down-ward motion so as to eliminate the possibilityof pulling or breaking the cork off the key. It isimportant to try to cut the edge of the cork in astraight manner. Do not bevel the ends of thecork. Beveled corks on the feet of the stackkeys tend to lose their solidity and act assmaller corks. Felts should be applied in thesame manner while corking. Don’t heat thepearl when applying the felt.

Padding with Regular PadsPadding with regular pads is actually a

simplified job which consists of heating the

key over the flame until the metal is warmenough to receive the shellac which is usedas the adhesive on pads. We must be carefulnot to burn the lacquer when applying the hotshellac. The shellac must be spread evenly inthe key cup. The pad is then placed in the keycup so that all of the edges of the pad are def-initely in the key cup and not resting over thetop of the key edge. Turn the key cup upsidedown and press the pad against any flat pieceof steel or jewellers anvil so that the pad sinksa little lower in the back than in the front, thesides being equal. The pad surface should beas flat as possible while maintaining the backof the pad at a lower level than the front. Thisallows for a better and easier pad coverage byvirtue of the fact that the key is on an angularhinge and does not move straight up anddown when approaching the tone hole. There-fore, we would more often than not come clos-er to better coverage prior to seating therebyfacilitating the job of the repairman. We shouldremember that when picking out the pad to fitthe key cup a firm snug fit is advisable sincea loose fitting pad will allow room for excessshellac to run out of the key cup therebyallowing for a sloppy job. The average padsare made of woven wool felt, a thin cardboardback and tan kid skin, riveted in the center soas to hold the center of the pad firm, therebydis-allowing the pad to accept a belly.

Padding Special Pads:Conn Reso, Buescher Snap On, Tonex, Etc.

The Conn Reso pad does not follow therule previously mentioned concern-ing theback of the pad being lower than the front butrather, the pad should be even all the wayaround the key cup. The Conn Reso pad ismade as any other pad with one exception;there is a metal ring around the outer edge ofthe pad under the kid skin. This metal ringwhen fitted to the proper key cup sits on thetop edge of the key cup. This pad will holdfirm in a key cup without shellac, since the kidskin will hold the pad in place. However, it isadvisable at all times to shellac these pads inplace and when shellacking them in place, wemust remember that since these pads areactually held in the key cup in a suspendedstate, it is advisable to hold the center of thepad down firmly against the hot shellac in the

key cup to eliminate the bellying of the pad.These pads by virtue of the metal ring have atendency to tear easily since any tool placedagainst the edge of this pad will act as a sec-ond jaw of a scissor and rip or cut the padcovering. At the present time, even the Connsaxophones do not use the metal ring. Inseating these pads, difficulties can arise (seePad Seating). The Buescher Snap-On pad ismade of the same material except that thereis a metal plate instead of a cardboard at thebottom of the pad. There is a hole in the padallowing the room for the snap button to beengaged against the male stud of the key.This eliminates the possibility of a belly on thepad. However, it is almost impossible to movethis pad to cover a tone hole when seating inthe same way and manner as any other pad.Therefore, different measures have to betaken to make these pads cover (see padseating). Although this pad can be held inplace firmly by the use of a snap button, it isadvisable to shellac this pad in place always,since a loose-fitting pad together with a loose-fitting button would actually cause a leakunderneath the pad even though the top sur-face of the pad covers the tone hole perfectly.

The Tonex pad is a pad made up of aseries of layers of material consisting of card-board, paper, rubber and leather. All of thesematerials are glued together to form one solid

sheet. The pad is then punched out and appli-cation of these pads is done in the same wayand manner as regular pads. However, thesepads have a tendency to receive a very deepimpression; nevertheless, their covering issuch heavy leather that they will unquestion-ably outlast any pad on the market. They areof the same material as the ring that is made

Selmer tone boosters applied to pad.

for the padless saxophones put out by theSelmer Company in the early forties. Theseare pads such as the Acoustivex pads put outby the Micro Company. Despite the fact thatthey have tone-domes built in the center ofthe pad, they are applied in the same way andmanner as regular pads except that we mustpress the edges of the pad into the key cupwith our fingers rather than pressing the entirepad against the steel block.

Inserting Selmer Tone BoosterSince the innovation of the Buescher

snap-on pad which proved beyond the shad-ow of a doubt that a metal disk in the center ofthe pad will have a tendency to increase thetone power by virtue of sound reflection ratherthan absorption, every company has beenstriving to build resonator disks in their keycups or pads. The Selmer tone booster is asimple plate that is attached to each pad indi-vidually by means of a screw and washerthrough the back of the pad. To apply this, it isnecessary to remove the rivet in the center. ofa regular pad and punch a small hole directlyover the old rivet hole (assuming that the rivetwas in the center). The tone booster is pickedout according to the size of the tone hole andnot the pad so as to allow for complete clear-ance of the tone booster in the tone holewhen seating the pad. They are applied to thepads prior to insertion of the pad in the keycup. The pads are then put in the keys in thesame way and manner as described on theAcoustivex pads. (See Padding— SpecialPads.)

Spring AlignmentWhen replacing the spring in a saxophone

or for that matter, in any instrument, there area few simple rules, to remember: RuleNumber 1; the spring faces toward the tonehole for which it operates. For example, thespring for the G key must face toward the Gtone hole. The determination of whether thespring ‘is toward the top of the saxophone ortoward the bottom depends upon the place-ment of the post as in comparison to the tonehole. Rule Number 2; if two springs are in onepost, the longest spring faces towards thetone hole furthest away from the post. RuleNumber 3; spring tension is determined bywhether or not the key is either in an open

position or closed. If the key is a closed key,the tension of the spring is applied so that thespring is bent away from the tone hole; forexample, high E key. If the spring is for anopen key, the tension of the spring is appliedso that the spring is bent toward the tone hole.It is important to remember that in the use ofneedle springs, the point of the needle springgives the most even tension. Therefore, whencutting the spring to size, the spring should bemeasured so that the very point of the springrests directly on the spring hook. In applyingthe spring, we must remember that no springcan give its proper feel unless it is rivetedfirmly into the post. To assure ourselves of thefact that this situation holds true, merely pluckthe spring .with your fingernail and if it is firmly

in the post, it will give a musical sound. If it isloose in the post, it will give a metallic rattle inpreference to a clear tone. If necessary,remove the spring and rehammer the end.(Described in page on needle springs clarinetrepair.)

Corking of NecksSaxophone neck corks are best put on in

the following manner:

1. Apply stick shellac to the neck approximate-ly 1/16 ” short of the length of the neck cork

Cork tied on neck for heating.

Applying flame inside neck to melt shellac to cause cork to adhere.

tube.2. Fit the inside diameter of the cork tube tothe neck by filing with a rat-tail file so that thecork is as snug a fit as possible.3. When the shellac on the neck is cold, insertthe neck in the cork tube as far as the shellachas been put on.4. Tie the neck cork on with regular browntwine tightly making the winding of twineclose. Make certain that the hack of the corkis tight to the neck.5. Apply heat with your bunsen burner in thesmall opening of the neck.6. When the neck is hot enough, the shellacwill start to ooze out the back. Wipe off theexcess shellac while it is hot and with a twist-ing motion, move the neck backward enoughto cover any lacquer damage.7. When the neck has cooled off, remove thetwine and trim the cork to size.There is a machine sold by all of the tool com-panies referred to as a cork turning machine.The use of this machine is simply explained inthe fact that the saxophone neck is held on anarbor and while a sanding wheel is turn-ingwith the aid of a motor, the neck can beturned up close to the sanding wheel and theneasily revolved so that it cuts the neck corkperfectly true and even. This machine is quiteexpensive and it is only advisable in suchinstances where many neck corks are beingap-plied. The cork can be cut to size with a fileand finished with emery cloth.

Pad SeatingApply heat to the key cup allowing the

shellac to soften. This will enable you to movethe pad to a point of perfect coverage. Thispoint of coverage is set with the help of a leaklight. Do not squeeze the impression in thepad when the key is too hot since this maycause the pad to shift off at this point. If a padis lumpy, it can be ironed out by dampeningthe pad and applying a warm piece of flatsteel to the moist pad. After seating the pad,cork it up with a cork or wedge as long aspossible. The longer it remains closed, thebetter the seating will be.

On some of the special pads such asConn Reso and Buescher Snap-on pads, it issometimes hard to receive a proper seating inthe pad. In rare instances, to soften the pad toa point where it will accept an impression, a

trick can be used. This trick consists of apply-ing denatured alcohol to the pad by dampen-ing a rag wrapped around your pad slick so asnot to touch any portion of the lacqueredinstrument while wetting the pad. Moisten thispad evenly, then press the key firmly closedand cork it up with a cork or wedge until suchtime as the alcohol evaporates. If the pad iswet evenly, it will not show any discolorationlines or stains but it will return to its naturalcolor. However, it will receive an excellentseating. This is sometimes used to very goodadvantage on the Conn Reso pad where heatapplication would tend to loosen the center ofthe pad from the key cup thereby creating abelly in the pad.

Saxophone Assembly (Order)I recommend a specific order of assembly asfollows:1. G# key (Lower stack)2. Bb bis key (Upper stack)3. Low Bb key4. Side C lever key5. Entire upper stack6. Entire lower stack (before seating the padson the lower stack, put on the G# lever keyand attach the spring. This holds the G# keyclosed and does not allow it to interfere withthe feel of the F# key of the lower stack.)

All other keys may be put on as you. see fit.When we say put a key on, we mean to haveyou seat the pad at that time. When the instru-ment is completely put together, uncork thekeys and proceed with the regulation as fol-lows:

Upper Stack Regulations1. Regulate the back bar of the C key to the Bkey by raising or lowering it, (on Conn Saxes,reverse this procedure).2. Regulate the A key to the C key by raisingor lowering the entire arm of the A key.3. Regulate the A key to the Bb bis by tiltingthe pearl tip up or down.

Lower Stack Regulations1. Adjust the arm of the F# key to the G# key.2. Adjust the arm of the Bb bis key to the armof the F# key.3. Adjust the back bar of the F# key to the Fkey by raising or lowering it.

4. Adjust the E key to the back bar of the F#key by bending the foot of the E key up orkey or as the case may require.5. Adjust the D and the E keys. In the adjust-

ment of late models where there is no backEb key, the D key is adjusted to the back barof the F# key in the same manner as the Ekey.

Removal of Lost MotionThe first thing to remember is that we cut oradd corks to remove lost motion. We bendkeys to regulate. All the lost motion on a saxo-phone may be removed by cutting four corks.First, cut the cork on the foot of the F key tobring its opening to the desired height. Next,cut the cork on the foot of the D key to elimi-nate the lost motion between the F and F#keys. (On late models, the E key cork must betrimmed in the same manner.) Trim the corkon the A key to eliminate the lost motion

between the Bb bis key and the F# key. Trimthe cork on the B key to eliminate the lostmotion between the A key and the C key. Onlate models, there is no need for a cork on thefoot of the B key since the cork on the extrahigh F fingertip lever takes its place. It isimportant to follow this sequence.

Octave Spring RegulationThere are two important points of regula-

tion of the octave assembly. They are SpringTension and Octave Regulation. Since thereare separate rules to follow in each specificinstance, we are listing the rules in that man-ner. Regulation of Spring Tension must comefirst.

1. G octave key—as light as practical

2. G key—Heavy enough to close the Goctave key without hesitation3. Octave lever key—Same tension as the Gkey4. Thumli Octave lever—Heavy enough tooperate the octave lever without delay

5. A or neck octave key—Light enough to beoperated by the octave lever.

Octave Key Regulation1. The G octave key must cover the tone holebut not hit the body in any other place.2. The G key must use the G octave for itsstop and not hit the body.3. There must be a hairline of lost motionbetween the octave lever and the body. Theoctave lever must not touch the body.4. When the G key is closed, its far end mustcome up to touch, not move, the octave lever.5. When the thumb octave key is applied, theoctave lever must come down to touch the Gkey without any lost motion in the feel of thethumb octave key.6. There must be a small amount of lostmotion between the octave lever and the Aoctave key on the neck.

Late model octave assemblies require verylittle regulation. The spring of the G key mustbe heavy enough to offset the spring of the Aoctave key. The regulation is also simplified.Holding the G key closed, apply the thumboctave key, while holding the octave lever withthe right hand. The G octave key should come

Old style octave assembly.

New style octave assembly.

up to touch the G key without lost motion inthe thumb octave key. There must be somelost motion between the octave lever and theA octave key.

Saxophone Bumper ApplicationOn most saxophones, the saxophone

bumper can be easily held in place by meansof soft shellac. However, on the later Connmodels, no shellac is used but rather thebumper is applied by pressing the edges ofthe bumper retainer so that they firmly clip thebumper and hold the same in place. This, like-wise, holds true on the old handcraft model ofthe Martin saxophone. The latest model Martinrequires the bumper to be held in place in theguard rather than on the key by means ofhard shellac. The bumper retainers on theSelmer saxophone are removable and shouldbe removed before applying the bumper whichis held in place with hard shellac. The bumperretainers make the height of the bumperadjustable by virtue of its threads. However,we must bear in mind that when putting theretainer back in place or removing same, besure that the screwdriver used is fitted into thesolid section of the retainer and not into thespit section of same. If these retainers areloose fitting, they will cause a buzz or a rattle.To eliminate this before returning the retainerto its original position, spread same by lightlyforcing the screwdriver into the split section.The old type Buffet saxophone requires for itsbumper a piece of cork placed around the keyguard. In many cases, in preference to puttinga piece on the guard, it is easier to merelyshellac the bumper to the key. It actually looksneater, is easier to apply and works better.The height of the bumpers on the B and Bbkeys should be such as to eliminate any lostmotion between the B key and the G# lever.Likewise, through the use of the bumpers, weeliminate the lost motion between the low Bband low B keys. In many instances, the heightof the bumper may cause imperfect intonation.This can usually happen when the bumpersare so big as to hold the key too close to thetone hole. It is extremely rare that an imper-fection in intonation will take place if thebumper is too small. Bumpers come in threesizes, large, medium and small. The smalltype is used on the old Holton and Martin sax-ophones. The large type fits the Selmer saxo-

phone perfectly. The medium size is the aver-age bumper that is used. It is advisable tomaintain the same color scheme on thebumpers as on the felts.

Improving the Middle D on Tenor SaxesMany tenor saxophones in the past have

had a muffled tone on the Middle D. This iscaused by the lack of escape hatches for thesound waves; that is to say that when thesound waves come to the bottom of the horn,not all of them could get out of the C tone holeand bell. Therefore, many of the sound waves,upon striking the bottom bow of the saxo-phone, were reflected back through the bodyof the horn, thereby killing some of thosewhich might have been free. This results in adead tone which very often sounds flat to thehuman ear. To clarify this tone, it becomesnecessary to add another opening at this sec-tion of the horn to allow more sound waves tofree themselves. The closest key to the C keythat can be opened to allow this to take place,is the C# key. Therefore, if the middle D is tobe a sustained note, it is sometimes advisableto open the low C# key. This will suddenlymake the tone jump and become twice as full.However, on some saxophones, it may have atendency to make the notes sound slightlysharp. On your later models, this is not neces-sary since the middle D has a sufficientamount of clarity. This is extremely advisable,however, on the older tenors.

A key arrangement can be put on this typeof instrument to cause this to happen auto-matically so that the musician will have to donothing more than merely play his horn. Thiscalls for utilizing the spring tension of the Ckey in a heavier action to offset the spring ten-sion of the C# key so that the C key whenopened, by virtue of its own spring would holdthe C# key in an open position and when theC key is pressed down, it will release the C#key so that the C# key falls closed of its ownspring tension. The connecting bar betweenthe two keys must be built so that there is anextension off the C key that rests under thisconnection bar and an extension off the C#key that will rest under the opposite end of theaforementioned extension bar. The post set-up for this extension will consist of the head ofa post placed at the inside base of the Cguard and the post built on the stack section

of the body to match the height alongside ofthe low D key. The height of the opening onthe C# key can then easily be adjusted bybending the extension key. The height is setso as not to impair the intonation of the middleD. This key will not only tend to clarify themiddle D but will also give added resonanceto the middle D as well as the low D and E.

General Information onSpecific Makes and Models of theSaxophone Buffet

The Buffet saxophone (old model) had nobumper retainers (see chapter on saxophonebumpers). It had three extensions built fromthe low Bb and low C# keys. These exten-sions are fitted over and above the lowerstack keys so that these fingerings can bemanipulated from the stack section. The backEb key was built over the low D key so thatthe tone hole for the back Eb key make the Dpad look like a doughnut. The fingering for theEb in this particular case was such that itallowed for a faster trill from E to Eb, thancould be had with a conventional fingering.This key is obsolete and has not been usedfor years. The extra high F key on this particu-lar instrument consisted of one rather than twokeys. It was so poorly working by virtue of thefact that it did not lift the high F key a suffi-cient amount that it was discarded by the fac-tory. The tone holes on this particular instru-ment were all soft soldered in place and as aresult, were positive causes for leakage. Theside rods consisted of screws with heads. Thiswas primarily for the purpose of elimination oflost motion in the keys by forcing the poststogether through tightening of the screws. Thetone holes of this particular saxophone werethick-walled and it made the instrument atough job insofar as seating the pad was con-cerned. The key cups were extremely thin andwhen picking a set of pads for this type ofinstrument, it is necessary to pick a pad onesize too small and then hammer the pad sothat in becoming thin, it becomes a perfect fitin the key cup.

HoltonThe Holton saxophone originally had soft

soldered tone holes on its older models; apoor extra high F arrangement very similar tothat of the Buffet. The high. E key rather than

being on pivot screws had a rod through asplit tubular hinge and the split section con-sisted of a high Eb lever key which operated ahigh Eb trill key fitted directly over the high Ckey of the upper stack.

To try and clarify the low D and middle Dof their instruments, the Rudy Wiedeoft modelof the Holton saxophone had a C auxiliary key(see saxophone explanations and descrip-tions). The Holton saxophone on the oldmodel had an adjustable neck receiver whicheliminated the need of a neck cork whenusing that model mouth-piece put out for thathorn. It has a metal lined mouth-piece with atightening assembly such as on the necksocket. The sleeve it fits on tightens down onthe neck in the same way and manner. TheG# trill key was split in two parts to allow for aG# trill lever which rested alongside the lowerstack and raised the G# key.

Buescher SaxophoneThe Buescher round G# alto saxophone

had a tendency to bubble or waver the tonequality on the low B. This only happenedwhen the instrument was not turned to a per-fect A-440. This is, of course, assuming thatthe instrument was covering perfectly. Thelater model Aristocrat alto or tenor has twopoints that must be taken into consideration.The bumper on the low C key must be cut toits absolute minimum to eliminate the deadwavering tone on the low D. If the bumper isleft too high, the tone will break despite thefact that the instrument covers correctly. Theaction of the instrument must be sufficientlyopen or the middle C, high C and high C# willhave a tendency to sound flat. Actually, toclear this up, the high B key will have to bemore open. In so doing, it will cause lostmotion between the B and C keys. To elimi-nate this lost motion, the action of the entireinstrument will have to be opened. Therefore,it is wise to remember that we cannot hurt thetone quality of an instrument with an openaction but we can impair the intonation withtoo close an action. The Buescher octave key(late model) has for its extension point to theA octave, a small screw with a 3x48 thread.Rather than the use of cork, we advise theuse of spaghetti (wire covering). TheBuescher 400 utilizes steel angles for circularside motion in preference to sliding action of

cork against brass. These angles are centerundercut steel bent at right angles. They mustbe completely oiled to eliminate noises. TheBuescher saxophone requires the use ofNorton springs. The tone holes of this instru-ment are drawn and therefore can never leak.The Buescher 400 model uses German silversolid hinge rods for more tensile strength.

ConnMost popular of the Conn saxophones is

the Coun Tenor on today’s market, since onthis instrument, there is practically nothing thatcan go wrong. Their octave arrangement issimilar to the reverse working of the Buescheroctave assembly. It is extremely wise to re-move all rollers from this instrument prior tocorking keys near same since the rollers arenot made of pearl but rather are celluloid. Onthe old Conn saxophone, the rollers werepearl and if a rust mark became visiblethrough the rollers, the easiest way out was tocrack the rollers since although we mayremove the rod, the rollers will crack anyway.Replacement of such rollers is advisable. Theside C and side Bb keys have a tendency tohave lost motion between the levers and thekeys. This is eliminated by pressing the forkends of the said keys to a close fit to thelevers. The Conn saxophone has lock screwswhich are used to set the pivot screws intoperfect position and hold them firmly in thisposition so that it eliminates the lost motionthat can occur between the posts on solidrods. These small lock screws are a 1 x 64thread. The old steel Conn pivot screw used inconjunction with these lock screws had astraight stud whereas the later models have apointed stud. The regulation points on the oldstyle saxo-phone correspond to the regulationpoints of others. However, in view of the factthat the small C key on the Conn Alto has aone-piece rod from the back bar to the keycup, it is important to remember that anyattempt in bending the back bar will have atendency to bend the key cup so that it willeliminate true coverage. Therefore, in regulat-ing the upper stack, the important factor toremember is that under no circumstancesshould the C key be bent to match any otherkey. The Conn saxophone in recent years hascome forth with one model that is completelyadjustable. That is, the regulation points are

set without bending of any keys. The bendingof these keys is eliminated by virtue of the factthat there are adjusting dials which are turnedto the proper position and locked in place bymeans of the aforementioned lock screws.The height of the keys of this model is alsoset and the lost motion removed by means ofthe same type of dial set up. The octaveassembly is of the modern variety and workson the same principle as the Buescher octavekey. (See Octave key regulations.) The low Band Bb keys are separated from the low Band Bb, levers and the adjust-ment betweenthem is also set by virtue of the same type ofdials. These models had rolled tone holes.Later models have eliminated the rolled toneholes in preference to the straight edge.Although not strong, these tone holes are eas-ier to work with from a mechanical stand-point. Side posts of the Conn are separatedand its individual posts have simplifiedremoval of rusted rods since a single post canbe unsoldered, unlike the Buescher andMartin saxophones, which have both sideposts silver soldered to the same band. Onthe later models, the right hand G# lever keyis a separate attachment, the set of whichmust have a slight amount of lost motion.There was one model of the Conn saxophonethat had a double tube at the neck socket withthe tightening screw placed on the neck inpreference to the body. This model had theoctave key on the neck working in reverse,that is, the octave key was placed on the bot-tom side of the neck in preference to the top.As a result, the arrangement of the octaveassembly was like-wise reversed so that theoctave lever pressed the key down to open itrather than lifting it up. The actual regulation isthe same. On the more expensive models ofthe Conn saxophone, the finger tips of all thekeys are sterling silver plates which were sil-ver soldered to the brass keys. The pantsguard is a four pointed removable item held inplace by lock screws. The bumper retainersmerely clip the bumpers to hold it in place andno adhesive is necessary.

MartinThe most important feature to remember

about the Martin saxophone is the fact thatthe tone holes are not drawn but rather theyare individual pieces soft soldered in place.

The edges of the toneholes are beveled. Inthe event of damages to this instrument, therepair job becomes much more simplified dueto the fact that the tone hole can be removed.The present octave assembly of the Martinsaxophone is regulated as any other modernoctave key (See Octave Regulations) The Aoctave on the neck utilizes a double springsince the spring that operates the key is solong that it will have a tendency to bend in themiddle thereby leaning against the neck. Toeliminate this bend, the second spring is put inplace over the first. The second spring ismuch shorter and its sole purpose is to holdthe first spring in its proper position. Thespring screw that holds this spring in place isa 1 x 64 thread, which is 13 thousandths larg-er than the normal spring screw which has an0 x 80 thread. Therefore, should this springscrew break, the average spring in your springassortment would not fit over the same typescrew since the hole would be too small and itis sometimes advisable to drill a new springhole in the key with a Number 56 drill andrethread this hole with a 0 x 80 tap after whichwe can use standard equipment. The neck onthe Martin saxophone does not have a neckscrew similar to other makes but rather, theneck itself must be extremely firm fitting in itssocket and the screw used by the MartinCompany is merely for the purpose of holdingthe neck in one position but does not, in anyway, tighten the socket around the neck. It isextremely important on the later models ofMartin saxophones to use cork in preferenceto pads on the two octave keys since theopening of both of these keys does not allowfor a deep impression such as may some-times occur on regular pads. One of the mod-els of the Martin saxophone had a pantsguard that slipped around a post on the stacksection of the body and was held over thelower guard with two screws each set throughthe bumper retainers. It is important to assureourselves that this clip is held firmly in placeso there can be no lost motion between theposts and the pants guard so as to eliminateany buzzy sound that might come from it. TheG# lever key on the later models utilizes areversed spring tension where-by a thin springis placed on top of the lever so that the end ofthe spring rests on the G# key. Actually, thespring is only put into use when the G# lever

is applied. This, in effect, allows for a slighttension of the G# key which is easily offset bythe spring tension of the G# lever. However,when the G# lever is applied so that the G#key is completely released, it has the effect ofdoubling the tension of the G# key so that ithelps to eliminate the possibility of the G# padsticking to the tone hole. It uses the sameprinciple of spring tension as the SelmerCompany uses on its C# key. The rollers ofthe Martin saxophone are celluloid. Therefore,it is important to remember to remove theseprior to corking the keys. The Martin pivotscrew is a pointed screw with a 3 x 48 thread.However, the latest model Martin saxophonenow uses straight studs similar to theBuescher pivot screw except that thehead of the screw is the same size as theold Martin screws. The old Committee modelMartin had German silver keys on a brassbody thereby giving us a two-tone job. Yourpresent models are all brass with someGerman silver solid hinge rods for strength.One of the danger points to watch out for isthat on your later models, the instrument isvirtually weakened by the height of someof the posts which extend much furtherfrom the body than the older models.Theseposts are rather thin insofar as the diameter isconcerned. Polishing can easily cause such apost to bend. The elimination of lost motion ona solid hinge key, assuming that the posts arein proper alignment, is achieved by counterboring the posts to allow the pivot screw to goin further. There is a tendency to have lostmotion between the levers of the side C andside Bb keys. This is eliminated by pressingthe fork ends of the side C lever and the sideBb key so as to allow for an absolute mini-mum of lost motion between the levers andthe keys. The Martin Company puts out a padthat does have a tone booster. However, thistone booster is a sheet of brass that is rivetedto the pad. Therefore, they are not replace-able in other instruments. The thumb rest ofthe Martin Committee model is a removableand adjustable type. To eliminate any troublewith this thumb rest, it requires three corks onits bottom. All three are 1/64” cork. A smallamount on each side and some in the centereliminates the possibility of rattle or buzzwhen the instrument is being played. To pre-vent the thumb rest from falling out completely

should the lock screw become loose, a 0 x 80screw (flat spring type) is placed at the topportion. This eliminates the possibility of thethumb rest falling through its side. The laterCommittee model uses the same type of pivotscrew to hold the pants guard in place.HOwever, one model of the Martin Saxophonehad a C# so badly out of tune that it was nec-essary to bring the high C# back into pitch.The G octave arm of the thumb octave leverwas built whereby it joined against a smallextended arm of the C key of the upper stack.The adjustment is such that when the octaveis applied, it lowers the small C key of theupper stack to a point whereby it is halfclosed. This had a tendency to flatten the highC# so as to correct the faulty intonation of thismodel.

There is one model of the Martin saxo-phone that has removable guards and theseare held in place by means of small screwswhich are the same size as the Martin pivotscrews without a pointed stud, One of theimportant things to remember when repairingthis instrument is that thin pads are mostadvisable. However, these pads should be afirm fit in the key cups. If a thick pad is used,the key will have a tendency to hit in the back.Bending of these keys to eliminate thisimproper fit will have a tendency to bend thekey cups. If thin pads are used, repair of thisinstrument is quite simple since the part willpractically fall in place.

KingThe old King saxophone had an octave key

tone hole that came in from the side instead ofthe dead center of the stud. As a result, inorder to make a pad cover, we had to put anextremely deep impression in the pad so as toallow the pad to curl around the octave stud toa point where it would close or cover the hole.The purpose of this was to allow the air pas-sage to clear the key when the key wasopened so as to eliminate the possibility of adead tone in the use of the octave. A smarttrick to eliminate the extra labor and the slop-py type of work that would have to be per-formed to make the pads cover these holes isto file the top of the stud. In this manner a padcan easily be seated over it with a neatappearance. The G# key on the old modelsworked at the hack end of the instrument and

had to be such that the spring tension of theG# key was heavy enough to offset thereversed spring tension of the auxiliary lever.The G# lever key (finger tip) had to be heavyenough to offset both of the other keys. Itengaged itself to the G# key by means of ahook placed against an equivalent hook of theG# key. This proved to be one of the mostfoolhardy arrangements of a G# assembly. Onthe later models, the King Company has elimi-nated this adjustment and at the present time,they now adhere to the more conventionalmethod. The flat spring tracks of the old Kingsaxophone consisted of not only a brass trackbut a small piece of steel rod through the trackso that the flat spring rested on the smallpiece of steel. The C key of the upper stackwas built in the same way and manner as theC key on a Conn saxophone. Therefore, inregulating the upper stack of the saxophone,we must remember not to bend this key. Al-though the King saxophone does not havedrawn tone holes on the older models, theyare not removable since they were silver sol-dered in place. The more recent models of theKing saxophone have made complete andabsolute changes so that the present modelcannot even be compared with any portion ofthe old King saxophones. The Super 20comes in two models, one of which has a ster-ling silver bell with gold inlaid in the engravingand sterling silver neck. The second model isall brass. These instruments have pearl tipswhich are removable on every side key thatthe fingers hit. These pearl tips should beremoved prior to polishing this instrument. Inthe event that it becomes necessary toreplace one of these pearl tips, it is wise toremember that we cannot use a conventionaltap in threading the holes in these pearls butrather, we must have a special tap known as ahacked-off tap. This tap is such that only thecutting edge remains. The high spot onthe tap and the back portion of the threads onthe top are relieved so that there can be nostrain or rub as this tap cuts its way throughthe material. If a conventional tap is used, itwould undoubtedly crack the pearl. The lubri-cant used with these taps should be turpen-tine. The octave assembly, although of themodern variety, uses small metallic sleevesheld in place by small screws so that thesesleeves will actually roll on a key, thereby

eliminating the need of sliding action.However, they have a tendency to be some-what noisy. Other silencers used on thisinstrument are of the spaghetti variety, in otherwords, plastic tubes. To achieve lock screwson their pivot screws, they utilize a small nutas a locking nut against the post on the end ofthe pivot screws that extends through theback of the post. The set of these is arrangedby first setting the pivot screws and then hold-ing them in place with the screw-driver whilethe small wrench is used to tighten the nut atthe back. The hinges of this instrument areGerman silver while the key cups are brass.The King saxophone uses its own tone boost-ers which are not replaceable into the nextpads. The low B and Bb keys are on theopposite side of the bell and the major prob-lem in the repair of this instrument consists ofremoval of noise by virtue of perfect fit on thekeys plus sufficient lubrication and theremoval of lost motion so as to eliminate abad feel.

SelmerThe old model 12 of the Selmer alto saxo-

phone had a completely different side Bb key.It operated by using the A key of the upperstack as a side Bb key equivalent. To operatethis assembly, it required the side Bb key builtas one separate key whereas the key cup wasplaced in the same position as normal A keyon any other instrument. However, instead ofhaving a heavy tension on its spring such asthe side Bb key requires, this key had a fairlylight tension on its spring whereby an A leverkey on the stack section utilizes an extremelyhigh heavy spring tension to offset the lightspring tension of the side Bb key. The properadjustment on this model is to make theadjustment between the Bb bis key of theupper stack and the small C key of the upperstack through the operation of the A key pearl.The adjustment between the side Bb key andthe Bb bis key was such that when the Bb biskey hits the tone hole, it should just allow us asufficient clearance for the side Bb, key toclose by virtue of its own spring tension with-out the feel of lost motion. At its best, this typeof adjustment was quite sloppy and wasimmediately changed on the next model of theSelmer saxophone. The Selmer octave key onthose models followed the normal rule of regu-

lation for octave keys of the old variety. (seeOctave Regulation.) The basic changebetween the Model 22 and the Model 12 is theelimination of the side Bb arrangement for amore modernized set up. Both of these instru-ments, however, do not have an extra high Fkey. However, this key is easily applied on thisinstrument. (See Extra High F Key Insertion)The Selmer Super saxophone which was themore modern version leading to the presentday, had many changes including the insertionof the extra high F. However the low B andBb, keys were still kept on the G# lever sideof the bell.

The advent of the Selmer (Cigar CutterModel) had one basic change from the normalSuper saxophone. This was in the octaveassembly whereby the octave assembly was adirect copy of the modern Buescher octaveassembly. The key arrangement was such thatthe thumb octave key at its point of contact tothe octave lever took on the appearance of acigar cutter from which this model took itsname. This instrument had been highly recom-mended by many musicians because for thefirst time, it gave the already good playingSelmer a good working octave key which wassomething it never had before. The SelmerBalanced Action was the next model to hit thescene in which many changes were madesuch as the low B and Bb keys operating onthe opposite side of the bell and the adjust-ment screws on the F# bar between the F#and G# keys and the F# and Bb bis keys. Theoriginal Balanced Action also had adjustmentscrews in the back bar of the F# key on thelower stack. To eliminate bending of thesekeys, your latest model Balanced Action alsohas adjustment screws at the back feet of thelower stack keys (F, E, and D). However,whereas the adjustment screws on the firstmodel were utilized for the purpose of regulat-ing the stack section, the adjustment screwson the latest model of the Balanced Action arefor the purpose of removing lost motion andnot for the purpose of regulation. Regulationpoints between the F, E, D and F# keys stillmust be taken care of by bending the feet ofthe F, E and D keys to match the back bar ofthe F# key. It was with this Balanced Actionmodel that the adjustable bumpers andremovable guards came into being on theSelmer saxophone. One important feature to

re-member about these removable guards isthat any guard which has three screws isremovable while those guards with only twoscrews are not removable by virtue of the factthat despite the two screws, the guard muststill be soldered in place to eliminate the turn-ing of the guard. Therefore, if these screwsare to be removed, it must be done when thepart is hot enough for the solder to melt.The Remova Bell model allows the stack sec-tion to come apart from the body and original-ly this horn was not soldered together at thestack joint but rather, it was a slip fit and thebelly band held it firm. This eventually causedleakage which was immediately rectified bysoldering this joint and replacing the bellyband as a design. This model requiresreplacement of pivot screws in a low C# postthat is extremely difficult to get at because ofits position. It splits the C# key so that there isa key and a C# lever whereby a flat springattached to the C# lever key is held in a dor-mant state until the C#lever is ap-plied. Thepressure of the C# key against this flat springgives a sufficient amount of tension to openthe C# key and allow it to work in an inde-pendent fashion. This tends to give us a morepositive feel on the C# key. This flat spring isheld in place by means of a brass barrel witha lock screw attached there on. The latermodels allow for an adjustment arm betweenthe low B key and the C# to eliminate the pos-sibility of the opening of the C# key with thelow B or by means of an adjustment point atthis arm.

The octave assembly is a completechange from the old by using a brass lever inbearing sockets. The elimination of lost motionin these bearing sockets is accomplished byspreading the split section of the bearingwhen it is in its socket so as to eliminate anylost space in the operation of the octave key.The points of regulation are regulated in thesame way and manner as any modern octavekey. (See Octave Regulation.) In preference tocork on the A octave lever it is wise to use awire covering commonly referred to as“spaghetti.”

Selmer rods vary in sizes from theAmerican type by virtue of the fact that thelarger rods are .119 in diameter as against the.112 of the Buescher and the threads are met-ric measure which are in effect very similar to

a 4 x 48 American size. The small rods arevery similar to clarinet rods with a threadapproximately 1 x 72 American size. We givethese sizes in American threads since it isquite understandable that the average shopdoes not maintain metric sizes. The Selmersaxophone has a small upper stack rodwhereby the Bb bis key and the G keys whichare normally part of the upper stack are onseparate set-ups working between pivotscrews.

These keys have a tendency to be noisy.The elimination of this noise is achieved bycounter boring the post to allow the pivotscrews to fit tighter in the key and the applica-tion of cork to line the guide posts which tendsto reinforce the long solid hinges of thesekeys. In the assembly of the Selmer saxo-phone, it is wise to remember that the last keyto be applied is the G# lever key. By makingall the adjustments prior to the application ofthis key, it will have a tendency to simplify theregulation of this instrument. The eliminationof lost motion between the side C lever andthe side C key as well as the side Bb leverand the side Bb key on the late model Selmeris accomplished as on the late model Connsaxophone. (See Conn Saxophone). There isan adjustable arm on the F# key over the G#key and on the extra high F finger tip leverover the extra high F lever. These pieces areset and locked in place. They are adjustablefor the purpose of changing the height of thestack sections while maintaining the properpoint of regulation. The Mark VI Selmer has aleft thumb rest which takes the appearance ofa bottle cap from a medicine bottle. Theremoval of this from the body prior to polishingthe instrument is easily accomplished byapplication of heat with your Bunsen Burnerthrough the B tone hole to the base of thethumb rest. It only requires a small amount ofheat to remove this part without damage. It iswise to remove this part before trying toremove the pivot screw from the thumb leverof the octave key lest we damage the blackpiece that is used as a thumb rest. The highF# key is built on an extremely long rod whichsits in position on a triple post above the highE key. As a result, to eliminate give in the rodand reinforce the entire set-up, there is a lockassembly which fits over the high F# key andthe high E key at the point of the high E guide

post and is locked by means of a .080 screwinto the side of the post. The thumb rest forthe right hand on this model is an adjustablethumb rest and is removable. The Mark VIsaxophone operates the octave key from theright side of the thumb rest through the ma-nipulation of a small lever which acts as thelower bearing socket. This small lever musthave a 1/64” cork wrapped around its end.The thumb lever requires no cork at the spatu-la but rather at the base of its extended arm.There is a 1/32” cork at the bottom of theoctave lever. It is regulated as any modernoctave key. (See Octave Regulation). TheMark VI saxophone was the first saxophoneon the market to come forth with a high F#assembly. This is quite a simple assemblywhich consists of two separate keys; namely,the high F# key and the F# lever. This keyrequires a 1/16” cork on the spatula of thelever and a piece of spaghetti wire on itsextended arm which fits into the fork of thehigh F# key. It is operated along-side thelower stack. It is smart to remember that abetter action is achieved on the Selmer saxo-phone by curling the needle springs so thatthe springs use this curvature for morestrength.

Strasser, Marigeaux and LeMaire (SML)The S.M.L. saxophone was made as a

combination instrument whereby the threeaforementioned companies combined theirefforts to produce this saxophone. There isnothing strange or odd about the adjustmentsor regulations of this instrument. To compen-sate and correct any different intonation itwould be advisable to first open the entireaction so as to clarify some of the tones aswell as sharpen the middle registers to elimi-nate the lower registers sounding sharp bycomparison. Actually, the low register is intune and the upper register which is badly flat-ted by the close action is the cause of thelower register sounding sharp. The opening ofthe action tends to counteract this feeling. Toeliminate the differences in volume on the dif-ferent notes, it is advisable to apply a set ofSelmer tone boosters to the pads. This willtend to give a more even sound to its entirescale. Upon the completion of these two oper-ations, the horn would play well enough tosatisfy the average professional man. This

horn utilizes the rolled tone holes as on theConn saxophone (old style). However, themain basic point of difference between thishorn and all others is the belly band at theneck socket which is actually removable andacts as a clamp around the female socketwhich splits at four sections to allow for tight-ening against the neck. It is important to re-member that this comes this way and shouldnot be soldered down in place. This instru-ment has a tendency to be noisy and requiresa great deal of oil to help silence its action.The articulated G# is a movable lever underthe spatula of the G# lever key so that if sode-sired, it can be moved out of contact withthe B and C# keys. It is extremely important tocut the bumpers on the low C, B and Bb keysto an absolute minimum to maintain the prop-er intonation on this horn. The octave assem-bly operates on a ball joint in the same wayand manner as the modern octave keys. (SeeOctave Regulation.)

KohlertThere is nothing to be said about this horn,

other than the fact that it follows every one ofthe normal standards of any average instru-ment. It is basic in its fundamental principlesand it copies many of the ideas of the modernsaxophone. It maintains an octave assemblyvery similar to the Buescher octave key mod-ern style. (See Octave Regulation.)It utilizes the tone holes drawn in the way andmanner as on the old style Conn saxophone.

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Please note; in recent years somemanufacturers have gone to thenewer type(s) of lacquers, or in somecases, such as the Conn Company, totheir own formulas. These lacquersrequire a “cold strip” since the caus-tic type does not work. You may pur-chase this solution from an instru-ment company or very often from anindustrial paint and/or chemical firm.To use this type of strip, you merelyimmerse the instrument into the solu-tion until the lacquer has separatedfrom the instrument in all areas.Often it will appear “crinkled” or as“bubbles”. Rinse off with clean water,pressure is preferred in most cases,or if there are loose but stubbornspots of lacquer, you can use a brushor rag to remove these ‘during therinse. The next step is as describedin the “Bright Dipping” section. Agood idea is to build a hanging finemesh screen to install in your coldstrip container. Cut a piece of screenthat fits snug within the container,install two wires (a piece of coathanger is ideal) that will allow screento drop within two or three inches of(above) the bottom and hook theseover the lip of container. Remove thisscreen as often as necessary, “eachshop will be different”, and removethe old lacquer on it with a pressurewater hose and rinse well beforeinstalling back into container. Thiswill keep your solution from “work-ing” when not in actual use. In turn itwill keep its strength for a longerperiod of time and as an end result,won’t have to be replaced as often.Since cold strip is generally morecostly than a caustic solution, thescreen idea is very worthwhile.

Before an instrument can be worked on,one of the first things that has to be done is toremove the old lacquer through the use ofcaustic potash, common caustic soda (lye), orvery many of the stronger soaps on the mar-ket today such as Oakite, etc. For causticsoda, a good formula to use is one gallon ofwater to four ounces of the caustic. ForCaustic Potash, the proportion is the same.The absolute proportion mentioned above isnot too important since it may be strengthenedor weakened, as the mechanic sees fit, byusing less or more water with the material.When an instrument has the lacquer removedthrough this solution, which should be keptboiling, it should then be rinsed in water.There is a different procedure to follow withbrass, silver, gold and nickel instruments andwe will take them in this order for a completeexplanation of this procedure.

Bright DippingA brass instrument is boiled in the caustic

solution whether or not there be lacquer onthe instrument for the purpose of looseningand boiling off corrosion and extra dirt andgrease that will undoubtedly collect after anylength of time. After boiling, we must thenrinse the instrument in clear water. The nextprocess involved is that which is known asbright dipping. This is done by immersing theinstrument in a solution of nitric and sulphuricacids and water mixed together in the follow-ing formula: A normal bright dipping would bemixed in the order named. One part water,one part nitric acid and two parts of sulphuricacid. It is extremely important to mix this solu-tion in a well ventilated place since strongfumes are given off upon mixing due to thereaction of the acids. There is a good dealof heat generated through the reaction of thetwo acids upon being mixed, so they must bemixed slowly, while watching the crock inwhich they are mixed so that it will notbecome too hot and crack. It is important to

mix them in the order named. The materialsare mixed according to their density or weight,that is, the lightest first. Hence, water, nitricacid and finally sulphuric acid. The sulphuricacid must be poured extremely slowly and themixer should feel the crock at all times whilepouring so as not to allow it to become over-heated. A good procedure to follow is to sur-round the crock with water, there-by keepingthe heat down to a point where the crock willnot break. The crock may also be surroundedby wet sand to accomplish the same end.

The formula for a fast bright dip would beas follows: One part of water, one part of nitricacid and one part of sulphuric acid mixed inthe order named. A slow bright dip would beone part water, four parts nitric acid and eightparts of sulphuric acid. There are many varia-tions of these formulae, although the onesnamed are the most widely used.

On completion of the bright dipping of thebrass instrument, which is done quickly so asto allow the acid to eat off only the dirt, show-ing forth the clean color of the brass to facili-tate the polishing of the instrument, you mustimmediately rinse in clear water. The clearwater cannot wash off all of the acid. Therewill undoubtedly always remain a slightresidue of the bright dip even though you maynot see any signs of it. This residue is doneaway with by rinsing the instrument in a sodi-um cyanide solution, which as a base solu-tion, will neutralize any remaining acidHowever, after rinsing in cyanide solution, itshould then be well rinsed again in clearwater, then air dried prior to polishing. Goldand silver plated instruments are handled inthe following manner: After boiling in a hotcaustic or soapy solution, they should then berinsed in water, followed by a sodium cyaniderinse and re-rinsed in water. The cyanide inthis case removes the tarnish from either oneof these two plated instruments thereby allow-ing for an easy and better scratch brushing orpolishing job. The cyanide may be mixed

CHAPTER 5

POLISHING, LACQUERING, PLATING

approximately four ounces to one gallon ofwater, stronger or weaker as so desired by themechanic.

On a nickel plated instrument, there isonly one “don’t” to bear in mind. Do not brightdip nickel plate. Bright dipping, or the brightdip acids, are a perfect strip for removing theplating from nickel plated instruments or parts.Merely treat nickel plated instruments in thesame manner as we would handle gold or sil-ver plated instruments. Sterling silver is han-dled in the same way as silver plate.

CuttingInsofar as polishing of the base materials is

concerned, after the preparatory steps havebeen undertaken, the next step is that knownas cutting. This is done by polishing the instru-ment with a stitched muslin wheel, using acutting compound that is free from greasesuch as Acme white or White Banner whichcan be purchased through any plating housethroughout this country. Do not be talked intoother polishes. These come in air tight con-tainers which must be used within a shortperiod of time after opening lest deteriorationof the polish take place causing it to crumbleinto a powder. These cans of polish usuallyweigh approximately two pounds. We can nor-mally cut down approximately eight saxo-phones with every can of Acme. We do not, inany manner, shape or form attempt to use thebuffing wheel in those places where it wouldprove dangerous either to the instru-ment orthe worker. In other words, do not try to buffover the tone holes of a saxophone but mere-ly around them. Do not try to polish too stren-uously at the posts as it may result in theposts being pushed out of line, causing a lotof extra work for the mechanic. Do not attemptto overcut an instrument, due to the fact thatwe may sometimes ruin the tone of a saxo-phone by overcutting the material, causingsoft spots. Merely polish the horn.

Washing and RaggingUpon completion of this cutting process,

the instrument is then put through a washingout process wherein we utilize our hot solutionand a soft brush or swab to remove all theextra solution that was left on by the buffingwheel. Upon completion of this washing, itthen goes through a process of ragging out

which is accomplished in a shoe-shine fashionusing the same Acme by rubbing it against asmall strip of cloth approximately 2” wide andthen stropping the instrument, making’ surethat we do by hand all of that which we couldnot reach with a buffing wheel. This may notgive as ‘fine a brilliance to the inner parts ofthe instrument which could be had with a buff-ing wheel. Yet without endangering the instru-ment, it does bring it up extremely clean sothat absence of the extreme luster will not benoticeable. This system is used in theabsence of a degreasing machine.

ColoringThe last and final process in polishing this

instrument is done by utilizing a jewellers’ redrouge which is dipped in kerosene and a softflannel buffing wheel. It is with the use of thiscompound that the soft wheel will then bringup the gloss giving one the full brilliance nec-essary-- to a fine finish of an instrument.When this process is completed, there will stillremain on the instrument a light coating of thisred dust given off by the jewellers’ rouge.This coating should then be wiped off with apiece of soft flannel but not ragged out. No fin-gers should touch this instrument unless theyare covered by this flannel, due to the fact thatour fingers do emit a certain amount of oilwhich would leave finger spots. This woulddefinitely show through the lacquer job.

Scratch BrushingPolishing of band instruments such as sil-

ver and gold is done in the following manner:Where we have the satin finish to contendwith, the instrument is scratch brushed on avery soft brass wire wheel to bring up its truesilver or gold color. A decent sized wheel forthis work would be a 4” wire wheel withapproximately three rows of brass wire. Thereare other small odd-shaped wheels, whichenable us to get at those places better thanthe normal 4” wheel. The polishing of theseinstruments by use of the scratch brush is notentirely sufficient since there are many placeswe cannot reach by machine, but in thosespots, it is a wise idea to use bicarbonate ofsoda. This is done through a ragging outprocess often referred to as stropping in thesame manner in which we polish a pair ofshoes. On those parts that have a smooth

glossy finish, this high gloss is achieved by aprocess of polishing wherein the coloringprocess is utilized. This would pertain to thesmooth finish on the bodies, keys and compo-nent parts of any silver or gold plated musicalinstrument. At least take note that the one bigdifference in the polishing process of baseand precious metals is the elimination of theprocess of cutting in the polishing of preciousmetals.

Nickel plate must be handled from the pol-ishing process onward in the same way andmanner as the base metals such as brass andGerman silver.

Plating Removal or StrippingMany years ago Silver plated instruments

were the rage of the day. At the present timethe trend is to the brass, clear lacquered finishor gold lacquered finish. There are many mod-els that have the two tone effect by usingGerman or nickel silver fittings with brass. Inthe field of repair it is often necessary toremove the silver plating from the instrumentto bring forth the brass finish. To properlyachieve this end, it is necessary to understandthe finish that was originally applied to theinstrument. Silver plating was usually appliedto the keys in a smooth finish, by burnishingthe keys after the plating was applied. Thebodies were sandblasted prior to the applica-tion of the silver to achieve a satin finish sothat the burnished keys would stand out incontrast. As a result this sandblast finish mustbe removed before they would look proper.

Plating can be removed in two fashions; 1.By reversing the current in the Electro-platingtank. 2. By using hot Acid that will attack thesilver plate ing quickly.

The first method is not advisable since theprocess of electrolysis will tend to pit thebrass metal underneath. The removal of thesilver plating with hot acid is the method werecommend. This hot acid is actually a mixtureof two acids; namely, Sulphuric and NitricAcids. There are many formulae for this typesolution and the preference depends on theindividual. Your writer prefers this formula:Four (4) parts of Sulphuric Acid, One (1) partNitric Acid and a pinch of sodium chloride(Table salt). These acids must be mixedaccording to their weight or density, the light-est acid first. Therefore the nitric acid must be

added first, then the sulphuric and finally thepinch of salt. These acids must be mixed in awell ventilated place as they will give off somepretty deadly fumes. It is wise to mix them in aroom that has a strong exhaust fan. Theymust be mixed slowly so that the heat theygenerate will not break the crock. They shouldbe mixed in an earthenware crock. The crockthey are mixed in should be immersed in asteel barrel about the same height as thecrock. The crock should be surrounded by asolution of some base material such as caus-

tic soda, so that in the event of a break in thecrock the strength of the acid will be consider-ably reduced when the acid is partially neutral-ized by the base solution.

To heat this solution the steel tank is heat-ed by direct application of a gas burneragainst the bottom. When the caustic sodasurrounding the acid is hot it will heat the acid.This acid becomes very activated when heat-ed. The instrument is gently placed in thissolution until the silver melts off. This will beclearly visible. The instrument should berinsed in water upon removal. This will have atendency to turn the finish of the brass to ablack color. The color is easily removedthrough the following process of BrightDipping.

Upon the completion of these preparatorysteps the instrument must be cut down to asmooth finish, (See Cutting) however we mustbe extremely careful not to injure the tone-holes or passages in this process. Very closeplaces can not be reached by the buffingwheel in this process and as a result the satinfinish will remain in these places, however,this will not be too visible.

Nickel plating can easily be removed bymerely Bright Dipping the part since the Bright

Trumpet held on stick for lacquering.

Dip Acids are a perfect strip for Nickel Plating.Gold plating presents a different problem

since we know of no acid that will attack gold.Gold plating must be buffed off to reach thesilver plating underneath, then the process ofremoving the silver can be performed. Thiswill have a tendency to remove too much fromthe material. To eliminate this we can achievethe same results in the following manner: Cut the satin finish as cleanly as possible,regardless of the type of plating that seems toappear. Color the instrument. Degrease theinstrument. Brass plate the instrument. Brassplating will cover any finish perfectly. In thismanner nothing will be detracted from theinstrument. Brass plating is applied in thesame manner as copper, however the finish ofbrass plating comes out in the same way asthe finish of the instrument when it was firstplaced in the plating tank. To complete thepolishing process to bring the instrument to apoint whereby it can then be lacquered, sim-ple coloring is then required.

Chrome plating can be removed byreversing the current in hot sulphuric Acid.Since this method is not readily available, inthe average shop, we suggest that this alter-nate method be used. Merely immerse thepart to be stripped in straight Hydrochloric(Muriatic) Acid. This method will slowlyremove the chrome plating. If the acid is hot itwill cause the speed up of this process.

Copper plating can easily be removed bybright dipping the part until the acid eats offthe copper.

LacqueringMusical instruments are lacquered for two

reasons:1. To add to the beauty of the instrument andretain the high finish.2. To prevent oxidation and discoloration ofthe polish job.

The real secret of a fine lacquer is actuallynot the lacquering job but rather the polish jobunderneath. If we attain a high brilliant glosson our polish finish, the lacquer will merelycover this and show forth the same effect. Ifour polishing job is poor, we cannot help butreceive a poor lacquer job, insofar as looksare concerned. On instruments in the brassfamily, such as trumpets, trombones, etc. youcan always maintain a high brilliant gloss and

therefore an extremely fine looking lacquerjob, if you have followed the coloring processas described in the previous article. On saxo-phones, there are two viewpoints insofar aslaquering is concerned. We have one schoolof thought which is to lacquer the instrumentprior to assembly. The other is after the instru-ment is assembled. There are benefits to bothways and so all we can do is point them outand let you take your choice. If an instrumentis lacquered before assembly, you maintain ahigh colored finish, which will give you anabsolute mirror gloss in your lacquer job. If asax is assembled first and then lacquered, youcannot help but lose some of this gloss due tothe fact that you leave rag marks and streakswhen hand wiping this instrument prior to lac-quering. Some mechanics put one or twocoats of lacquer on the instrument prior toassembly and upon completion of the over-hauling, relacquer the instrument with two orthree more coats. I cannot definitely tell allmusical instrument mechanics to use fivecoats of lacquer such as prescribed by all fac-tories, baking each coat separately in an ovenor hot box because actual knowledge of facttells me that this is not done. Instead it is usu-ally three coats of lacquer put on the averagehorn.

There are many different colors of lacquerused by musical instrument mechanics, theNikolas lacquers being definitely the prefer-ence of this writer. As to the color, you maytake your choice from different samples. As tothe type, there is a great deal to be under-stood. This is a prime lacquer known as A5which has a resin base. This lacquer hasgreat adhering qualities, but it is not its natureto have a hard finish. There is another type oflacquer sometimes used by musical instru-ment mechanics known as CE 5. This has thesame principal quality as the A5 lacquer. Bothof these lacquers along with all other lacquersof the same nature have a tendency to melt orsoften before burning, should the flame beapplied directly to a lacquered key or part. Ifnot touched while hot, it would still retain itsappearance but if you are seating a pad onsuch a lacquered part, the complete imprint ofthe rag with which you are handling the keywould be left on the lacquered finish, com-pletely spoiling the appearance of the lac-quered job. We can definitely recommend this

type of lacquer for instruments of the brassfamily. If saxophones are lacquered afterassembly, this lacquer will suit the purpose.There is another type of lacquer put out by thesame company known as porceleen. This lac-quer has a hard finish and will not melt whenheated but will retain its hard finish unlessoverheated to a point where it burns, where-upon such lacquer will discolor to a very darkbrown and eventually black. If instruments arepolished and lacquered prior to assembly, usenothing but porceleen lacquer to do the job.You can receive any color desired, by the in-sertion of the proper dye with your lacquer.There are two methods of lacquering. One isdipping and the other is spraying.

On musical instruments, we use the spraymethod. There are a few hazards to be on thelookout for: 1. adjust yourself to the distanceyou hold your spray gun from the horn whilelacquering approximately six to eight inches. Ifthe gun is held too close to the horn, it willresult in too much lacquer being fed on tooquickly. This will give you runs in your lac-quering if held too far away, the lacquersprayed will have a tendency to dry before ithits the instrument, thus an orange peel effector a rough mat. You may, sometimes by twist-ing and turning the instrument while the lac-quer is still wet, cause a run to even out. Youcan do away with a mat or sandy finish in avery simple manner. Let the instrument fullydry with this poor finish, then give it an-othercoat of clear lacquer and lacquer thinnermixed with this proportion; three parts of lac-quer thinner to one part clear porceleen lac-quer. This over-amount of lacquer thinner willcause thin, dry overspray to melt and liesmoothly on the instrument and will bring backthe gloss which should have been there origi-nally. Runs will easily occur on lacqueredinstruments if a spot on the instrument is com-pletely missed. This can occur while lacquer-ing trumpets on the tuning slides or the backbow. A good practice to remember when lac-quering such an instrument, is first to hit thesespots which would ordinarily not receive lac-quer quite as readily as an open portion of theinstrument. After hitting these spots, sprayover the instrument without fear of runs onthese portions. An important thing to remem-ber while lacquering is to never stop themovement of the hand in the middle of a

stroke. Start your lacquer six inches beforeyou hit the instrument, reversing this stroke sixinches after you pass it. This will eliminate thepossibility of excessive amounts of lacquer onany one portion of the instrument.

Most fire laws call for vapor proof bulbs ina lacquer booth. These are nothing more thancontainers for electric lights so as to preventthe heat of the electric bulbs from starting afire. It is something we should not be without.It is understood that the exhaust fan should beused while spraying lacquer and the spray ofthe lacquer on the instrument should be donein such a manner as to allow excess or over-spray to be pulled out of the lacquer boothimmediately. This can be done by spray-ingdirectly toward the fan. The room should be asdust free as possible. We wish to take thisopportunity to warn you that lacquer is highlycombustible and no smoking should beallowed within a great area surrounding yourlacquer room or booth. It is definitely advis-able to maintain a baking oven or a hot box.This should not be kept too close to the lac-quer room but at least fifteen to twenty feetaway from it. This is used for the purpose ofbaking on each coat of lacquer which will, inturn, give you a better job.

On days when the humidity is extremelyhigh, lacquer may turn to a milky color. Veryoften this can be cleared up and brought backto its original state by the application of anoth-er coat of clear lacquer when the original iscompletely and definitely dried. This is defi-nitely not a guarantee but has worked suc-cessfully in many cases. On such muggydays, it is advisable to take special precau-tions and it is very, possible to eliminate suchtrouble completely by one of these:1. In place of your normal lacquer thinner, use“retarding” thinner.2. Warm the instrument prior to lacquering.The warm body of the instrument will causethe lacquer to dry quickly and may possiblygive you a mat finish but this can easily becleared up. It is the moisture that remains onthe instrument prior to lacquering that causesthis milky finish. “Retarding” thinner will aid inretarding the change of color. If, upon use ofthese two tips, you still receive a milky finish,your trouble can only lie in one place. Youmust drain your water from your air tank andfilter. This should be done approximately once

a week regardless of how your jobs are turn-ing out and that way you will never have trou-ble.

If it becomes necessary to remove a freshlacquer job, due to a bad run, this can bedone by use of lacquer thinner, whereupon thecomplete cutting process may be eliminatedsince you merely have to recolor this instru-ment prior to lacquering.

If a sax is lacquered after assembly, it isadvisable to cork up all open keys by the useof small cork wedges under the feet of thesekexs. This is done so that the lacquer will nothit over your pads causing them to dry. Thesesmall cork wedges will only cover that portionof the body. excluding lacquer where it cannotbe seen. In reference to the small tips; on thelacquer gun. we have had our best resultswith a cone spray, in preference to the fanspray.

Lacquer spraying utilizes the aspiratorprinciple for its working. By forcing air over themouth of a small tube which is inserted in aliquid, we create a partial vacuum in this tube.Normal air pressure at 14.7 pounds persquare inch forces the lacquer up this smalltube where it is then blown out in a fine spray.There is always a small hole in the cap orcover of the jar: this is attached to the gunThis hole should be kept clear at all times soas to retain our normal air pressure in the gun.Should this hole clog up, you will not be ableto spray.

Silver PlatingIf we have to silver plate a base metal. it is

first necessary to clean the instrument proper-ly and this should be done in the followingmanner:(a) degrease the instrument in a hot causticsolution or with the use of carbon tetrachiorideor similar solvent. (b) rinse the instrument inclear water if a hot caustic solution used. (c)bright-dip the instrument as discussed pre-viously. (d) scratch brush the instrument with asoft wire wheel using soap bark and clearwater. (Soap bark may be purchased from anychemical house). Any detergent will work aswell.

If the instrument demands a satin finish,this satin finish must be applied prior to thispreparatory work, either through a process ofsand-blasting or buffing with a steel wire

wheel.If it is to be a high gloss or burnishedfinish, this must be applied prior to the preparatory steps of plating, through the use of buff-ing wheels, both muslin-stitched and soft flan-nel.

After the instrument is cleaned, it shouldthen be dipped in a striking solution, the sim-plest of which is comprised of red oxide ofmercury, sodium cyanide and water, the for-mula for which varies in accordance with thework at land is usually given by any concernfrom whom this chemical is purchased.A decent formula would be 6 oz. of red oxideof mercury and 8oz. of sodium cyanide toevery two gallons of distilled water. This canbe mixed with regular water but distilled water,which is free from all chemicals, produces amore advantageous solution. An electroliticstrike can also be used. A decent silver solu-tion would run as follows: 6 oz. of silvercyanide, 4 oz. of sodium cyanide and 4 oz. ofsodium carbonate to every gallon of distilledwater.

After striking of the instrument, you will notethat it turns a white color. If any spots stillshow brassy, this is a definite indication thatthere still remains some grease or foreignmatter on that portion of the instrument andthe silver plating will not take at that point.Should this happen, the aforementionedprocess at that one spot must be repeated.

Once the instrument is completely struck, itis then attached to the negative pole of therectifier and immersed in this silver cyanidesolution. The silver anode (from which thematerial is taken) is attached to the positivepole. Current should be applied at approxi-mately 4 volts for fine plating. If the part beingplated does not show complete whiteness dur-ing the process, it is very possible that thesolution needs agitation. You may stir thissolution by merely moving the part being plat-ed so as not to leave it stagnant. You will im-mediately notice the color change. Sometimesa dirty solution or a solution that has too muchforeign matter therein will cause a grey colorrather than a white. This is not quite as fine aplating job as a white colored silver.

When a sufficient amount of silver hasbeen deposited on the instrument and usuallyat this rate of speed, approximately 15 to 30minutes of plating time would deposit quite agood quantity of silver, the instrument is then

removed and rinsed in cold water. After a thor-ough rinsing, the silver-plated part is thenscratch-brushed on a very soft brass wirewheel to bring up its true silver color. Adecent size wheel for this work would be a 4-inch wire wheel with approximately three rowsof brass wire.

If this is to be a highly polished finish, it isbrought to a high gloss by a process of bur-nishing with the use of a steel burnisher that ishighly polished, using a detergent as its lubri-cant. Very often, many repair shops, for thepurpose of elimination of this costly process ofburnishing, which does take a great deal oftime, merely color the plated part, using acombination of jewellers’ red rouge dipped inkerosene. A very light application of this mate-rial to the soft flannel buffer will bring forth ahighly-brilliant gloss and will not hurt the silvernoticeably at any point. This does save agreat deal of time.

Every other type of plating, whether it becopper, gold or brass, would undergo theidentical process as that of silver plating. Theentire secret lies in the proper knowledge ofthe method in which the electrical current isutilized for the purpose of electroplating. Weshall now take time out to discuss the electrol-ysis involved in the process of proper electro-plating.

Electric current flows from positive to neg-ative. The positive pole is always referred toas the anode. The negative pole is alwaysreferred to as the cathode. In the future,throughout this chapter, and others, we shallrefer to them in this manner. The 110-volt cur-rent that we use as our normal house currentcannot be utilized in its present state for plat-ing any parts of instruments as the voltage istoo high. Furthermore, we must have directcurrent (DC) for plating and not alternating(AC) current. The use of direct current allowsthe direct flow of the plating material from thepositive to the negative poles of the platingoutfit.

For these reasons, it is necessary to usean apparatus known as a rectifier which stepsdown the current from 110-volts (house cur-rent voltage) to the proper voltage of approxi-mately somewhere between 1 and 15 voltsand then changes this voltage from alternatingto direct. It is only then that we are able to usehouse electricity for plating. If you happen to

be located in an area that uses DC current, besure to purchase a DC plating outfit (rheostat).

Another thing, do not get the impressionthat the plating material is being taken fromthe anode and deposited directly onto thecathode. This is a fallacy. The cathode obtainsits plating from the material in the solution.The solution is merely replenished by theanode bar. We must be very careful not totouch the anode and cathode at the sametime, due to the fact that this would cause ashort circuit in our plating equipment andmight prove quite shocking. It couldn’t possi-bly hurt you should this happen, due to thefact that the voltage would be too low but itcan make the average person jump. At thesame time, it might cause us to have the extrawork of removing the part to be plated anddoing the job over again.

Gold PlatingIn plating gold, a gold solution is more sim-

ply purchased than made. For an anode, wemay use a piece of stainless steel since theanode will merely complete the circuit and thecathode will accept its gold from the solutionitself. In plating gold, we cannot leave it in thesolution for such a great length of time butrather, we plate gold at approximately threevolts for no longer than 10 second periods atone time. Trying to plate longer than this mayresult in the burning or discoloration of thegold.

We must hear in mind that gold is soexpensive that we cannot afford, in the aver-age shop, to maintain use of a gold anode. Itis for this reason that the stainless steelanode is utilized for the purpose of completingthe electrical circuit. A gold solution that wouldgive satisfactory results is easily made usingthe following formula: One ounce of goldcyanide, four ounces of sodium cyanide, sixounces of bicarbonate soda, to one gallon ofdistilled water. It is important to use the dis-tilled water since regular tap water has verydefinite mineral content and this mineral con-tent, slight though it may be, will have a ten-dency to contaminate the solution so that itwould impair the proper working of the elec-trolysis involved therein. It is very important toslightly warm this solution prior to use to apoint whereby the solution maintains anapproximate heat of 110°F. A warm solution

has a tendency to become slightly agitatedthereby helping to stir itself. If the solu-tion iskept moving either by moving the part or stir-ring the solution, it will tend to give a moreeven and satisfactory plating. Final cleaning ofthis plating would depend entirely uponwhether or not it was to maintain a burnishedfinish or a satin finish. The proper finish mustbe applied prior to plating since the plating willmerely act as a cover and will not conceal thefinish applied in the preparation for plating. If asatin finish is desired, it must be applied to thepart prior to plating and the finishing of thisprocess is performed through the use of ascratch-brush and bicarbonate of soda withwater after which the part should be rinsed inboiling water and patted dry with towelling. Ifthe part is to be a burnished finish, it shouldbe highly polished prior to being plated afterwhich it may be either hand-burnished or high-ly colored with jewellers’ rouge and kerosene.

Copper PlatingCopper plating is usually applied to valves

prior to grinding same. It is applied in thesame way and manner as any other type ofplating. However, the solution used must be acopper cyanide solution or a copper sulfatesolution (CuSo4 ) The recommended solutionis that of a copper cyanide since in the aver-age shop, most of the solutions would be acyanide base. It is advisable to maintain theequivalent type solutions. In this way andmanner, the cost of operation is cheaper andat the same time, we have a smaller varianceof materials on hand. Formula for the solu-tionwould be 3 ounces of copper cyanide, 1/2 oz.of sodium cyanide, caustic soda (lye) 1/2 oz.and one gallon of distilled water.

The sodium cyanide in any form is addedfirst and then the copper cyanide stirred. Thebalance of the ingredients may be added asdesired.

The copper sulfate solution would consistof 35 ounces of copper salts per gallon of dis-tilled water, 6 to 11 oz. of sulphuric acid. Thissolution can be plated comfortably at roomtemperature. However, in all cases, warmingthe solu-tion tends to activate the plating pro-cess. Agitating the solution tends to give onea more even plating. It is wise, when copperplating a valve, to place the valve in a horizon-tal position since copper plating has a tenden-

cy to build heavier on the bottom side.Insertion of the valve on the horizontal posi-tion tends to even the plating. Cleaning of thisplating can be done either by buffing orscratch-brushing.

Nickel PlatingIn most cases on musical instruments

repair, we are faced with the proposition ofnickel plating such as on valves, etc., to giveus a hard wearing surface that would workcompetently against the soft brass of the valvecasing. However, it is to our advantage at alltimes to use a bright nickel in preference tothe darker nickel plating. A good solution forthis bright nickel plating is as follows: 32 oz. ofnickel sulfate. 6 oz. of nickel chloride and 4oz. of boric acid and 1 gallon of distilled water.This solution must be kept at a heated tem-perature between 115 and 1600 F to give thebest results.

Valve PlatingWhen a valve is leaking and it is neces-

sary to plate same (See Repairing LeakingValves), the valve must be prepared to receivethe plating. This is done by truing up the valvein the valve lapping block to a point where thepit marks are removed as well as the old plat-ing. Upon completion of this procedure, thevalve should be scratch. brushed with anydetergent and water and then rinsed in clearwater. It should be placed in a copper platingtank in a horizontal position and plating de-posited there on See Copper Plating), untilsuch time as it would fit into the casing fromthe bottom side approximately 1/4 of thelength of the valve. At this point, the valve isprepared for grinding. Upon completion of thegrinding process (See Repairing LeakyValves) the valve is then lightly polished onthe buffing wheel to a gloss finish after which,a thin deposit of nickel plating is applied (SeeNickel Plating). Upon completion of the nickelplating process, the valve is lightly polished tobring up the gloss of the nickel plating. At thispoint, the valve will no longer leak and willhave a hard wearing surface.

Flute ExplanationThe flute is considered to be an instrument

of conical bore. The conical portion of the fluteis the head or mouthpipe of the flute. Thishead is completely tapered and it is becauseof this fact that the flute is built in octaves. Toseal the upper end of the head, we utilize acork which is put on a tuning pin or rod. Acrown covers the upper end of this tuning corkassembly. The set of this tuning cork deter-mines the intonation between the registers ofthe flute thereby keeping the flute in tune withitself. The tuning up of the flute with any otherinstrument is accomplished by either pullingthe head of the flute out of its socket slightlyor pushing it in closer. Once the head cork isset, it should not be moved for the purpose oftuning up with another instrument, since thiswould tend to throw the registers completelyout of tune with each other.

The mouth-piece of the flute is soft sol-dered to the head of the flute. To assure per-fect coverage on the head of the flute, it isimportant to bear in mind the fact that not onlymust the head cork be tight fitting but the plateagainst which it rests, both front and back,must be shellacked to the cork or leakage willtake place through the hole in the head cork.By the same token, there must be no leakagein the soldered joint of the mouthpiece. Thetenon extension of the head must be smoothyet firm fitting in the female socket of the bodyjoint. The body of the flute consists of thatmain portion of the flute with all the keys

attached there on. The male tenon of the bodyjoint must be firm fitting in the female socketof the lower joint which is referred to as thefoot joint. Flutes are made in two keys; C andDb. The more common variety being used isthe C flute. Db flutes are only used in bandwork not in orchestras. The ribbed flute is thatflute whereby the posts are silver soldered toa long rib and the rib in turn soft soldered tothe body. This has a tendency to strengthenthe flute in preference to that flute which is notribbed whereby the posts. are silver soldereddirectly to the body. The body joint and footjoint of the flute are cylindrical bores. This is apoint to bear in mind when dent removalbecomes necessary.

Post RepairQuite often on ribbed flutes, the end post

on a rib may raise or become unsoldered atthat point. This must be firmly soldered backin place or it becomes a virtual impossibility tomake this flute cover either in the seating ofthe pad or the regulation of the instrument. Ifthe post is completely broken off the band, theentire rib must be unsoldered from the bodyafter which the post is then silver soldered tothe rib and the rib remounted on the bodythrough soft soldering. On a flute that is notribbed and the post is silver soldered directlyto the body, the repair of a post broken fromthe body would consist of silver soldering aplate to the bottom of the post after the lengthof the post has been cut the same amount asthe thickness of the plate after which the platewould then be soft soldered to the body. Theplate would not only give a better contactpoint but could act as a patch over the hole aswell, still allowing the flute to look as thoughno repair had been made.

Phosphor Bronze andGold Springs

The springs of sterling silver flutes aremade from 10 karat gold spring wire, while thecheaper flutes use phosphor bronze. In anyevent, bronze will work as well as the goldand it is much cheaper. These springs are riv-

CHAPTER 6

FLUTE REPAIR

eted in place in the same way as clarinet nee-dle springs. However, the ends of the springare not heated. Merely squeeze the springend in a pair of pliers to attain the rivet orflange end.

The springs are riveted in the posts, bear-ing in mind these rules:

A spring goes in the direction of the tonehole for which it works

A spring is bent for tension toward the honehole if the key is to remain open, away fromthe tone hole if it is to remain closed.

The perfect type of pliers for removingsprings from a flute is a 4 1/2” round nose pli-ers with the noses cut off. This allows you thegrip of the box joint, whereby the leveragepressure is such that it cannot slip and yet itwill not mar the spring. (See chapter onSpring Removal, Clarinet Repairs.)

Key ExtensionsOn such instruments as saxophones

where there is a sufficient amount of room tobuild bridges or extensions from one tubularhinge to another so that keys work inbetween, the operation is simple. However, ona flute, there is very little room to work since aman s hand has to envelop the actual flute,therefore, it becomes necessary to eliminatethese extensions or bridges and still maintainthe same gap between the tubular hinges ofthe key. To accomplish this end, pin rods areused. The Selmer flute still uses bridges forconnections between tubular hinges on thesame key.

Key PinningPins used on pin rods are made from sax-

ophone springs the diameter of which is deter-mined by the size of the hole through the rod.The pin should be a press-fit into place so thatthe key is firmly pinned to the rod whereby therod and key act as one complete unit withoutany lost motion whatsoever between the two.The bottom of the pin should be close enoughto the key to eliminate any interference witheither the springs or other keys. The top of thepin should extend enough to allow the repair-man gripping space to remove the pin.

Joint FittingLoose tenon ends such as the male tenon

on the body joint are stretched to fit perfectly

by using flute tenon expanders such as soldby the many tool companies.

Key TruingFlute keys are straightened in the same

way and manner as saxophone keys. (SeeStraightening Bent Keys— SaxophoneRepair.) However, in many cases, the key willhave to be almost perfect fit against the rodwith no lost motion whatsoever and it may benecessary to actually grind the tubular hingeof the key using pumice stone and oil on thesteel rod and lapping out the tubular hingeusing the rod as the tubular hinge lap.Removal of this material upon the completionof the process is easily accomplished with theaid of a pipe cleaner and kerosene.

Cork Sizes and Key CorkingThe same rules for sizes of cork as applied

on saxophone apply to flute.

Rules—If the key hits the body (stoppingaction) apply 1/16 cork. If the key slides onanother key (sliding action) apply 1/64 cork.The back thumb Bb lever key takes either afelt or 1/32 cork. The two top trill keys take 1/8cork curved to fit the spatulas.The D# key on the foot joint takes 1/8 cork.

The head cork must fit the head securelyand it must be shellacked to the front andback plates to eliminate any leakage. Thehead cork must be set with the tuning rod forthat purpose or the registers will be out oftune.

Packing and SeatingFlute pads must be a perfect fit in the key

cup. Do not shellac in flute pads. They areheld in place with a metal washer and ascrew. They are built up to the proper heightby means of paper washers. Here is the bigtrick:

Moisten slightly the paper washers and theflute pad when putting the pad in the key. Thisallows the washer to conform to the shape ofthe key and it firmly seals the washer to thepad, thereby eliminating any possible chanceof leakage underneath the pad. The smallpads on the top trill keys and the B key areglued in place with shellac.

This is important. Each pad must coverperfectly individually or it will be impossible to

properly regulate the flute. The pad slick usedshould have a hole in the center to clear thepad washer and screw. The first key on in theorder of assembly is the G# key. To seat thispad, apply a small amount of heat to the keyand placing your. pad slick between the padand the tonehole while applying a smallamount of pressure, turn the suck from side toside. Remove the slick and check for leakagefrom either the front or back. Paper washersmust either be inserted or removed to build upthe low areas or to build down the high areas.When the pad shows perfect coverage, applypressure to obtain a seating on the pad. On

the average flute (we do not mean the Italianflutes) the same number of paper washers arerequired in all keys. When we say put a keyon the flute, this includes seating the pad.

Head Cork FittingThe head cork, although a solid piece of

cork, must have a hole cut through it to allowit to fit on the head cork rod. However, it mustbe held or sealed firmly against its bottomplate with the use of hot shellac. It is alsosealed against the top plate with the use ofhard shellac. To properly fit the new head corkto the head of the flute, the head cork rod ischucked up in the lathe or bench motor andwhile turning around, it is sanded to a perfectfit for the head.

It is wise to bevel the two ends of the headcork slightly so that it maintains a slight bellyat the center of the cork which will compresssufficiently to allow it to be a firm fit in thehead, thereby allowing a positive seal at itspoint of operation. Before applying the headcork to the head, grease should be used. Thehead cork must then be set in its proper posi-tion and this is done with the use of the tuningrod which is supplied by the factory on everyflute. The tuning rod has a line cut in it so thatwhen the tuning rod is inserted through thetenon end of the head, this line must appearin the dead center of the mouthpiece hole tokeep the registers of the flute in tune. (SeeFlute Explanations.)

It is extremely important to remember thatwhen the cork is replaced in the body of the

instrument, it must be put in from the tenonside since in this manner, we would then beapplying it through the larger bore of thetapered tube. It must never be put in from thetop end of the flute because the plates on thecork rod might have a tendency to mar thetaper at that point.

Body RepairMost of the dents that can occur on the

body of the flute are usually straightened orremoved through simple burnishing of thebody while it is placed over a firm fitting man-drel. This mandrel should be no greater thanapproximately .713 of an inch. Definite creas-es which occur when a flute has been bentmay have to be removed through light tappingor hammering and the body refinished there-after. It is wise to remember that both thefemale sockets of the average flute are softsoldered in place. Should the head receivedents that must be removed, we must use anundersized rod since we cannot do anythingthat would mar the taper of this portion of theinstrument. Therefore, in using an undersizedrod, we still allow ourselves the complete free-dom of burnishing.

Flute PolishingThe method of polishing a flute is deter-

mined by the type of finish. The following arethe most widely used types of finishes onflutes:1. Silver plate2. Sterling silver3. German or nickel silver4. Nickel plate

Silver plating and Sterling silver are pol-ished in the same manner. It is not necessaryto boil out the instrument unless the flute isvery dirty. The average job requires a light cut-ting with any white lime polish and kerosene.The next job is coloring with jewellers’ rougeand kerosene. There will be a small amount ofbuffing dirt clogged on the instrument in thesmall corners. Do not try to polish this out withthe wheel. This dirt can easily be removedwith a degreaser. Since most shops do nothave such equipment, I suggest the following:Using a wool clarinet swab, wash the bodyand the keys in lacquer thinner. Thinner willmelt the dirt and wash it away. This methodwill also remove any dirt in the small corners

Flute pad slick.

of the keys. Do not be too surprised when itcleans all the corks up like new, since thinneris the best cleaning agent we know of.

German silver and nickel plating are han-dled in the same manner except that we canuse, the cutting process with a little moreeffort.

Tone HolesToneholes on a flute come in two varieties.

There is the drawn tonehole which, with thebody, comprises one piece thereby eliminatingthe possibility of leakage through breakage insoldering. When these toneholes are dam-aged or bent, they are easily straightened bymerely pushing a dent plug the proper sizethrough the tonehole and when the dent plugis firmly in place, burnishing the toneholeagainst it. This burnishing process is not nec-essary since the plug pushed right through thetone-hole will tend to straighten the toneholeout completely. The toneholes that are sepa-rate pieces from the body are soft soldered inplace. If these become damaged, they mustbe removed, put back in a perfect roundthrough the application of the dent ball beingpushed through it. However, the pad surfaceof the tonehole must be levelled and this isdone by placing it on a jewellers’ anvil or anyflat piece of steel with the pad surface downand light tapping the opposite side so as tocause the pad surface to level itself againstthe steel plate, after which this tonehole isremounted on the body through soft soldering.On sterling silver instruments, it is advisable,when re-soldering a tonehole. to wire down atleast the next two toneholes to the solderingjob since sterling silver has almost perfectheat conductivity. It will have a tendency tocause the other soldered joints around theportion that is to be soldered to become loose.Wiring of these parts tends to hold them intheir proper position at all times.

Flute Disassemblyfor Overhauling

The average flute has four simple rods;namely, a pivot pointed rod on the B key onthe upper stack of the body joint, a short rodfor the back thumb and thumb lever keys, arod for the double G key and one for the G#key. The G and G# rods are usually quite simi-lar. The foot joint has only one rod. There are

three rods on the body joint of the flute knownas pin rods. We shall take them individually toexplain their proper functioning.

Upper Stack Pin RodThis rod has the bridge of the Bb key firmly

affixed thereto. On the cheap Italian flutes,the bridge and the lever arm that extend overthe back thumb lever are one solid piece. Ongood flutes such as the Haynes Powell, etc.,the extended lever is a free riding key on thepin rod. On the simplified or cheap flute, whilethe bridge section is firmly set to the pin rod,the A key rides free on the same rod. The Bbkey is also pinned to the same rod, therebymaking the Bb key and the bridge act as one

solid key. The important point to remember isthat true regulation cannot be achieved unlessthe bridge and the Bb key are extremelysecure to the pin rod. The pin used for thispurpose is made from a Steel Needle Springtightly fitted and riveted in place in the samemanner as a needle spring in a saxophonepost.

Trill Pin RodThis rod has two pieces attached with

pins in the same manner as the upper stackrod while the third part of the key rides free.The two pieces attached are the spatula of theD# trill key and the pad cup of same. Thethird- part is a long key with long hinge. Becareful not to bend this hinge. If it is bent, it isstraightened in the same way as previouslydescribed in the saxophone section.

Lower Stack Pin RodThis rod has the F# key and either three orfour adjustment screw seats attached to it bypine. This allows the F key. the E key and theD key to ride free on the rod.

Disassembled flute.

Order of Assembly1. G# key2. Double G key3. Two top trill keys4. Entire lower stack (F#, F, E, and D keys)5. Small B key6. Balance of upper stack (Bb bridge and Akeys)7. Thumb Key (after seating the thumb key puton the thumb lever).8. D#, C# and C keys on the foot joint.

Flute RegulationPerfect regulation of a flute is achieved by

means of adjustment screws with two excep-tions on the body joint.Rules:1. Regulate F to F#2. Regulate E to F#3. Regulate D to F#By means of adjustment screws4. Regulate A to Bb5. Regulate Bb bridge to F key by raising orlowering bridge6. Regulate back thumb key to Bb key by rais-ing or lowering the spatula of the back thumblever key.

Removal of Lost MotionRemoval of lost motion is achieved by cut-

ting corks on the feet of the keys. Do not bendkeys to remove lost motion.1. Cut the cork on the foot of the F key toraise the F key to the desired height.2. Cut the cork on the foot of the E key toattain the same height as the F key.3. Cut the cork on the foot of the D key toremove all lost motion in the lower stack.4. Cut the cork on the foot of the A key toremove the lost motion between the F and Bbkeys.5. Cut the cork on the foot c4 the back thumblever to remove all the lost motion on theentire instrument.It is important to follow the order of regulationand removal of lost motion.6 . Raise or lower the spatula of the C key toregulate the C and C#.

Flute Heads(See Flute Explanations and Head CorkFitting.)

Flute Ribs(See Flute Explanation.)

Sterling Silver FluteSterling silver flutes usually are of the bet-

ter variety of instruments and as a result,many of the headaches that usually occur onthe average instrument are thereby eliminat-ed. The main basic difference in the repair ofthis instrument as against the cheaper instru-ments is the application of cork to the keysthrough the use of hot shellac. Since sterlingsilver is such a perfect conductor of heat, itwill have a tendency to make corking quite dif-ficult using the normal procedure since thekey will be cold by the time we attempt toapply the corn even though it is only a fractionof a second between the shellac applicationand the application of the cork. To eliminatethis problem, it is wise to paint a few sheets ofcork with soft orange shellac. Two thin coatsare usually advisable. When the shellac hasdried, we then can apply the cork directly tothe key after heating without having to applyany further shellac. Since soft shellac uses asits softening agent denatured alcohol, itsfusion or melting point is therefore consider-ably lower than that of flake shellac which isrolled into a stick and uses heat as its soften-ing agent. In this manner, cork with the shellacalready applied, simplifies the job of corkingsterling silver keys.

It is wise to remember that sterling silverhas the same material throughout and is not aplated instrument. Therefore, we cannot marthe finish of this instrument to a point whereany plating would have been necessary.Furthermore, sterling silver is one of the pre-cious metals and as a result, will feel heavierthan a base metal. However, it is a soft mate-rial, therefore, easy to work with when remov-ing dents but easily damaged. Sterling silverwill further have a tendency to tarnish or oxi-dize far beyond that of the average platingand normal polishing may not always removethe tarnish stains. The easiest way to removethese tarnish stains is to immerse the instru-ment and keys in a sodium cyanide solutionwhich is made up of 4 oz. of sodium cyanideper gallon of water. Immersion in this solutionfor a period of only a few seconds will changethe color of the tarnish from the black or darkpurple to an extremely white color. This white

color can easily be polished back to the natu-ral finish of sterling silver. Warm cyanide tendsto work better and quicker. Immersion in thecyanide solution will have a tendency towhiten the inside of the bore of the flute givingus a very fine appearance internally. It isextremely important to remember that sincesterling silver is a softer metal than the basemetals used in the manufacture of flutes, wemust be extremely careful when buffing thisinstrument and, under no circumstances what-soever, should we allow the buffing wheel tohit the edges of the toneholes lest we cut theedge of the tonehole so that the tonehole isno longer level.

Wood FlutesThe keys on the wood flute are basically

the same as those on metal flutes. The basicdifference between a wood flute and the metalflute is on the body, the head and foot joints.Being a wood instrument, it naturally has tohave a heavier wall to maintain a sufficientamount of strength to do the job. This instru-ment does not have raised tone-holes such ason the metal bodies but rather the toneholesare recessed as on clarinets except for thefact that the depth of the recess is muchsmaller. As a result, it becomes more difficultto seat the pad properly and unquestionablythe use of feelers for leaks is an absolute req-uisite. Furthermore, in view of the fact thatthere is a recess for the key to fit into, it allowsan extremely small amount of clearancebetween the pad cup and the ends of therecess. Therefore, an absolutely perfect fittingpad is a definite requirement.

All wood flutes have their post assemblieson ribs. These ribs are attached to the bodyby means of small screws such as used onclarinet thumb rests. As a result, very often,we find these screws breaking loose from thebody. Should this happen, a fast method of re-applying these screws to the body so that theywill again hold firm is to apply plastic steel inthe hole and re-insert the smaller screw inplace holding the rib firm to the body withbind-ing wire. When the plastic steel hasdried, the screw will be firmly in place and therib held secure. The male tenon ends of thebody joint require cork in the same way andmanner as clarinet corks. Usually thesetenons have tenon rings on them. The bodies

are either grenadilla wood or in some rareinstances, hard rubber. The mouthpiece onthe wood flute is eliminated and only themouthpiece hole is used since the curvatureof the head at that point is sufficiently wide toallow the circumference to act as a perfectchin rest. The head cork rod utilized on awood flute consists of a tapered wood screwto which is attached the cork by means of hotshellac. The crown of the wood flute has ahole which allows the wood screw to fit at itsfurther end through it. It is wise to rememberthat most wood flutes require the pad beingbuilt up through the use of washers to a pointwhereby the pad extends from the key up agreat deal further than on metal flutes. Thishas a tendency to eliminate the possibility ofthe key cup striking any portion of the tone-hole recess and thereby allowing for easierand better coverage of the pad. It is a normalnatural occurrence to find cracks in the headjoint and the foot joint. A flute foot joint willusually crack between the D# tonehole andthe end of the female socket. There is a metalsleeve inserted in the female socket whicheliminates the possibility of shrinkage of thewood at that point. This, in turn causes thecrack. The repair of this type of damage isbest accomplished by either filling the side crack with plastic steel and after drying and

finishing, coloring the material with a lighttouch of black lacquer so that it becomesunnoticeable, or by gluing a sliver of grenadilla

Baking oven for Perma Pads.

wood in the crack accomplishing the samemethod sometimes referred to as spleaning aDutchman, in string instrument repairing. Thesame type of crack which occurs on the headjoints usually upward from the female tenon isrepaired in the same way and manner. Chipswhich occur in the tonehole of the wood fluteare repaired with the use of plastic steel afterwhich they are dressed back to the originalsize.

Plastic PadsPlastic pads have come forth for use on

flutes and clarinets. These pads are installed inthe following manner: With the exception of thetwo small trill keys and B key in which the padsmust be placed with a special plastic padcement, there is cement necessary in puttingthe remaining pads in place and seating same.Place the proper pad in the key cup with theflat side of the pad facing up. Secure in placewith a pad screw and metal washers. On thosetype flutes such as the old Pan American whichhad extremely deep key cups, it may be neces-sary to insert paper washers to bring the padlevel up to a point that is slightly above theedge of the key cup. Assemble the entire flutemaking certain the keys are lined as close tothe proper position as possible, thereby elimi-nating bent keys or keys that are tilted fromside to side. Level the key out with a pad in thisposition as close to good coverage as possiblewithout a seating. Put light tension clamps oneach key. Camps are unnecessary on thosekeys where the spring tension is such that itholds the key in a closed position such as D#,G# and two upper trills. The instrument in itsclamped position must then be put in a bakingoven for a period of approximately ten toeleven minutes on plated flutes, whereas ster-ling silver flutes require only 8 minutes. Theoven the instrument is placed in, should bepreheated to a temperature of approximately212 degrees F. (1OO degrees C). This is thetemperature of boiling water. After this hasbeen done, remove the flute from the oven andallow to cool slowly to normal room tempera-ture before removing the clamps. After remov-ing the clamps, make the necessary adjust-ments by means of the adjustment screws, etc.and finally remove the lost motion. If clampsare too tight, it will result in an excessive depthto the impression and may cause sticky pads.

Stickiness can be removed from the pad withthe use of ordinary talcum powder. The badfeature of this type of pad is the fact that itrequires a major job if only one pad is to bereplaced. The 3 small pads on a flute must beput in with pad cement by applying a smallamount of cement to the key cup. Then heatthe key until the cement starts to bubble in thekey cup. Place the pad in the key cup with theflat side up. This will hold the pad in position inlieu of the fact that there are no center screwand washers on these keys. The heating in theoven will obtain the impression in the pad foryou. A smart stunt is to reverse the spring ten-sion of all the keys so that they are all helddown with the springs rather than with clamps.This gives a sufficiently light tension so thata better impression is received from baking.

Piccolo ExplanationsTo properly understand a piccolo, we must

realize that a piccolo is nothing more than aminiature flute, whereby the C and C# keys areeliminated and the body joint consists of whatwould normally be the foot joint of the flute. Inview of the fact that the keys are so small as toeliminate the use of center screws and metalwashers, all of the pads must be held in place-with shellac. However, we cannot use the typeof pad in a piccolo key as used on clarinet keysalthough they have the same appearance. Thethick clarinet pad would have a tendency toleave its surface in not too flat a position sothat it will make pad seating on a piccolo diffi-cult. This arises from the fact that the toneholeof, the piccolo by comparison to that of theclarinet is extremely large for the size pad usedin the key cup. Therefore, to make seating eas-ier, it is necessary to float extremely thin padson piccolo keys. This enables us to have anabsolutely level surface on the pad to facilitatecoverage. Some companies have been knownto use the medium thickness clarinet pads forpiccolo work. In this manner, they eliminatetotal floating and merely use a little extra shel-lac in the key cup to help float the pad.However, you will find very many satisfactoryresults from full floating. Piccolos come in twotypes. The first type has the posts soldered tothe body. The second type known as a ribbedinstrument has its posts silver soldered toplates. These plates or ribs are then soft sold-ered to the body. This instrument has a littlemore strength than the first type. However thistype usually gives the repairman a little bit ofextra trouble due to the fact that these ribshave a tendency to break loose from their sol-dering job easily by the slightest bend of anypost. The piccolo utilizes gold or phosphorbronze springs in the same way and manneras the flute. The head cork is fitted in the sameway and manner as on a flute. The regulationof this instrument is identical to that of the flute.However, many piccolos do not have adjust-ment screws to facilitate their regulation and inthe repair of this type of piccolo, it is usually

advisable to regulate the instrument while seat-ing the pads so that the impression in the padactually takes up a sufficient motion to allow forthe regulation points. Piccolos come in twokeys; namely, C and Db. The Db piccolo isused for band work whereas the C piccolo isused in orchestras. The only tapered sectionon a piccolo is the same as on the flute—in thehead. Therefore, we must remember, wheninserting the head cork, to place it in from thetenon side. Insofar as dent removal is con-cerned, we must be careful not to use a tightfitting mandrel in any point on the head of thepiccolo. There is a flare fit at the lower portionof the body of the piccolo which starts from thebottom of the low D tonehole to the end of thepiccolo. This gives us a megaphone effect.Most piccolos have drawn toneholes. They arenot removable and should a tonehole ever beso badly damaged as to require a replace-ment, it must be actually filed or cut away fromthe body and a new tonehole soldered in itsplace.

CORK SIZESMost piccolos, due to the fact that the

instrument is so small, require a 1/32 cork forstopping action on the feet of the keys. Forsliding action, a 1/64 cork is used. It is advis-able to cut small pieces of cork in a circulardesign with the use of a small hand punch forplace-ment between such keys on the stacksection as the spatula of the A key and its pointof contact between the A and Bb, bridge keyand the F spatula at its point of contact to theF# key. It is also extremely advisable whilecorking a piccolo to use cork with shellac paint-ed on the back of it This liquid shellac melts ata lower fusion point thereby making the corkingprocess a great deal more simplified than if wewere to use ordinary stick shellac.Furthermore, it performs a much neater jobthan we would receive by applying the shellacseparately from the stick. The D# key of thepiccolo usually requires a 1/8” cork which isthen beveled so that the end of the cork comesto a point. This is dressed according to the fit

CHAPTER 7

PICCOLO REPAIR

against the body. In most cases, the same rulepertains to the wood piccolo as well as themetal regardless of whether or not the metalpiccolo is sterling silver or a plated base metal.In any event, the shellac cork is much easier towork with than the normal cork and sterling sil-ver instruments make corking keys with shel-lac cork an absolute necessity due to the factthat sterling silver has a tendency to transmitits heat so rapidly that application of the corkwith a shellac stick will seem almost futile.

Pad FloatingThe terminology here-in used is descrip-

tive of the actual job involved in padding picco-lo keys. The key cup is filled almost to the brimwith hot shellac. To eliminate this hot shellacfrom spilling out the key is momentarily chilledagainst a wet rag. This has a tendency to coolthe bottom of the shellac that is in the key cup,leaving the top surface of the shellac still hotenough to adhere to the piccolo pad which isthen placed on top of the shellac. This must bedone quickly so that the shellac does not cooloff too much. As soon as the pad is placed inposition, the entire key is cooled against thewet rag. This eliminates the hot shellac frombubbling up and spilling over the edges. In thismanner, the thin pad will lay on top ofthe key cup in such a manner as to look asthough it were actually filling the key cup.However, the important feature is the fact thatthe entire surface of the pad will lay level. It isadvisable when applying pads to piccolo keysto hold the key in small flat nose pliers thathave smooth jaws. This will not mar the finishof the key. However, it would eliminate burningof the fingers since the fingers would seemclumsy alongside the small keys such as these.It is further advisable to puncture a small holein the side of the piccolo pad to eliminate airexpansion under the skin of the pad. This isdone prior to applying the pad to the hot shel-lac. It is further advisable to lightly scratch theback surface of the pad prior to application ofthe pad to the key cup. This will have a tenden-cy to roughen up the cardboard back of the pic-colo pad, there-by giving a better holding sur-face for the shellac to grab.

Pad SeatingSeating of a piccolo pad requires even

more attention than any other type of instru-

ment with the exception of oboes due to thefact that absolute coverage is a necessity if theinstrument is to play freely and fully. In seatingthe pad, we must bear in mind that the entireback of the key is filled with shellac. Therefore,we cannot apply the same amount of heat aswe normally would on a clarinet key. In otherwords, we have to be extremely careful tobarely warm the key cup so that the shellacjust begins to soften. This will enable us tomove the piccolo pad to a point of perfect cov-erage. Prior to placing the key on the instru-ment for seating, it is advisable to slightly mois-ten the skin of the piccolo pad. This has a ten-dency to soften the skin thereby allowing it toaccept its impression more readily. We mustbear in mind that the moistened skin is whatgives us the seating and not the heat. The heatmerely allows us to shift the pad. It is furtherimportant, when seating the pads on a piccoloto try to bring them into their close and perfectadjustment or regulation as possible with itscoordinated keys, thereby eliminating unduework in the regulation of this instrument.

AssemblyThe order of assembly of a piccolo should

be as follows:1. Back thumb key which usually consists of adouble pad. These two pads must be seatedsimultaneously. They must be applied to theinstrument first so that both sides of the keyscan readily be checked. After the pads areseated, we may proceed with the normal orderof assembly.2. The back thumb key is then removed andthe back thumb lever applied with the backthumb key as it is returned to the instrument. 3. The G# key4. The entire lower stack assembly whichconsists of the F#, F, E and D keys placedtogether in the same manner as on the flute.(See Key pinning, Flute Repair).5. The G, Bb and A keys which utilize the pivotpoint of the B key rod as one of the holdingpoints. The upper stack consists of the Bb, theA and the double G keys. This double G keymust have each pad seated individually.However, the regulation between the two padsis such that the height of the pad must take upthe regulation point since there is no method ofbending these keys or adjusting them to covertogether.

6. Low D# key.7. Two high trill keys.

It is important to remember that when wespeak of assembly we mean putting the key inplace, seating the pad and making the neces-sary adjustments insofar as the regulation ofthis instrument is concerned. (See Regulation).

RegulationThe regulation of a piccolo usually takes

place coincidentally with the seating of the padand the assembly of the piccolo. These are thepoints of adjustment to watch for: After the F#pad is seated, we seat the F key pad. How-ever, in applying this seating, we assure our-selves that the F covers perfectly with the F#.Any adjustment that is to be made can bemade, either through the height of the pad inthe key cup which can be maintained at properlevel when seating the F pad or by trimmingthe small round piece of cork on the spatula ofthe F key. When the E pad is seated, theheight of the pad in the key cup will determinethe regulation point between the E and F#keys. If there are adjustment screws for regula-tion on the piccolo in question, the adjustmentpoint can be taken up through this regulationpoint. However, on so me piccolos where thereis no adjustment point such as a regulationscrew, the height of the pad in the key cupmust be seated to coordinate with that of theF# key to eliminate bending of any keys so in-volved. The D key pad is then seated bearingin mind the exact same procedure described. Itmust be in perfect regulation with the F# key ofthe lower stack. Upon the seating of the Bbbridge key, the regulation point between the Fkey of the lower stack and Bb bridge key of theupper stack is so adjusted by raising or lower-ing the bridge of the Bb key so that the F andBb keys cover perfectly together. When the Akey pad is seated, it must be treated in thesame way and manner as heretoforedescribed, except for the fact that it must bekept in perfect regulation with the Bb , bridgekey of the upper stack. The adjustmentbetween them is the same as the adjustmentbetween the F and F# keys. The regulationpoint is the small piece of round cork under thespatula of the A key.

The final regulation point is betweenthe back thumb key and the Bb key of theupper stack. This is achieved by raising or low-

ering the spatula of the hack thumb key so thatthe 2 keys cover perfectly together. In a man-ner of speaking we do not actually raise orlowerthe spatula of the back thumb lever but rather,we tilt it from one side to another. Removal oflost motion on a piccolo follows the exact lineof procedure as on a flute. (See page onRemoval of Lost Motion—Flute)

Bass Clarinets Plateau KeyAssembly and AutomaticRegisters Key Assembly

In view of the fact that bass clarinet tone-holes are too big to allow the fingers to actuallycover them, we must utilize plateau keys. As aresult, we have many more regulation points ona bass clarinet than we would have on the ordi-

Bass clarinet (plateau) joints and alto clarinet (ring) joints.

Complete bass and alto clarinets with bells and mouthpipes.

nary standard instrument. For this reason thetop ring F key is a split consisting of a plateaukey where the normal clarinet has a ring. Theadjustment point is usually a regulating screwbetween the plateau key and the small F keythat fits under the A key of the upper stack.These two keys must be placed to cover per-fectly. The back thumb key is a plateau key thatmust cover perfectly with the small top F key. Itis usually advisable to regulate the back thumbkey to the small F key first. This is done bybending the back arm of the small F key up ordown, as the case may require. The adjust-ment between the plateau key and the F key isthen achieved with a regulating screw. Whenthe Bb bridge key has a pleateau key in placeof the ring, this plateau key is regulated to theBE, key by raising or lowering its finger tipspatula as the case may require. The G key isthen regulated to the A key by raising or lower-ing its spatula. The lower joint of the bass clar-inet has a plateau assembly in place of thethree ring F key; however, the 4 D key which isthe equivalent of the third ring is not regulatedto the F# key but usually is nothing more thana lever closing the D key. The F and F# keysare regulated by raising or lowering the backbar of the F# key. The E key is then adjusted tothe back bar of the F# key by raising or lower-ing the E key.

The only other point of adjustment involvedon the bass clarinet is that of the register key.Some bass clarinets such as the Kohlert utilizean automatic register key strictly in conjunc-tionwith the A key for the clarification of the Bb,throat tone, the regulation of which is identicalto that of a soprano saxophone. (See chapteron Octave Key Regulation—Saxophones.) Theaverage bass clarinet not only utilizes this typeof automatic register key but also has its auto-matic register key working in conjunction withthe low D key of the lower stack. It follows thesame rules of regulation as a saxophone withthe exception of the fact that the D key is thealternating factor in the register key assemblyof the bass clarinets where-as the G key is thealternating factor in the regulation of a saxo-phone octave assembly. Many alto clarinets arebuilt along the same lines as the bass clarinetwith plateau key assembly. However, there arering assembly instruments. These are muchmore simplified and as a result, much less reg-ulation is involved. It follows along the lines of

your standard clarinets. The usual bass clarinetwill go to low Eb, thereby add-ing one extrakey; namely, the key on the bell. If the instru-ment goes to low Eb, there will be a third spat-ula along-side the low E spatula for the righthand. This consists of a lever key for the righthand to operate the key on the bell. It must bekept in perfect adjustment with the low E key.This adjustment is achieved at the small regu-lating point between the low E and Eb spatula.

Full Boehm ClarinetsThe full Boehm clarinet consists of addition

to the normal standard clarinet. For instance, ithas an articulated Bb, or Eb, key which con-sists of an extra ring instead of the openinghole, which utilizes a fingering for Eb, or Bb,with the use of the first and third fingers. Thereis a small pad on the Bb, bridge key which werefer to as the auxiliary key. The third ring keyis attached to the actual Bb, key. The regula-tion point between these two pads is usually anadjustment screw fitted on an extended armfrom the auxiliary key over the top of the padarm of the Bb, key. These must be coveringperfectly. It is usually wise to use the floatedpiccolo pad in the small auxiliary key which asa result is 71/2mm. The articulated G# is an-other assembly on the full Boehm clarinet. Thisallows the musician to finger the G# or C# withthe right hand as the left, in view of the factthat it operates in the same way and manneras the G# key of a saxophone. There must bean adjustment point between the G# and F#keys. This is usually a regulating screw. Thespring tension of the G# key is extremely lightand the G# lever heavy enough to quickly andeasily offset this tension. The articulated D# orG# key allows for fingering with the left hand aswell as the right hand. This consists of onelever key placed between the B and C# spatulaof the left hand so that when applied, the D# orG# lever lifts the pad cup of the D# key. Thelast extra feature on the Full Boehm clarinet isthe extra note of low Eb, on the lower joint bythe addition of the extra key adding to thelength of the instrument so that the spatula ofthe key is along-side the right hand spatula ofthe low E key so that the low Eb, E and F keyscover perfectly together.

Omega and LeBlanc ClarinetsThe Omega clarinet is the most expensive

model clarinet sold by the Selmer Company.The basic difference between this instrumentand the Selmer Center Tone clarinet consists offirstly, the fact that the Omega clarinet utilizesbronze hinge bearings but most important of allis the fact that the Omega clarinet utilizes anautomatic register key for the clarification of thethroat tone of Bb using the back ring key as thealternating key for this type of assembly in amanner quite similar to the LeBlanc clarinetwhich utilizes the A key for its alternating point.The LeBlanc clarinet was the original one tohave the automatic assembly. However,it isonly fair to state that many years before theLeBlanc came forth with such an item, therewas a European company that had such a keyarrangement on their instrument. This companyhas since gone out of existence. The purposeof the automatic assembly is to open an equiv-alent key to that of ‘the high Bb trill key so thatabsolute clarity of tone is achieved on thethroat tone. The LeBlanc clarinet has onemodel whereby it utilizes a double pad cup onthe C or F key on the lower joint. This, in turn,has a tendency to give better clarity to the lowG or middle D notes. The pads, when seated,must be kept in perfect adjustment with oneanother so that they act as a single key.

Explanation SystemsThe oboe is a double reed instrument and

actually the soprano of its family. The doublereed family consists of the oboe, the oboed’amour, the English horn and the bassoon.There are two systems of oboes. The olderone is called the military system. This wasreplaced with the more modern conservatorysystem. In effect, there was the same differ-ence as between the Albert system clarinetand Boehm system clarinet. Of the more mod-ern system (conservatory) there are twotypes. The first type is referred to as a ring jobor simplified system. The second type is theplateau which actually eliminates the use ofopen ring keys whereby pad corks are usedon the same particular keys so that it entails atremendous amount of regulation and adjust-ment. There are, many articulations on differ-ent oboes. However, most of the articulationsare only put on the plateau instrument. Boththe ring and plateau jobs come in two typesinsofar as octave arrangement is concerned.There is the double octave or the automaticoctave. We refer to this key arrangement asthe octave key in view of the fact that unlikethe clarinet, which is built in twelfths, the oboeis built in octaves since it is of the conical borefamily. There is a perfect rate of taper through-out the oboe consistent with the metal tube inthe double reed through the bore to the mid-dle of the bell. The type of wood used on theinstrument is grenadilla (Mozambique). Thetop of the oboe has an umbrella like, effectwhich is referred to as the crown. Most of theoboes utilize tenon caps on the male tefloris.The oboe uses the time of pin rods as onflutes whereby bridging of keys can be elimi-nated. However. in place of pins, the oboeuses threaded screws through the steel rod inmost cases. There have been models that usethe type of pins as on flutes. Due to the factthat the pad sizes of an oboe are so small (71/2mm), it becomes absolutely necessary toachieve a perfect level to the pad surface sothat perfect coverage can be achieved. To dothis. we use thin bladder pads such as theone used on piccolos and we float these pads

in place. This holds true even for the largerkeys which take approximately l4mm pads.Many of the pads on the oboe require a holein the middle of the key for clarity of tone andtherefore, the average pad has to be eliminat-ed due to the fact that it has a skin cover. Onthese types, cork pads are used.

Cork SizesThere is very little to learn about the cork

sizes on the keys of an oboe since there isonly one size cork used. Regardless ofwhether the key hits the body for stoppingaction or sliding action against another key,the only size cork used on an oboe is the thinor 1/64. The keys are so small that in corkingthe keys, it is sometimes advisable to hold thekey with a small pair of pliers so as not toburn your fingers. Cork that has the shellacpainted on the back works to good advantageon this instrument. It may be necessary for theremoval of lost motion, to cut the 1/64 cork inhalf on some keys. This can be determined asthe instrument is being assembled. There aremany adjustment screws on the keys of anoboe. We must remember that if we place acork over the adjustment screw, the adjust-ment screw then becomes useless. Therefore,when there is an adjustment screw on anoboe, we must realize that the corking is doneon the opposite key.

Key Assembly ExplanationBasically speaking, we must describe this

twice so that we can cover both the ring joband the plateau oboes.

Ring JobOn the upper joint, there is very little

other than an automatic octave key thatrequires explanation. The two small pads ofthe upper stack have their spring tension setto be as light as possible so they barely holdthe keys open and can be operated individual-ly. The adjustment point between these twokeys is on an adjustment screw so that thetwo cover perfectly together. The G ring isadjusted to these two small keys by means of

CHAPTER 8

OBOE REPAIR

a set screw so that when the G ring ispressed down at its proper height (barelyabove the tonehole) the two pads will covertheir respective toneholes. The two trill keysmust have a slight amount of lost motionbetween their levers and their respective keys.The side lever that acts as the bridge to thelower joint has a heavy enough spring tensionto offset the tension of both the small keys onthe upper stack so that this lever will holdthese two keys in a closed position until suchtime as the tension of its spring is released bythe F key of the lower stack. If there is anautomatic octave, the set of the automaticoctave must be such that the G key will usefor its stopping action the G octave key. Whenthe G key is pressed down to its proper posi-tion so that the two small keys of the upperstack are held closed, it must be at a perfectpoint of adjustment to the octave. The octavelever maintains a heavy enough spring ten-sion to close the A octave and G octave simul-taneously by offsetting their spring tensions.The thumb octave lever is merely used in thiscase as a point of operation for the finger andits spring tension should be light and thereshould be a small amount of lost motionbetween it and the lever that holds the twosmall octave keys closed. This small amountof lost motion is necessary to assure us of thefact that the octave lever is doing its job. Thelower joint of the ring job is fairly simplifiedsince the F ring, as an open key, has basicallyno point of regulation until the two joints areplaced together at which point there is a smallamount of lost motion left between the sidebridge lever of the upper joint and the F ringas an assurance that the two small keys of theupper stack are remaining in a closed posi-tion. When the F ring is depressed to a pointwhereby it is slightly above its finger hole,there is a point of contact to hold the G# keyin a closed position so that the G# leyer wouldnot cause the G# key to open. The backbridge of the upper joint rests upon the F keyor ring of the lower joint. Therefore, it is putinto operation by the F ring. However, there isan extensison of the back bridge of the lowerjoint so that it becomes also operated with theE auxiliary key. Therefore, since the E auxil-iary key is an adjustment with both the F key,E key and the D ring, the back bridge canthen be operated from any key of the lower

stack. The actual point of regulation consistsof the E key which utilizes a cork pad on boththe ring job or the plateau being put into per-fect adjustment with the E auxiliary key bymeans of an adjustment screw at the backarm. The D ring merely has to close the Eauxiliary key when it approaches the properheight above its own finger hole. There is anextension of the E key (cork pad) that leadsunder the C key that is fingered from the righthand so that the bending of the arm of the Ckey is your point of adjustment to allow the Ckey to cover perfectly with the E thereby caus-ing both the C key, the E key and the E auxil-iary to cover together. However, we must bearin mind that we never regulate more than twokeys at the same time with the thought inmind that if the E key cover perfectly with theE auxiliary, and the C key covers perfectlywith the E key, those things which are equal toone another are equal to each other. The C#key of the lower stack actually has no point ofregulation other than the fact that the extend-ed arm of the C key is set against the C# keyso that there is no lost motion between them.This is not a point of regulation; it merely elim-inates what would be a bad feel to a musician.The C# key merely opens until such time asthe C key stops. There is an adjustment screwon the D# key which is a point of adjustmentto the back foot of the C key so that when theC key is pressed to a closed position, it shouldcover the D# key perfectly. The D# key has alight spring tension which tends to keep thekey in an open position. However, there is aheavy tension spring set in the body of thelower joint that reverses the spring tension ofthe D# key and extends past the D# key sothat the D# key will remain in a closed positionuntil such time as the tip of this extendedspring is depressed at which point, the springtension of the D# key goes into operationholding the D# key in an open position. Thelever for the D# key must have a smallamount of lost motion between itself and theD# key as an assurance that the D# key isheld in a closed position. The B key is anindependent working key that merely has tohave its pad covering. There is a tremendouskey affair which consists of a D# lever, a Blever and a low Bb, lever. This key is set upwhereby the D# lever and the Bb lever areactually one and the same key so that when

the Bb lever is operated, the key is pressedtoward the left side so that its prong, which isplaced on its left side, closes the low Bb key.If the key is fingered from its opposite edge sothat the key is depressed to the right side, itsarm extension rests against the extended tipof the D# spring and depresses this springthereby allowing the D# key to operate underits own spring tension. The low B lever is akey on the same assembly by means of thepin rod which presses against the foot of the Bkey which is closed by depressing this extraspatula. However, the opposite tip of the lowBb lever operates an extension lever of thelow Bb key which, in turn, is the bridge for thelow Bb key which is on the bell. There is an.adjustment screw between the low Bb leverand the fingertip extension lever for the per-fect point of regulation between the low B andBb. However the smart trick is to set theadjustment screw so that the extension leverrests against the body before it is put intooperation and the point of regulation betweenthe low B and Bb key should be taken in bybending the low Bb key which is on the belleither up or down as the case may require. Bydoing it in this manner, we can thereby elimi-nate any lost motion.

Plateau JobAll that has been described on the ring

job holds true for the plateau job. However,there are some extras insofar as the plateaukeys are concerned. Firstly, the ring job uti-lizes a musician s fingers as keys for perfectcoverage over the finger holes. The plateaujob must have a perfect point of adjustment onclosed key cups rather than open rings. The Aring becomes a cork pad with a hole in it andmust be perfectly adjusted to the A auxiliary orBb, key. The open G ring becomes a closedkey with a cork pad that has a hole in it and itmust be perfectly adjusted to the G auxiliarywhich must be kept in perfect regulation withthe A auxiliary key. The normal side Bb, finger-ing of the ring job now becomes an operatingsource for the G# key where the side Bb keyno longer has a pad but instead uses itself asa point of leverage between the G#key andthe G key so that when it is applied it closesthe G key which in turn closes the A auxiliaryand G auxiliary keys and opens the G# key bydepressing its foot. If there is an automatic

octave on the plateau instrument, it alsobrings the G key into play with the octaveassembly so that it releases its tensionagainst the G octave and comes to a perfectpoint of coverage with the A octave. The B keyof the oboe is a cork pad with a hole in thecenter which must be kept extremely close tothe body when it is in its open position due tothe fact that the C# on the oboe is anextremely sharp note and by keep ing this keyextremely close to the body, it tends to flattenthe C# so that it would bring it into better into-nation. On the ring job, the G ring has a smallextension wire under the G# lever so whenthe G# key lever is applied allow-ing theG#key to open, it closes the G ring and usessame for its stopping action. This extension iseliminated on the plateau job and replacedwith a dual lever that is depressed by the G#lever so that the first lever that is depressed,presses the second lever which has an exten-sion against the A key thereby using the A keyfor its stopping action. On many of the plateaujobs, there is a very small tip of a key whichutilizes a heavy enough spring to close the Aand B auxiliary keys. This small tip is operat-ed by the bridge extension to the lower jointwhich, in turn, has a light spring tension and isused to press the small tip to release the twoauxiliary keys. The two trill keys of the upperjoint are operated on the plateau in the sameway and manner as on the ring job. On thelower joint, the open F ring becomes a closedpad which is set into adjustment with the G#key of the upper stack by raising or loweringits arm and there must be a small amount oflost motion between the back bridge which isoperated by the closed F ring and the upperbridge extension to assure us in the sameway and manner as on the ring job that the Bauxiliary and A auxiliary are remaining in a

Resonant F assembly.

closed position. The next change is the factthat the D ring becomes a closed key with ahole in the center so that a cork must be uti-lized whereby this cork pad is kept in adjust-ment with the E auxiliary of the lower stack.The plateau oboe usually has a resonant Fasembly since the fork fingering F is extremelydead and has a tendency to sound flat. Thisresonant F key assembly sharpens the noteby virtue of allowing an extra escape hatch forthe sound waves.

It further brightens it to a point whereby ithas a better pitch and sound. (See ResonantF Key Assembly). The plateau oboe also uti-lizes a small extension arm which is placedalongside of the D key to act as a C trill lever.It further utilizes another extension arm whichoperates with the D# lever of the left hand toclose the D key of the lower stack. There areextra articulations on many different models.However, they are too numerous to enumer-ate and their purpose is easily visjble as wellas their method of operation. There is onemodel instrument (Loree) which utilizes a Bblever which is directly beneath the thumb reston the lower joint and is operated with thethumb. However, this model is pretty well out-dated.

Replacing CrownsVery often, an oboe can crack so that the

crack actually goes through the crown of theoboe. This is quite common. When the crackintercepts the crown, it is advisable to notonly put to either put a ring on the crown soas to crush the crack together at the crown orto cut the crown away and replace it. If thecrown is to be replaced, it is done after flushbands have been placed on the body. (SeeFlush Banding, Clarinets). The flush band ofan oboe is made of sterling silver since atremendous amount of shrinkage that is nec-essary to apply this, will cause the Germansilver to become too hard prior to propershrinkage. The replacement of the crown isquite simplified. The body must be cut downon the lathe so that the complete umbrellaaffect of the crown is eliminated leaving just athin shell approximately 1/16 of an inch thickover the reed retainer. A new piece of wood orrubber as the case may require, is then cut tofit over this extended end. It is held in placewith a firm glue (plastic steel is recommend-

ed). After the glue is dry and secured, theshape of the new crown is then cut on thelathe. This will, in no way, affect the instru-ment and it can be put on in such a manneras to not even be visible as a replaced part.The cracked oboe should have the crack filledfirst by forcing plastic steel down into thecrack after the ring has been applied so as toseal any leakage, after which, crack filler isused as a disguise so that the crack cannotbe visible to the human eye. Crack filler usedcan be purchased from any one of the suppli-ers in this country. However, I prefer to makemy own of a mixture of wood shavings andhard shellac and rolled into a shellac sticksince this will make a better appearance thana shiny black finish of the type of crack fillersold by the suppliers.

Tenon ReplacementThere are only two tenons that might

have to be replaced on the oboe, the centertenon (male) of the upper joint, center tenon(female) of the lower joint. It is an extremelyrare occasion when the bell tenonthe lowerjoint of the oboe has to be replaced. Tenonsare replaced when they have been brokenand for no other reason. If the male tenon ofthe upper joint is to be replaced, we mustremember that in order to bore this instrumentout to receive this tenon, we must change thetaper bore of the instrument to a straight boreby the insertion of a liner stud or bushingwhich will hold firm in the body at a pointapproximately the height of the G auxiliarykey. At this point, we have a sufficient clear-ance for a cutting tool. This stud or bushingshould have a 1/4 inch hole through the deadcenter of itself so that our boring bar whichwould be 1/4 inch in diameter will use thishole as its pilot for a perfectly straight and truecut. This quarter of an inch boring bar canthen utilize 1/8“ piece of drill rod set crosswisethrough it so that the 1/8“ drill rod would actas a cutting bit in the same way and manneras a normal boring tool used on clarinet tenonreplacement. The instrument is then bored outto a point past the G tonehole but not up tothe G auxiliary key. The new tenon that ismade to replace this must have a perfect rateof taper continuing from its point of contact inthe upper joint to a point whereby it is a per-fect match to the continued rate of taper at the

end of the female tenon of the lower joint. TheG tonehole can then be drilled away after thetenon is inserted and the glue properly driedand this C tonehole can be brought out to itsperfect size by means of circular files.Tonehole under cutting tools can then be usedto bring the A to a perfect intonation. The corkrecess is then cut in the tenon and the corkreplaced. If the female tenon of the lower jointis the part to be replaced, the ring of the lowerjoint must be removed since this ring not onlyfits over that broken part but has two extend-ed arms which are fastened to the body bymeans of small wood screws and this ringholds three posts. The line up of these postsis important and actually determines for therepairman the exact length of the femaletenon since it calls for the perfect fit of thekeys back in place. The replacement of thistenon is quite simplified since the only portionof the instrument that would be cut away fromreplacing this type of tenon would be cut insuch a fashion that the tenon replacementconsists of nothing more than a sleeve whichfits over the lower point past the F tonehole.To prepare the body for this tenon, the exten-sion must be removed and if there is a metalsleeve in the tenon, this is also removed.The body is then cut down to a point deeperthan the measurements of the old femaletenon. The length of the cut is to a point justpast the F tonehole but not to intercept the Eauxiliary tonehole. The new sleeve is then cutto fit over this so that its length would put backthe exact length of the tenon extension. Whenthe glue is hard, the body is cut down so thatthe outside diameters match. The ring isreplaced on the body and the tonehole relo-cated by measuring it with the key then dress-ing the hole to match the exact measure-rnents of the old hole with circular files afterwhich, if it is a plateau job, the new toneholeis cut. In a ring job, a finger hole is replaced.Lastly, the metal insert for the female tenon isreplaced. This is held in place with hot shellac.In some rare instances, bottom screws aresunk into the old tenon. However, if these bot-tom screws are utilized, to begin with, the oldhole would still be intact in view of the factthat replacement of this type of tenon doesnot cut deep enough to disturb it. The belltenon uses the same procedure as the maletenon on the upper joint except for the fact

that it requires a larger stud or bushing insofaras the size is concerned. On this tenon, how-ever, it is not necessary to intercept any tone-holes since the depth of the cut will have suffi-cient room to merely approach and not inter-cept the low B tonehole.

Cork PadsCork pads are utilized whenever a hole is

built in the key so that a skin pad will have atendency to leak by virtue of such a hole.They are further used to eliminate any buzzytones and because of the fact that they havelonger life. In cutting cork pads, we must re-member that cork is a form of wood and assuch it has small knots. These knots are actu-ally points of leakage on cork pads. Therefore,any cork pads that are cut must be cut fromabsolutely nonporous cork. It is advisablewhen applying these cork pads not to cut thepads from a thickness that would bring it tothe perfect size, but rather to bevel the backof same and with the use of a little extra shel-lac, allow the cork pad to ride in the key sothat the pad can be easily set for perfect cov-erage. Applying the impression on the padmust not be done with extreme pressure butrather the impression is applied when theshellac is hard by lightly pressing against thekey after which we are assured of the fact thatthe coverage of it is perfection itself. The holeon the cork pad can be applied either beforeor after the pad is inserted in the key depend-ing upon the type of stud inserted in the keycup.

PaddingThe pads of an oboe require a perfect level

in order to maintain a perfect seating.Therefore, we do not use regular bladder padssuch as the medium or thick clarinet pads butrather, we use the thin bladder pad referred toas piccolo pads. These pads are floated inplace. (See Piccolo Repair.) On some oboes,there is a stud similar to a flute stud in thelarger key cups (Loree). In putting these padsin place, one should be careful so as to getthe shellac in the key cup in the same wayand manner as the normal floating jobrequires. The shellac must not touch thethreads of the screw studs that protrude fromthe center of the key cup. The pad must befloated in place and the stud put on after the

shellac is hard. The seating of these pads isperformed in the same way and manner as onpiccolos. One of the basic reasons for usingthe thin pad is due to the fact that the smallpads of the oboe are usually 7 1/2mm and thelarger pads have tone holes almost the size ofthe key cup. Therefore, the only way we canmake these pads cover is to have a flat padfloated on top of the key cup whereby the padis the size of the outer wall of the key cup. Wemust further be careful not to utilize a pad thatis wider than the outer dimensions of the keycup. In applying the seating, we must be care-ful not to attempt to receive too deep animpression in these pads or they will have atendency to cause the side to sink in causing abelly in the pad. It is advisable, at all times, toscratch the back of the pad slightly so as toallow for better adherence to the shellac.

RegulationThe regulation of the upper joint of the aver-

age ring job oboe is quite simplified in the factthat the only true point of regulation is betweenthe Bb key pad and the A auxiliary key pad.The regulation of these two pads is set bymeans of an adjustment screw at the back armof the A auxiliary key so that both these padscover simultaneously. The back lever to the Fbridge of the lower joint has a spring tensionsufficiently strong to overcome both the springsof the two aforementioned keys. We shouldhave a hairline of lost motion between the trilllevers and the two trill keys. In the event thaitthere is an automatic octave key on the oboe, itis regulated in the following manner:

The G ring is set so that at its point of perfectcontact to its open finger hole, it closes the Bb,and A auxiliary keys. This is easily achieved bymeans of an adjustment screw on the G key.At the same exact point of closing, it must alsoclose the A octave key. At its opening point, ituses for its stopping action the G octave keythereby assuring us that when the G key is notin use, the G octave will remain closed. Theoctave lever must cover the A and G octavekeys simultaneously. The thumb octave lever,when applied, must raise the octave lever to apoint where-by the A octave comes down totouch the G key without any lost motionbetween the thumb lever and the body. Thespring tension of both the A and G octave keysshould be as light as possible, yet capable of a

fast, smooth action. The lower joint requires aslight amount of more regulation than the upperjoint. The first ring key has two adjustmentpoints. When this is depressed to its properposition insofar as the seat of the ring againstthe finger hole is concerned the extended armmust touch the G# key. Its back foot must raisethe back lever of the upper joint at the bridgeassembly to a point whereby the Bb and the Aauxiliary key of the upper joint open to thatpoint which just touches the wire of the G ringto the G# lever. The G# assembly consists of aG# key and a G# lever which works in thesame way and manner as the G# on the saxo-phone, that is, the spring tension of the levermust be heavy enough to offset the light springtension of the G# key. There is a wire off the Gring that extends under the G# lever. In theevent that there is no automatic octave key onthe oboe, it is this point of contact that deter-mines the height of the G ring. The E auxiliarykey which is usually a number 91/2 mm padmust be in perfect regulation with the E corkpad. This is accomplished by means of anadjustment screw between the two. The D ringis a part of the E auxiliary key by virtue of thefact that it is affixed thereto by means of thesmall pin screws that fasten the two pieces tothe same steel rod. The height of this ring mustbe set so as to facilitate fingering of the instru-ment. The extended lever of the top trill key onthe lower joint must maintain a slight amount oflost motion between the bridge lever of theupper joint and itself for the same trill key toassure us that the height of the trill key wiltremain in a closed position until it is used.There is an extended arm off the E cork pad atits lower extremity which fits under the arm ofthe C key so that when the C key is closed, itmust be in perfect adjustment with the E corkpad of the stack section. The C key must alsobe in perfect adjustment with the D# key. Thisis set by means of an adjustment screw where-as the arm of the C key is regulated to the Ecork pad by bending the arm of the C key up ordown as the case may require. It is importantto remember that we must eliminate the use ofa pair of pliers at all times, if possible, so as toeliminate leaving any marks on the key. Thedanger point on this portion of the instrument isthe fact that the post of the C key and C# andD# assemblies have a tendency to loosen andturn, thereby causing an improper feel on these

keys. This post must be tight and firm inplace. (See Post Tightening—Clarinet Repair).There must be a slight amount of lost motionbetween the D# lever and D# key to assure usthat the D# key remains closed until applied.There is actually no point of adjustmentbetween the C and C# keys since the C keyuses its point of contact to the C# key for itsstopping action by means of a small prongextended from the arm of the C key under thecup-like spatula of the C# key. This point ofcontact determines the height of the C keyand by virtue of this fact, it determines theheight of the E key of the lower stack.Therefore, if. we want to raise the height ofthe E key of the lower stack, we must lowerthe small prong extension and this is donewith the aid of a pair of pliers. To close the Ekey, we raise the small prong. The next pointof adjustment is the B lever against the B key.The B lever is the center key in the triple keyassembly on the lower stack. There should beno lost motion between these two. The finaladjustment of the lower stack is performed byeliminating the lost motion between the D#lever for the left hand and the spring that isplaced on the body which holds the D# keyclosed. It should be a perfect point of contact.At the same time, the low Bb extension levershould be resting on the body with no lostmotion between the low Bb lever and its ex-tension lever. This is all performed through theadjustment of the two set screws on the Bbfingertip lever and the D# left hand lever. Theadjust-ment between the low B and Bb key isachieved by raising or lowering the arm of thelow Bb key on the bell as the case mayrequire so that the low B and Bb keys coversimultaneously.

There must further be no lost motionbetween the left hand B lever and Bb lever.This lost motion must be removed by raisingor lowering the fingertip spatula of the B keyas the case may require prior to any otherregulation point on these keys.

Plateau Key Assemblies Upper Joint

On the upper joint the basic differencebetween a plateau oboe and the ring job is thefact that we have closed keys in preference torings. Therefore, the ring which would ordinari-ly be the A key utilizes a cork pad in a plateau

key (See Cork Pads). This cork pad must bein perfect adjustment with the Bb key justabove it. This is achieved with the aid of anadjustment screw between the two. The Gring is also a closed pad and this must be inperfect adjustment with the A auxiliary key sothat it will automatically be in perfect adjust-ment with the Bb key as well. This is achievedby means of an adjustment screw betweenthe G key and the A auxiliary key. This would,in effect, eliminate the wire extension of the Gring that fits under the G# key. However, inorder not to eliminate this fingering, there is adouble key placed on a rod so that the upperextension of the upper key fits over a smallextended arm built off the A key. The lowerextension of the lower arm operates under theG# lever key so that the same effect isachieved. However, when the G# key isapplied, it uses for its stopping action the clos-ing point of contact of the A cork pad. The sideBb key is actually in contact with the G# keywithout lost motion, still allowing the G# key toremain closed until the side Bb lever isapplied at which time it must open the G# keywhich in turn will open the G# lever so that theA key will close to its tonehole. There is veryoften a point of contact on the upper registerkey assembly between the G key and B keycork pad on the upper joint. It is advisable tokeep these two in perfect adjustment. How-ever, a more advantageous arrangement onthe B key is to have it completely individual-ized so that it may be set as close to the tone-hole as possible since the C# on the oboe is anote that is extremely sharp and to bring thisnote into proper intonation, it is necessary tokeep the B key of the upper joint extremelylow, thereby flattening the note so that theinstrument will play in tune.

Lower JointThere is very little difference in the plateau

assembly of the lower joint. It requires aclosed key instead of an open ring on the firstring of the F key. At its point of coverage, itmust be kept in adjustment with the G# key ofthe upper joint through its extended arm asheretofore described. (See Regulation—RingJob.) The outer plateau key replaces the Dring and is a doughnut type cork. However, inview of the fact that the F or the fork F finger-ing of the oboe is extremely dead or flat. it is

necessary to add to this instrument anarrangement of keys known as the resonant Fkey assembly to add more brilliance to thefork F fingering. As a result, the D ring whichis now a closed key on the plateau oboe, musthave a ring on top of itself. This ring operatesthe E key of the lower stack so that the D key

and the E auxiliary pad are in perfect adjust-ment. This is usually accomplished by meansof an adjustment screw between the two. Theplateau oboe further gives an extended armbuilt off the assembly of the long lever keys sothat when the D# key is applied, the extendedarm contacts the D cork pad closing the onespecific key, using this point of contact for itsstop-ping action on the D# key. There is usu-ally a low C trill lever built in front and along-side of the D cork pad. This lever raises theback foot of the C key so that the C key canbe operated with that third finger.

Resonant F Key AssemblyThe resonant F key assembly consists of

two keys placed at the bottom of the stackkeys of the lower joint so that although the keyremains in a closed position, it opens with theapplication of the D key and must be put intoad-justment so that the E key cork pad willclose it. This is so set by means of an adjust-ment screw between the E key and the reso-nant F lever. This key, therefore, would openupon the fingering of the fork F and by givingan extra escape hatch to the sound waves, itclarifies the fork fingering F. However, it isindependent of the D key in this respect.When the D key is held in a closed position, itallows the resonant F, by virtue of its ownspring, to open and therefore, this key can beclosed by the point of contact with the E corkpad so that there is no difference in the finger-

ing of the instrument, insofar as the musicianis concerned, but the clarity of this note isthen achieved, automatically.

Resonant F assembly.

Explanation of SystemThe original bassoon, as we know, was

known as the French system. This instrumentis the equivalent of the Albert System in theclarinet, or the Military System in the oboe, orthe Meyers System in the flute and piccololines. In other words, it is outdated and veryrarely used. The present system used today isknown as the Heckel System. There are differ-ences in the fingering of these two types of

systems not unlike the difference in the sys-tems on other instruments. The HeckelSystem was brought out by the HeckelCompany for the purpose of facilitating finger-

ing and articulation for the musician. The bas-soon consists of a bocal or mouthpipe. Theupper joint is rubber lined because the type ofwood used on the average bassoon is suchthat it would deteriorate and rot from its con-tact with the saliva. Therefore, it is extremelyimportant to bear in mind this one particularfact. In the event that a new tenon has to bemade on the bassoon upper joint, it isextremely urgent to remember that while thistenon is replaced, the rubber lining must alsobe replaced and it is this rubber lining whichmust have the perfect rate of taper for thecontinuance and replacement of the propersize bore. The spring tension of many of thekeys must be extremely heavy due to the factthat the keys are so big. To maintain thisextremely heavy spring tension, we must keepthe posts in a firm position and this is a pointto look out for due to the fact that the wood ismuch softer than the grenadilla wood used onother instruments. As a result, these posts

CHAPTER 9

BASSOON REPAIR

The Heckel System Bassoon

Disassembled bassoon.

have a tendency to turn completely in thebody. This in turn upsets the spring tension.To alleviate the tension from the threads of theposts, we must either use lock screws in theposts wherever there is spring tension or asmart trick would be to put a small screw inthe body, approximately 1/8 of an inch fromthe posts so that the spring itself would bepressing against this small screw, applying itstension at that point, thereby alleviating anypressure against the threads of the posts. Thelower joint of the bassoon runs parallel to theupper joint. The bell is affixed to the lowerjoint. Both of these joints are placed in thedouble joint known as the boot joint. This bootjoint receives its name from its bottom boot

which consists of a brass tubing silver sol-dered to a main plate which is fastened to theboot joint at its bottom to act as a connectingtube between the joints. This piece of brasstubing uses gasket cork to seal the leakage atthat point. It is removable for the purpose ofcleaning the boot joint connecting it. The jointcan be either corked or threaded. By thread-ed, we mean wrapped with cotton thread toact as a cork. Many people prefer the thread-ed type joint since they feel that the thread atthis point acts as a reinforcement on the maletenon. In view of the fact that the bassoonwood is much weaker than the grenadillawood as used on other instruments, this is

quite understandable. The ring on the bootjoint over the two female sockets is held inplace with shellac, although it must be a firmfit to eliminate the possibility of cracking thisjoint. It is advisable to have smooth fitting jointcorks but they should not be too tight sincetight joint corks could result in breaking of thefemale tenons. The upper joint and the lowerjoint are held together by means of a bodylock. This instrument is actually the bass in-strument of the double reed family. The finishof this body can either be varnish or lacqueras determined by the factory that manufac-tured the instrument. (See Body Refinishing.)

Body PinsBody pins on the bassoon are utilized

strictly on the boot joint. They are used for thepurpose of allowing a key from one side of theboot to operate a key on the opposite side.These pins run through the solid wall on theboot joint and do not intercept the bore. Theycan be either wood, metal, glass or plastic.The size of the pin is determined by the regu-lation points of the various keys for which theyare operated. They must be smooth workingand loose fitting in their particular holes. Thereare three or four of these pins on the averagebassoon, depending upon the model.

Threaded JointsThread is sometimes applied to the male

tenons to take the place of joint corks. Thisthread must be carefully wound so that it doesnot overlap its seat at the far end and the jointis built up to the proper size with the threadfor the perfect fit of the male tenon into itsfemale socket. When sufficient thread iswound on these parts, to accomplish this end,this thread must be waxed so as to hold itselfin position. Threaded joints do have a tenden-cy to strengthen the male tenons. As a matterof fact, they are recommended by most facto-ries. They are not as neat in appearance ascork. However, they do the job sufficientlywell. They can be wound very simply on thelathe with the body turning very slowly.

Bocal RepairThe bocal of the bassoon is usually dam-

aged by the musician when placing it intoposition without grease. Since this is a longthin piece of tapered German silver tubing and

Bootjoint

extends quite a distance, its point of leverageis extreme. Therefore, it can bend usually atits first turn which is its weakest point. Inbending this back it may crack. The properrepair of this bocal is to remove the dent, file acrevice in the cracked portion and run silversolder in this crevice. If a bocal should crack,it is usually advisable after repairing the sameto place a brace on the under side in thesame way and manner as the type brace usedon a saxophone neck. This will strengthen thebocal and eliminate, to a great degree, thepossibility of future damage. A joint cork is puton the bocal in the same way and manner asthe neck cork on a soprano saxophone. Wemust be careful to remember that the whisperkey hole on the bocal must be kept free andclear at all times.

Cork SizesThe sizes of cork used on the keys of the

average bassoon follow the same line of conti-nuity or set of rules as heretofore described insaxophone repairing. (See SaxophoneRepairing—Key Corking.) In the event that thekey utilizes a stopping action whereby it con-tacts the body, the cork size on the averagekey would be 1/16 of an inch. Sliding ac-tionbetween keys requires a 1/64” cork. However,the spatulas that contact the body pin requiresa 1/32” cork at the point of contact. There aresome keys such as those on the upper jointwhich actually use 3/32” cork to allow for theproper opening of the key, still maintaining theproper height of the spatula when the key is ina closed position. As on the flute, some corksare so heavy, since there is no post in thebody to act as a stop for them, that it is neces-sary to make these corks from bottle corks.The corks are applied in the same way and

manner as on clarinet keys since the bassoonkeys are made of German silver. There aresome cork pads on the bassoon on the upperjoint in those particular places when the toppads hit on metal tubes in the upper joint. Inview of the fact that the kid pad in these par-ticular keys would allow far too deep animpression in the seating of the pad, therebycausing the pad to contact the body, possiblycausing leakage at this point, it necessitates acork pad with a very light impression. On thelong lever keys on the lower joint it is advis-able to cork-line the guide posts for theextended lever to the bell key to allow for theelimination of noises that may occur betweenthe guide posts and the key, due to side playbetween the key and the guide posts.

Padding HintsThe application of the bassoon pad to the

bassoon key is repetitions of saxo-phone work(See Saxophone Padding— Regular Pads)with this exception: Bassoon pads utilize thesame material in the make-up as saxophonepads except for the fact that it is unwise touse any backing of paper or cardboard on thebassoon pad. We must allow the shellac to hitthe felt on bassoon pads so that through theapplication of the shellac to the felt, we cansoften the pad completely through the heatingprocess while seating the pad since the depthof the impression in a soft pad is a virtualnecessity in making bassoons cover theirrespective toneholes. If pads that have a card-board or paper back are used in the repair ofbassoons, it is wise to cut away that piece ofcardboard that is exposed at the back of thepad. It is certainly not wise to use rivetedpads. There should be no rivet. However, onsome of the pads, we can allow for a stitch tohold the skin to the felt so as not to allow it tobecome loose or droopy. Some bassoon keycups are built in the same way and manner assaxophone key cups. However, the older bas-soons work with case cups which allow noactual depth to same. On this particular type,it is advisable to flatten the pad so that it isextremely thin and since the bottom of the keycup is a complete curvature, it is necessary toactually simply float the pad. As on all otherinstruments, the perfect coverage of the pad isan absolute necessity on the boot joint. Wehave two toneholes which are segmented.

Bocal and whisper or piano key.

That is to say that it has two toneholes ratherthan one, over which a circular pad must beseated so that the impression in the padallows for a perfect coverage over both theholes. This occurs when the holes go intoopposite tubes in the boot joint. To allow forperfect coverage on this type of pad, anextremely soft pad must be used. The upperjoint of the bassoon utilizes pads from yourbrown clarinet pads or thinner than saxophonepads.

On the upper joint, tremendously deepimpressions are to be completely avoided. Onthe lower joint, we have two open keys whichdemand perfect coverage. A slightly deeperimpression is advisable on the closed keys.This is easily obtained due to the fact that thespring tension on the closed keys of the bas-soon is quite heavy by comparison to anyother instrument. The boot joint pads for the.most part follow the same rules insofar as thedepth of the impression is concerned.However, it must be understood that when wespeak of a deep impression, we must still bearin mind that the pad must cover perfectlybefore the impression is applied. The pads areseated in the same way and manner as saxo-phone pads. That is, the pad slick is used tomove the pad to a point of perfect coveragewhen the key has been heated to soften theshellac that acts as the glue for the pad. It isextremely advisable in the assembly of thelower joint and the boot joint to use a leaklight which will allow you to see rather thanguess at the perfect coverage of the pad. Inview of the fact that the upper joint toneholes -are so small on the few pads that are utilizedon same, the use of a leak light is actuallyunnecessary. Furthermore, the inspection lightthat will have to be used on the upper joint ofthe bassoon will have to be extremely small tofit the bore of the instrument.

Rubber Lining—Upper JointThe upper joint of the bassoon, to elimi-

nate the possibility of deterioration or rot ofthe bore of the wood due to contact with thesaliva, is lined with hard rubber. This rubberlining maintains a tapered bore of the instru-ment and this must not be disturbed in anymanner, shape or form. This rubber lining isheld fast in the center of the instrument bymeans of a waterproof glue. In the event of

tenon replacement of this section of the instru-ment, we must bear in mind the fact that therubber lining riiust be replaced and thereplacement portion must continue the exact-ness of the bore of the instrument to maintainthe proper intonation. Besides having a rubberlining on the upper joint, the average bassoonmaintains a tenon cap on the male tenon ofthe upper joint. This section is mandatory toprevent chipp’ing of this fragile part. Theupper joint and lower joint both fit into dual

receptacles at the top of the boot joint which isusually metal lined. When the instrument isplaced together, there is a perfect rate of tapercontinuing from the tip of the bocal throughthe entire instrument. We must bear in mindthat the bassoon is the bass instrument of thedouble reed family and therefore follows alongthe same pattern as all other double reedinstruments.

Body RefinishingUnlike other wood instruments such as

those made of grenadilla, the bassoon has acolor finish. The usual color of the averagebassoon is cherry mahogany. We cannotmerely polish the finish of the average bas-soon and expect to have it look like new aswe do on the average oboe or English horn.Very often it becomes necessary to removenicks, scratches, etc., and to replace the actu-al gloss finish of this instrument. To do thisrequires a complete refinishing of the joints.To refinish the body of a bassoon entails theremoval firstly of all of the posts and metalparts so that only the wood remains. The oldfinish can be removed with any normal paint

Spraying finish on upper joint of bassoon.

remover since the average finish of the bas-soon is a varnish finish over the instrumentafter it has been properly stained. When wehave removed the finish down to the barewood, all traces of the paint remover must beremoved with benzine. When this is done, thefinal dressing of the wood prior to stainingmust be accomplished. This is done by dress-ing out the scratches through light filing andthen sanding, breaking down to the finestsandpaper that can be purchased, after which,the instrument is rubbed completely smoothwith very fine steel wool. In all of the prepara-tions, we must be extremely careful to elimi-nate, contact of any of these abrasivesagainst any of the toneholes. When the bodyis completely smooth, it must then be stained,as we would stain any piece of furniture. Asmart stunt is to purchase a wood sealer, thinthis wood sealer and mix the stain in it.Spraying of the instrument rather than paintingit allows for a much smoother job. After theoriginal coat is sprayed, this type of prepara-tion will not only stain the body to its propercolor, but will seal the wood so that it stopsbreathing. When this finish has completelydried, it must be rubbed completely smooth.After the instrument is completely stained, acoat of thin shellac must be applied to act asa sealer so as to close the pores of the wood.In this fashion, any further finish coat that isplaced there on would not seep into the bodybut rather would remain on the surface givingus a glass smooth finish. After the sealing ofthe wood has been accomplished, it must berubbed smooth and the first coat of varnishapplied thereto. This coat must be thinned outto a watery state so that it can spread evenlyand thinly on the instrument.When this coat is completely dry, it must becompletely rubbed down so, it is absolutelysmooth and a second coat of varnish isapplied in the same manner. When this sec-ond coat is dry, a third coat is applied in thesame way and manner. The number of coatsof varnish depends entirely upon the quality ofthe finish desired. After the final coat of var-nish is applied, the instrument must be rubbeddown and then waxed as a piece of furnitureso that it maintains a beautiful finish. Prior tothe application of the last coat or finish coat ofvarnish to the instrument, all of the previouscoats must be removed from the toneholes,

either on their seats or the bore so that thewood shows directly forth. It is wise to leavewhatever varnish has gone into the threadedholes since they will tend to act as a tighten-ing agent when the posts are replaced. Whenthe tonehoIes are completely clean withoutany disturbance to the finish of the body, thefinal coat of varnish, completely thinned out, isapplied so that an extremely thin coat of var-nish will remain on the toneholes thereby pre-serving the wood at these particular points.Before reinserting the posts and metallic partsto the different portions of the bassoon, it iswise to polish them. It is smart, for the pur-pose of handling, to screw these posts in theirproper order into a block of wood. In this man-ner, all of the posts can easily be polished atthe same time after which they can be re-placed in the bassoon joints.

If lacquer is utilized as a desired finish onthe bassoon, the stain must be applied to thepart, then shellacked with a very thin coat ofshellac. In any event, regardless of whetherwe use varnish or lacquer, the one troublespot to watch out for is settling dust on thewet finish. Especially, if lacquer is used, sinceit is a pretty rough deal to rub the dust out oflacquer. However, should this happen to var-nish, it can he rubbed down with any normalrubbing compound and then waxed.

Bassoon BootThe only important feature on the boot is

the application of the cork which acts as agasket at the base of the boot so as to sealany possible leakage between the boot andthe body. It is wise to use gasket cork approxi-mately 1/16” thick for this purpose. To applythe cork, hold the bassoon boot in a pair ofpliers without damaging it over the flame untilit is hot enough to receive the stick shellac.Apply the shellac so that every portion of theplate of the boot is covered with a thin film ofshellac. Press the boot plate firmly against thegasket cork which should be resting on anabsolutely level surface so that every portionof the plate is completely sealed to the gasketcork. This should be held in this position untilthe shellac is hard. Trim the cork around theouter plate of the boot in the same way andmanner as if we were cutting the cork on oneof the kays. After this is accomplished, theholes in the boot are cut away so as not to

change the size of the bore at the boot. Asmall rat-tail file will help in cutting this corkout. At the same time, two cutous must bemade for the screw studs which are on thebottom of the boot joint. Once again, the rat-tail file will do this job. On many bassoonjoints, there are two small guide pins whichcause the boot to fall in perfect alignment withthe bore to the body. These can be merelypushed through by placing the boot against itsplate and pressing firmly. Putting a gasketcork on the boot is insufficient to seal the leak-age completely and it is wise to use eithergrease or melted wax to act as a sealerbetween the plaet of the boot and the bottomof the boot joint. The lock screws that hold theboot in place should be firmly affixed thereto.Prior to the application of this cork, we mustremember to clean the boot joint completely.The bottom cap that fits over the boot joint is

merely a hand-pressed fit.

Bell RingsBell rings on the bassoon are unlike the

bell ring on any other instrument due to thefact that they utilize the rings strictly for designwhereby the bell rings are made of either cel-luloid, bone plastic, or ivory. The bell rings areapplied by merely gluing them in place anddressing the edges of same so that it is a per-fect blend to the bell. While these bell ringsserve no purpose other than to add beauty tothe instrument, we must remember that thetenon cap or ring on the bell of the instrumentmust serve the purpose of holding the wood

firm so that the bell does not split when placedon to the lower joint male extension. Veryoften the ivory type ring will have a tendencyto turn yellowish. We cannot turn this finishback to a white color. However, a clean buffingwheel with any white line polish can bring agorgeous luster to the ring itself.

Whisper Key AssemblyThe whisper key is an extremely long key

allowing for a small pad to cover a small holeon the bocal. This key is applied to cover this hole from two different points. It is used inconjunction with the thumb of the left hand onthe small thumb lever of the whisper key. Thisthumb lever has a light spring tension on it tohold it in its normal position which is the fingertip lever raised off the body. Its extended armfits under the arm of the whisper key so thatwhen the finger tip lever is applied, there issliding action between the whisper key whosespring holds the whisper key in an open posi-tion. This sliding action causes the whisperkey to close. At this point, there is no point ofregulation involved since the key merelymoves until it is stopped by the toneholewhich it must cover. The back thumb pad ofthe right hand has an extended foot whichextends under a lever extension for the whis-per key on the upper joint. This lever exten-sion has a second arm which fits under thewhisper key so that when the back thumb keyfor the right hand is applied, it raises theextension lever so that it, in turn, raises theextended arm of the whisper key there-byclosing the whisper key. In view of the factthat the position of the joint could slightly vary,there is a flat spring placed on the extendedarm of the whisper key. This in turn rests uponthe extension lever of the whisper key so thatalthough there is a perfect point of regulationbetween the back thumb key for the righthand and the pad of the whisper key, exact-ness is not necessary. The flat spring wouldtake up any variance at this point of regulationor adjustment. There is no spring tension onthe extension lever of the whisper key sincethis extension lever has its upper arm fittedbetween the left hand whisper key and thewhisper key itself. It utilizes the spring tensionof both these keys for its proper movement.

Assembly

Whisper or piano key assembly

The upper joint of the bassoon has a verysimplified assembly, since all of the keys areindividual side keys operated on flat springsso that they merely have to cover the tone-hole. On some models (the better instru-ments) there is a finger ring instead of fingerholes at the front side of the upper joint. Thisfinger ring is held normally in a closed positionby the spring tension of a fork lever keywhich is underneath the thumb key arrange-ment. Two keys operate against this fork leverkey. The point of adjustment is to allow for asmall hairline of lost motion between this forklever and the two keys that rest upon its spat-ulas. When these keys are pressed, the springtension is released from this fork lever key.This, in turn, releases a padded key on theop-posite side of the instrument whose springtension is sufficient to overcome the extremelylight spring tension of the finger ring so thatthe finger ring can then act as the operatinglever for this aforementioned padded key.Actually, there is no adjustment point otherthan the spring regulation involved there-in sothat the spring tension on the ring must beextremely light. The spring tension on thepadded key operated with it must be heavyenough to operate the ring key and the forklever must be sufficiently heavy enough toovercome both springs. If a whisper key is onthe instrument, although its finger tip lever canbe operated with the thumb of the left hand, ithas no point of regulation or adjustment andthe whisper key and whisper key extensionlever are individually operated with no point ofadjustment or spring regulation.

Assembly—Lower JointThe lower joint of the bassoon has three

points of regulation or adjustment. The basickey involved therein is also operated by thethumb of the left hand. This basic key is oper-ated on a flat spring to hold the key in anopen position. There is a spring extensionfrom a lever slightly below this key so that thespring extension extends under the spatula ofthis basic key. This spring extension is utilizedso that perfect regulation between the keyoperated by this lever and the basic key is notnecessarily a necessity since this springextension will give slightly to allow for perfectcoverage between the two particular keys.There are two extremely long levers placed on

telescopic hinges so that one extension of thelever fits over the basic key. This lever exten-sion operates an open key at the oppositeside of the lower joint near the bell fitting. Thisis a point of regulation between this key andthe basic key. This is brought into adjustmentby raising or lowering the spatula of the leverinvolved. The other long lever is merely uti-lized for the purpose of operating the bell key.

The Boot JointIn assemblying the boot joint of a bassoon,

we must remember that the boot is a twosided affair so that we must actually assembleone side at a time. Basically speaking, there isno point of regulation between any of the keyson the bassoon boot joint due to the fact thatthe keys all work in the same fashion as theC# and C keys of the clarinet whereby onekey moves as far as the next key will let it.Therefore, the only real point of adjustment onthe bassoon is the elimination of lost motionas close as possible and the adjustment of thespring tension of the various keys so as toallow them to operate one another. The bodypins are inserted in their proper places afterone side of the boot joint is assembled, afterwhich the opposite side of the boot joint canbe assembled bearing in mind the fact thatone of the most important things in theassembly of the bassoon is the lubricationbetween the keys at sliding action points toallow for a smooth feel in the operation ofthese keys.

Mounting Heads, Batter and Snare

Mounting of drum heads is an art that isvery rarely used any more today in view of thefact that it is too easy to obtain already mount-ed heads in the factory. However, if it is nec-essary to mount your own head, it should bedone in the following manner: For both thebatter and snare heads, there is a top andbottom to each head. The smooth part of thehead is the top surface; the rougher part, thebottom. The head must be soaked to a pointwhereby its raw-hide skin is soft enough so asto have complete pliability. It should besoaked in water at room temperature. Do notuse hot water or it will deteriorate the head.When the head is removed from the water, itis placed with its smooth surface down on aflat surface such as a piece of glass or somesimilar object. The hoop is then placed on topof the head. (For snare heads, the snare cut-out should be facing down). We should allowourselves approximately one inch extra headpast the edge of the wood hoop. Tucking ofthe head is performed by bringing the outeredge of the head over the hoop and under thehoop again so that the head would lock itselfagainst the hoop. We do this to one corner,then the exact same thing on the oppositeside of the hoop. Now take the head and turnit so that we can perform the same operationhalfway between the two places that we havealready worked on and finally, the same thingis done on the opposite end so that four pointsof the head are tucked into position. Now, wemust work between each point. In tucking thehead, we must be careful not to allow thehead to crease over itself since this can bethe cause for splits in the rawhide as it tight-ens. We may have to tuck the portion betweenthese four points at approximately three pointsprior to completing the section involved. Airbubbles should be removed by pressing theedges of the drum tucker against the top ofthe air bubble and pressing it down lightly.Then wet the finger and run the finger alongthe inside of the hoop so as to smooth out theinner sections Qf the head against the hoop.This procedure is continually repeated until

the entire head is tucked securely around thehoop. Upon completion of this procedure, theouter edge of the head against the hoop issmoothed out with the finger and the fingershould be kept wet while so doing. The headshould never be allowed to tighten or dryunless it is placed on a shell so that the hoopcan be kept in proper position. The raw-hidetightens vigorously when drying. As a result, ifthe head was left off the shell, it would have atendency to completely warp the entire hoopso that it would be pretty rough to be able toput it on a shell. If we have a mounted headthat has warped out of position, it is wise towet the entire head, place it on a shell andforce it into position holding it in place bymeans of a counter hoop. Upon drying, it willassume its proper position. When the head ismounted, it should be dried as much as possi-ble by lightly wiping it with a piece of towelling.If any dirt appears on the head, it is easilyremoved by wetting any piece of cloth andwiping the head off. In the case of the snarehead, the head must be pressed down overthe beveled edges that are the cut-outs for thesnare of the drum. This eliminates the possi-bility of the snare’s tearing the head. In thecase of heavier heads, such as bass drumheads, we must be careful not to tuck this tootight since a heavy piece of rawhide will tight-en that much stronger and if the head istucked too tightly, it might split upon drying.This is exceptionally true of tympani heads.These must be tucked extremely loose sincethey tighten so much.

Silk HeadsThere have been heads put forth in the

market known as all-purpose heads. Theseheads were made of silk and worked profi-ciently with the exception of the fact that adrummer’s wire brushes will get caught inthem and tear them. As a result, they do notlast very long. Replacement of these headsmeant replacing heads which were alreadymounted at the factory.

Plastic HeadsPlastic heads are the newest thing on the

CHAPTER 10

DRUM REPAIR

market. They have, beyond any doubt, proventhemselves to be excellent for drummerssince they will stand up in any kind of weather,regardless of humidity and they will take asmuch of a beating if not more than any othertype of head. These heads are purchased inan already mounted condition.

Lug WorkSnare drum lugs consist of the lug housing

which is mounted to the drum by means oftwo screws with washers between the screwand the shell of the drum. These, screws areusually a 6/32 thread. They merely hold thelug housing tight to the shell. The lug itselfconsists of a screw with a square head; thelug arm which comprises the counter hoophook and the washer between the two. It iseasily changeable due to the fact that they aresupplied by the factory at an extremely cheapcost. The thread size of these lug screws isusually a 12 x 28 and in some models a 12 x24 is utilized.

Snare StrainersThe snare strainer consists of an arm that

pulls that portion that holds the end of thesnare so that the bottom portion works whichon a cam shaft thereby allow for the tighteningof the snare strainers. The opposite end of thesnare is held into position by having a bartightened against the ends of the snare sothat they are held secure whereas the strainersection can be used by means of a screw totighten the snares to such a point that whenthe cam shaft is employed, it tightens it a littlemore against the head giving the snare effect.The only repair that could ever be performedon a snare strainer is possible tightening ofthe riveting of the extended arm of the camshaft. This is done by lightly tapping it with ahammer on the riveted end to a point where-by it is firm, yet movable in its cam. The oldtype gut, or silk on snare strainers must beindividually set into position using six strandsof the snare doubled in such a way as to actlike twelve pieces. However, gut or silk wound,they must be held in an equally firm positionthroughout. This is achieved by loosening thescrews on the opposite side of the drum fromthe snare strainer and drawing six strandsfirm. Tighten the screw on that particular side,then draw the other six strands equally firm

and tighten the second screw. This is onlydone with the snare strainer in its completelyrelaxed position with its lead screw engagedto a point whereby the screw shows itself onthe opposite edge of the stud.

Snappi SnaresSnappi snares eliminate the use of gut snareor silk wound by virtue of the fact that they aremetal snares from metal plate to metal platewith a piece of cord set in its two ends extend-ing down to each side. It is locked at the rearposition of the drum and is simple to lock inplace since instead of having twelve strandsthrough the back edge, it merely has two endsof the cord easily held in position one againsteach screw. The opposite side is merely tightin position at the snare strainer’s edge.

The same previous rule for proper set-ting prevails. However, we must assure our-selves that the snappi snares are centered onsnare heads.

Mounting Banjo HeadsTo mount the banjo head, it is necessary to

remove the back plate resonator which is usu-ally done by means of two clips. Remove allstrings and bridge and remove the neck. Toremove the neck, we must loosen the tail’sscrew which is actually a locking point for theneck. To tighten the neck firmly in place, atapered hook is forced into position with across bar holding it in place. We must removethis cross bar and this tapered screw to finallyremove the neck from the head side of thebanjo. All of the banjo lugs have to beremoved completely so that the counter hoopcomes away from the banjo itself. The banjohead is then removed from the banjo and thehead or what is left of the old one must be cutaway. The banjo head hoop is usually asquare piece of brass rod. This is sometimeswound with material to eliminate corrosion. Itfurther holds a banjo hoop together since thisis very rarely one solid piece. We advise silversoldering of this hoop prior to reinsertion. Tomount a banjo head, we must wet the headand it makes no difference if there is excesshead. It is then placed in its wet condition inposition over that section of the banjo onwhich it must be mounted. The banjo headhoop is then placed around the shell of thebanjo and the head pulled so that there are no

creases involved. The counter hoop is thenplaced in position on top of the banjo hoopand the head must come around the headhoop under the counter hoop. It is sometimeswise to pull the head through firmly with theaid of a small pair of pliers. When the head ispulled through at one point, a banjo lug is thenengaged. When this is engaged at this point, itis advisable to continue working in the samemanner around the head in a circular motion.As one quarter of the banjo has its headpulled through, a second lug is put in position.This lug is merely to hold the counter hoopfrom shifting. This procedure is continued untilthe entire head is pulled between the counterhoop and the head hoop at which point, it isthen pulled firm so that there can be no creas-es involved anywhere. When four lugs are onthe banjo counter hoop, we reinsert or replacethe balance of the lugs. At this point, the lugsare tightened slightly so as to allow the shapeof the banjo head to take place. In tighteninglugs, it is wise to remember to tighten everyfourth one with the key and tighten two inbetween, by hand, so that the head will tight-en in line. It is imperative to set the banjohead to a point whereby the cut-out for theneck piece is in its proper position and isbrought down almost to its perfect positionwhile the head is wet so that there is very littletightening left to take place to bring it into per-fect position for the insertion of the neck sincethe finger board of the neck must fit over thatcut-out and it must have enough clearance todo same. At this point, there is an excessamount of head that must be cut away. A sin-gle edge razor blade is the easiest tool towork with. In performing this job, use the edgeof the razor blade with the side of the razorblade resting against the head. Cut throughthe excess portion of the head (which will cuteasily while it is wet) and draw the razor bladeslowly around the inside of the counter hoopcutting the excess of the head while pullingthe excess with the opposite hand. This allowsthe head to stay taut while it is being cutwhich will allow it to cut itself very easily.When the entire piece is cut away, the banjohead will be completed. The excess moistureshould be dried off with a piece of towellingand any spots that may be visible can easilybe wiped away with a wet cloth. In this posi-tion, the head must be left to dry for at least

one day after which the banjo head can beperfectly set and the entire banjo remounted.Unlike drum heads, where any excess amountof calf skin must be cut away prior to mount-ing, the banjo head is trimmed after mountingbut it must be trimmed while in its wet condi-tion.

Sound Post SettingThe sound post of a violin consists of a

piece of one quarter inch wood doweling. Thissound post must be set behind the bridgeslightly to the left of the E string. It is set inposition by means of a sound post setter. Thesound post setting tool has a knife edge onone side which is actually forced into thesound post so that the sound post can be heldby it and inserted through the F hole to a pointwhereby it can be turned into positionbetween the top and back of the violin. If, aftersetting the sound post, we find that there is aninsufficient amount of resonance on anystring, the sound post must be moved slightlytoward that string to give better quality ofsound. There is another type of sound postsetter which is the plier type and is used tohold the sound post in its jaw. In both cases,the opposite edge of the sound post setterconsists of circular cutouts which allow us topush the sound post into its proper position.The sound post should be held firm andupright in its position. Quite often, a soundpost is found to be too short which may occurdue to the variance of temperature and if itfalls down and cannot be held firmly in posi-tion, it must be replaced and if a new soundpost is cut, it should be cut slightly larger soas to be able to hold it since the purpose ofthe sound post is two-fold. Firstly, its man pur-pose is for the conductivity of sound so as togive proper quality of tone. Secondly; it actsas a reinforcement under the bridge so thatwhen the strings are tightened, it won’t crushthe top of the violin. You must bear this inmind when fitting the sound post. If the soundpost is too small, we are putting a tremendousstrain against the top of the violin.

GluingThere is one type of glue to use on a violin

and that is fish glue. This is purchased ineither beaded form or in sheet form. It mustbe used with water as its lossening agent.This must be heated to achieve a liquid stage.When this glue is applied, any excess is easilywashed away with a wet cloth wet with warmwater. One of the major reasons for using this

type of glue is the fact that this instrument canbe taken apart easily, if so desired. A hot knifeblade will easily cut any section that has beenglued; for instance, if we wish to remove thetop or the back of the violin, we merely haveto draw the heated knife blade through theglued section while the knife is warm. It willeasily cut through this glue like a hot knifethrough butter. Any other glue might hold sofirmly so as not to allow us to remove certainparts for the repair of the instrument.

Crack RepairingCracks can be repaired in one of three

fashions. The first method is to merely forcesome glue into the crack making certain thatthe crack is clean prior to forcing the glue intoposition. A body clamp is then placed there onand tightened so that the crack is pulledtogether. The excess glue is then removedwith a cloth wet with warm water. This is notthe strongest method of repair but it is thesimplest. The second method is to remove theback or top, whichever the case may require.Place glue in the crack section, apply thebody clamp and to add sufficient strength tothe repair, small cross sections should beplaced across the crack every quarter of aninch starting above the crack to a point belowthe crack. This should be made of very thinwood and merely act as braces. To preventthe crack from reopening when these are puton, they should be trimmed after drying to apoint whereby they are particularly smoothedout with no sharp edges left over. The top orback is then replaced and held in place aftergluing with small clamps. The third method isutilized when the crack is so severed that it isalmost impossible to pull this crack together.This calls for the insertion of a piece of woodto take up the space caused by the crack.This is known as “spleening a Dutchman.”This entails cutting a section of wood of thesame material as the violin so that the grain isrunning in the same direction barely taperingthe edge of each so that it can be forced intoposition in the crack itself. Glue the part inplace so that it is held securely and after theinstrument is fully dried, any excess is

CHAPTER 11

VIOLIN REPAIR

removed, and the body dressed so that theadges of this joint look like a portion of thegrain and finally that portion of the instrumentrefinished.

End Nut FittingThe end nut is that small ebony part at

the top of the neck which elevates the stringslightly above the finger hoard. When the endnut is glued in place, it should be slightly highand long enough to allow for dressing on eachend at the top. After it is secured in place andthe glue dried, it is then dressed into position.Firstly, allow for the proper height over the fin-ger board and the string slots that are cut intothe same, are equally spaced to allow for theproper position of the string. The two ends aredressed to match the neck of the violin andthe hack end of the end nut must be roundedslightly so as not to allow for a sharp edgeagainst the string. The tail piece is held inposition against the bottom peg of the violin(which is held securely in place by virtue of itsown fit), by means of a cat gut string. This isusually a red piece of cat gut the thickness ofa cello string. The insertion of this piece of gutin the tail piece is performed in the followingmanner: The tail piece gut is measured so thatthe tail piece will rest comfortably and secure-ly on top of the instrument. Once it is meas-ured to the proper size, the tail piece gut isinserted in the bottom of the tail piece so thatthe loop end extends past the back of the tailpiece. The two ends that come through theunderside of the tail piece must be heldsecurely in place in the following manner:First, one edge of this gut must be heatedslightly over the flame. This will cause the gutto uncurl itself and spread into a firm positionat its tip. Then wind some cotton threadaround this gut before the curled edge. A suf-ficient amount of thread is used to prevent thetail piece gut from being pulled through the tailpiece.

Repeat the same procedure on the oppo-site end. A drop of resin can then be appliedto the two ends after the loop is pulled secure-ly. This holds the tail piece gut tight so that itcan be replaced on the violin with the loopend fitting around the bottom peg.

Bridge FittingThe violin bridge must first be fitted to fit the

body or contour of the top of the violin. This isdone in the following manner: The two legsare shaped to fit the body so that there is suf-ficient amount of support on each leg.However, final dressing of the bridge to thebody is easily achieved by placing a piece ofsand paper over the top of the body and sub-sequently drawing the bridge across the sandpaper so that the body itself acts as a formfor the feet of the bridge. We must be carefulnot to cut the feet too low or they will losetheir support or strength. Once the feet are cutto size so that they rest completely and thor-oughly on the top of the body between the Fholes, the top of the bridge must be cut to theproper height so that the string will not be toohigh above the finger board. After this istrimmed to the proper height by use of a file, itis wise to dress the side edges of the bridgeso that the sharp edges disappear and leavea rounded appearance assuring ourselves thatthe part of the bridge which accepts the Estring is slightly thinner than that portion of thebridge which accepts the G or D strings. Thereason for this is the fact that both the G andD strings are heavy whereas the E string is athin piece of steel. The usual bridge has anebony insert. The other strings are equallyspaced across the bridge so that the depth ofthe cut is the thing to take into considerationprior to final fitting of the bridge. When thestring is set, the height of the string is easilydetermined by its cut-out, allowing for a suffi-cient amount of height so that it can be fing-ered by the violinist. When the cut-out is suchthat the string is in its proper position, finaldressing on the top of the bridge can theneasily be achieved.

Peg FittingThe pegs of the violin must be such that

they are firmly fitted in the holes so that asmall extension remains on its far side. Thesepegs are either dressed into position or thehole is fitted to the peg. The hole is very rarelyworked on unless it is slightly damaged, atwhich time a tapered reamer is used toredress the same and the peg fitted so that itis firm in its own receptacle. The peg must befitted prior to having its string hole drilled sincea peg might have to be cut at its tip allow forthe proper appearance after which the hole inthe peg is marked and drilled. Very often a

slipping peg is easily cured by application ofchalk to the peg which will have a tendency toroughen the inside of the hole.

Bow RehairingBefore a bow can be rehaired the old hair

must be removed. It is done in the followingmanner: Secure the bow firmly to the bench ineither a small clamp or vise. For the afore-mentioned purpose, we recommend the“Monk rehairing device.” Remove the frogfrom end of the bow. Bring the frog backwardsso as to allow the small block of wood in thebow tip to be visible. Remove this small pieceof wood with a sharp tool.

After the hair has been removed in thehead or tip of the bow, it must be removedfrom the frog. To remove the hair from the frogthe following procedure is used: Remove theslide ferrule with a knife or small scraper. Thisis sometimes more easily accomplished byremoving the small wood wedge placedbetween the width of the hair and the frog.When the wood wedge and the ferrule havebeen removed, remove the pearl slide. Bendthe hair backwards and remove the smallblock of wood which holds the hair in the frog.Both the holes in the frog and the tips shouldbe throughly cleaned before attempting toreplace the hair.

It is wise to place the new hair in the tipfirst. To do this we must soften the resin endof the new hank of hair. This is done by hold-ing the end near a flame. DO NOT MELT theresin. Place it in the hole in the bow tip. Use awarm tool to press it as deep in the hole aspossible. Replace a small block of wood in thehole so that it holds the hair securely. Spreadthe hair evenly as the wood block is replaced.Soften the hair by soaking it in water for abouta minute. This eliminates the chances of thehair breaking while it is being combed out.Comb the hair with a fine comb from the tipthat is already fastened in the head, with evenstrokes. This will eliminate crossing of the hair.Place the frog in a forward position in the slotin the bow. Cut the hair so that it is 1/2” longerthan the hole in the frog. Tie the hair end witha fine cotton thread. Apply melted resin to thetip. Place the hair through the Jerrule. Softenthe resin and replace the hair end in the holein the frog. Replace the small wood block aspreviously described. Replace slide and fer-

rule. Comb the hair once again with a wetcomb, from the tip to the frog. Spread the hairevenly and replace the small wood wedge.Hold the thumb and index finger of the lefthand on the hair near the frog. The fingers ofthe right hand are held in the same positionnear the tip. Draw the fingers lightly together.The long hairs will show at the center. Thesecan be shrunk into the proper position by run-ning the bow lightly and quickly through asmall flame. Broken hairs should be clippedoff at the ends. Apply powdered resin to thebow hair.

Arm—The extension of a key that engagesanother key in its operation.Barrel—

Spring—Housing for spring on valveinstruments.Valve—Upper section of outer valve casing,usually soft soldered to valve casing.Clarinet—Small top joint of instrument withtwo female sockets to receive the mouthpieceand the upper joint. Used for tuning the instru-ment.Bead—Small ring cut in tubing to add designto tubing end.Bell Rim—End of the bell of brass instru-ments that has been spun over itself, usuallywith a steel ring inside its turn. After spinningthe rim is soldered.Bocal—Mouthpipe for bassoon.Beet—Connecting joint on double section ofBassoon, usually consisting of a tubular curvesoldered to a metal’ plate, held secure byscrews with cork acting as a gasket to sealthe leakage at the lower extremity of theBassoon.Bow Knobs—Small brass pieces soldered tothe first, second or third valve slides of brassinstruments to facilitate the moving of theslides by allowing a point to grip on the same.Brace-—Single-One piece brace or reinforcementbetween two pieces of metal to eliminateweakness of instrument at that point.Adjustable--Brace consisting of two anchoredplates with movable rod soft soldered betweenthem, allowing the brace to assume anylength.Bumper— Saxophone—Small piece of roundfelt usually used on the low (D#, C, B and Bb)keys.Trombone—Felt washer placed in the Slidebumper retainers to eliminate noise when theslide is brought to a closed position, used toadjust the slide in its first position.Button—Pearl tipped, usually used on brassinstruments to allow for easier fingering ofvalves.Cap— Mouthpiece—Protective covering overmouthpiece to safeguard the reed on saxo-

phones.Tenon—Metal protector spun over the end ofmale tenons on wood instruments to preventchipping of the wood ends.Valve-Top cap used as stop for up-stroke aswell as downstroke of valve.Casing—Outer housing in which valve oper-ates.Comb—Heavy piece of brass used as adesign on the bottom of instruments, alsoserves as a bumper to eliminate damage toweaker lower section of instrument.Key—Pad retainer.Mouthpiece—Tone chamber of brass instru-ment mouthpiece.Ferrule-Slide-Small piece of tubing acting asjoiner for two other pieces of tubing.Mouthpipe—Reinforcement ring.Fingerhook—Curved hook allowing the musi-cian to utilize the small finger of the right handto help hold the instrument.Feet—That portion of a key that contacts thebody stopping the action of a key.Frog—Hand grip of a violin bow that isadjustable to allow for loosening or tighteningof the bow hair by means of a lead screw.Guard—Protective Wire covering over keyson saxophone to prevent bending of thesame. Usually holds the bumper retainer.Guide—There are three varieties of guidesused for the purpose of directing a valve in itscasing so that the valve does not turn aroundthereby maintaining the proper passage align-ment at all times.

The first type is the threaded tip. The normalthread size is 3x48. There are some guidesthat utilize a 4x48 and some that use a 5x40thread. The two or three star types are usedwhen the valve has an encased spring in aspring barrel. This type rests on the top shoul-der in the valve casing with its star tips in theirspecific slots, thereby eliminating the turningof the valve.

Heads— Drum—Usually calf skin tuckedaround and under a flesh hoop of a drum,tympani or Tom Tom. This skin, in a heavy

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

form is used on banjoes and tamborines.Flute—Refers to the top section of the flute. Itconsists of the mouth-pipe of the flute, the tun-ing cork, the crown and the mouthpiece. It isthe only tapered section of the flute, therebyputting the flute in the classification of conicalbore instruments. This causes the flute tobecome an instrument built in octaves.Piccolo—Same as flute.Ligature—Metal band usually has two tighten-ing screws to hold the reed firm to the lay ofthe mouthpiece.Mandrel— Wood—Stick used to hold theinstrument to facilitate working on the same.Mandrels come in all sizes, shapes and tapers.Steel—Tools used to place in the bore of thebell or other tubing to allow for hammering orburnishing on the opposite side for the purposeof dent removal.Mouthpipe— Trumpet—Portion of tapered tub-ingplaced between the mouthpiece receiver andthe tuning slide.Trombone—Often referred to as the “VENTU-RA PIPE”, placed in the mouthpiece side of theinside trombone slide. It is approximately nineinches’ long. It is tapered to continue the rate oftaper from the mouthpiece thread to reach thesize of the bore of the inside slide.Saxophone—Referred to as the “GOOSENECK”. One end acts as the male end toreceive the mouth-piece, while the other end isthe male socket that fits the body of the uppersection of the horn.Passage—Any piece of tubing that connectstwo other portions’ of the instrument such as invalves and casings.Pearl Sockets—Retainers for pearls used ascontact points for the fingertips. Used on valvestems and saxophone keys.Pin Rod—Rod that has two or more holesdrilled through the side to allow pieces of keysto be pinned to it, thereby causing the twopieces to act as one, eliminating the need forouter bridge work to make more than one pieceact as a unit. Found on flutes and piccoloes onthe top trill keys as well as’ on the upper andlower stack assemblies. Equally useful onoboes. Pins can either be steel pins, tapered,so that they can be wedged in the hole or theycan be the threaded type used on the bettertype oboes.Piston-—Another name for the valve of musi-

cal instruments. Sometimes referred to as apump. Used to add or remove extra lengths oftubing by changing the path of the passagesused to direct the length of the air columnthrough the horn, thereby changing the pitch ofthe instrument.Quick Change to “A”—Rotary, springless valvewhich can add sufficient amount of tubing tothe air column to change the pitch of the instru-ment 1/2 tone from Bb to A. Usually foundeither on the tuning slide or directly after itbefore the third valve section.Receiver—Trumpets and trombones, etc. usetapered receivers to accept the mouthpiece.Also used on trombones to act as joinerbetween the bell and slide sections. Term usedfor any female socket on any musical instru-ment.Ring—Reinforcement on female sockets ofclarinet or other wood instrument joints.Sleeve—Outer tubing of any slide as-sembly.Slide bow—Curved tubing connecting any twoinside slides, joined to the same by means offerrules.Slide—Can be either the tuning variety orvalve slide assembly, consisting of two insidestockings, two outside sleeves, two ferrules,one or two bow knobs, and one slide bow.Valve slides are used to tune or change thepitch of each individual valve. Tuning slides areused to change the pitch of the entire horn. Tomaintain perfect intonation the valve slidesmust be pulled proportionately with the tuningslide.Spatula— Key—Part engaged by the fingertipor any other portion of the hand. Tool—Flatmetal plate used to levelpads and key cups.Spring track—Receiver for end of flat spring atpoint of contact to the body.Spline—Valve key or guide (See valve guides).Stack Section— Upper—Consists of pearltipped keys operated by the fingers of the lefthand.Lower—Consists of all keys that are fastenedto the body with the same rod as the pearltipped keys that are operated by the fingers ofthe right hand.Stack Body Section— Consists of the longtapered straight section of saxophone, whichcontains most of the toneholes and key as-semblies.Stocking— Tight fitting sleeve such as six

inch sleeve on the ends of the inside trom-bone slides. The name is sometimes used inreference to the ends of slides (Trumpet) thatare undercut for the purpose of finger tuning.Tailpiece— The piece of the violin that is heldto the instrument with red gut around the endpin. Its purpose is to hold the strings so thatthe strings can be tightened with the fingerpegs to change the intonation of each individ-ual string.Tenon— Any extension used to join twotogether. Can be either male or female type.Valve— There are two types of valves. Thetype that operate in an up and down motion arereferred to as the pump or piston type (seePiston). The rotary type are used on frenchhorns mainly but can be found on 2 any valveinstrument if it is that variety. These valvesoperate in a turning motion. They can be of themachinery action ‘with its springs encased inthe machinery housing or on the tubular hingeof the key with universal connecting joints tothe valve or the connection to the valve can bethe string type action.Waterkey Assembly— Consists of thewaterkey, usually placed on the tuning andthird valve slides for the purpose of removingthe saliva from the horn, the key posts, key rodor pin and the water hole or gutter. This key uti-lizes a cork to cover the hole and is held in aclosed position by either a flat spring or acoiled type spring. The coil spring comes as aninside coil or an outside coil spring.