One
of the biggest fears for a clarinetist is of their wood clarinet
cracking. Sadly, you can't predict whether the clarinet will
crack or not. You can be the most meticulous player who breaks
in their clarinet and oils it regularly and still the clarinet
can crack. You can be one of the most abusive players who never
maintains their clarinet and it doesn't crack. There is no rhyme
or reason behind it.
As a player, you can help limit the chances of your clarinet cracking. For information on proper care & "break-in" on a new clarinet, download our "Wood Care & Preservation Guide" by clicking here.
So the question is, what happens if your clarinet cracks?
Crack repairs are not a simple thing to do well. There are many ways to "repair" a cracked clarinet, but many of them negatively effect the performance, appearance and value of your clarinet. When performed properly, your clarinet will play exactly like it did prior to the crack and there is little to no cosmetic blemish to your instrument.
Here at ClarinetRepairs.com, we are more then properly equipped to handle even the worst crack repairs. They say that pictures are worth a thousand words... so below, we present to you the step by step photo process of how we handle crack repairs.
The Crack
Why do clarinets crack? Sadly, there are several reasons why
a clarinet can crack. Wood is hygroscopic. This means that
it can absorb and release moisture. If your clarinet absorbs
this moisture unevenly (perhaps through not properly
breaking in your clarinet when it was new or
when
picking it back up after a period of not using it), this can
create a stress pressure that builds up in the wood and just
like an earthquake, that pressure has to be released.
With this clarinet, the student had not properly broken the instrument in when it was new and as a result, it cracked within 2 months. The instrument in question is a Leblanc but that has no bearing on whether it can crack.
As you can see, the crack is a wide crack that goes
through 3 total tone holes (you can click the photo for a
much larger version). This is no simple job. Before we can
perform this repair, we clean the crack and joint to ensure
that there is nothing that interferes with sealing the
crack. We also will let the joint sit and dry slightly as
the crack will close a little before we perform the repair.
Tone Hole Inserts
When the crack goes through the tone hole, the only way to
bring back it's integrity is with custom tone hole inserts.
The original tone hole is cut out down to about 50% of the
body. This leave the original undercutting shape in tact so
that the performance of the clarinet when done is
not
affected by the insert. Depending on the severity of the
crack, the tone hole inserts can be done before the full
repair of the crack. This ensures a nice tight fit of the
insert as was done on this clarinet.
As you can see in the photo, the top trill key tone hole
has the insert installed and the next tone hole is bored out
ready for it's insert to be installed. We custom make each
tone hole insert from hard rubber in our shop. The hard
rubber gives a material that is easily machined so that we
can ensure the tone hole is made and fit well and also gives
a material that has a weight very similar to wood so that
tone is not affected.
Pinning and Sealing
To properly seal the crack, we use a technique called
"pinning". We insert metal pins into the body of the
clarinet. These pins are carefully
placed
so that they do not enter the bore of the instrument. These
pins will force the wood back together in to its original
position. This ensures that the inner bore shape of the
clarinet is restored and the performance of the clarinet
will be returned to its original design.
After the pins are inserted, the crack is sealed. The pin holes are then covered with Grenadilla dust and a Cyanoacrylate adhesive.
While this might look ugly now, all evidence of this work
will disappear when we are all done with the repair. This
pinning technique ensures that the crack will never re-open
and will not leak.
Cosmetic Restoration
Now
that the crack has been sealed and repaired, we then finish
the job addressing the cosmetics of the instrument. The
first step lightly sands the entire area to remove the
excess buildup of the pin covers as well as the glue on the
crack.
As you can see, the evidence of the crack repair quickly blends away.
Next we refinish the body to give the entire clarinet the
same cosmetic appearance.
As you can see, other than the tone hole inserts and the
glue remaining on the tenon (which will be covered by the
new cork), the crack has basically disappeared.
The Finished Product
When all is said and done, our method of crack repair
restores the shape of the bore thus restoring its
performance, structurally stabilizes the
instrument
and cosmetically eliminates 99% of the evidence that the
clarinet was ever cracked in the first place.
This particular crack repair would cost on average $170 as this was a very bad crack that needed 5 pins and 3 new tone holes. Most cracks are not as severe and can be repaired in the $60-$100 range. Our crack repair process takes on average 3-6 days depending on the severity of the crack.
If you have a crack repair that you would like performed by us, please give us a call.
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