Cleaning
Ultrasonics
Repair Stories
Repair Stories
Occasionally, tenon joints on bassoons, oboes or clarinets become damaged or
broken. In the example Figure “A”, our service department received
from a district school, a bassoon (about 43 years old), along with a note from
the teacher saying “HELP! Can you fix this? It’s my only bassoon and
I have no money for a replacement!".
By searching for a replacement
part, we found two used body sections, however, both were very expensive. So
rather than go this route, we sourced a piece of seasoned hardwood, made a
special internal bore cutter, turned both the inside and outside areas of the
wood to the correct diameter, cut the cork groove, bored out the bassoon with a
ring grove for better grip, inserted the new tenon, sealed the wood in a
special solution and finished the repair within the teacher’s budget
(Figure “B”).
If your school has need of special instrument repair, contact us and we’ll gladly help.
To improve trumpet valve and trombone slide action, our service
technicians have invented a few new tools.
Our first, shown in Figure “A”, is a self-oiling, variable speed valve lapping machine. This tool emulates several hours of playing time and its purpose is to “break-in” valves evenly and quickly. By first passing the valves through Ultrasonic cleaning, Figure “B”, and then onto the lapping machine, valves turn out great and work lightening fast!!
Trombone slide action has also
been improved to new levels by passing each slide through Ultrasonic cleaning and
then honing each slide separately with our new internal slide honing machine,
Figure “C”.
Trumpets
and other brasswind instruments are subject to solder, valve, waterkey, pinhole and
other air leakages. To find such problems, we use a special air compression
testing tool as shown in Figure “A”. By blocking the tubing and
filling the instrument with air, any leakage will show up on the gauge, be
easily identified and repaired.
Timpani, like other large percussion
equipment, require specific maintenance and tuning. In Figure “B”,
we’ve stripped this timpani down for a complete rebuild including dent
removal to the bowl, frame reinforcement, lube and cleaning, gauge adjustment,
rim deburring and head replacement. In Figure “C”, we designed and
installed a customized support system for the foot brake to make note holding
easier.
