Recently I found a very unusual tárogató with seven keys, made of what looks like African Rosewood, lacquered with a deep burgundy color... very beautiful instrument (see album for the pre-restoration pictures).
The entire middle tenon (metal) was lodged in to the bottom joint, as whatever was fastening it to the upper joint disintegrated over time, the instrument was in storage for a very long period of time.
It took over two hours of careful work to pry out the string-wrapped metal tenon, and blood was drawn in the process... somehow the string "swelled" as the wood shrunk around it, it wasn't going anywhere without a good fight.
After all that drama, I noticed that the area around the tenon socket was fairly weak and a bit rotted from neglect and prolonged exposure to environmental "basement" moisture... perhaps a little wood-in-a-tube coating should help sort that out, or a bit of grafting... I'm still assessing the damages, it's the area "underneath" the ring. It's not the end of the world but it's discomforting as I'd prefer it to not chip away (it's already began chipping) and have to do any serious wood rebuilding.
Now also since the wood is stained/lacquered, there are some obvious "chips" and scrapes exposing the bare wood color... already in the process of taking care of it, that's purely a cosmetic issue and is very simple to rid safely.
What's spooky is, even though it was a neglected decoration for who knows how long, and not to mention it's obvious antiquity, the keys look freshly polished (however are not, because of some rusty looking bits around the register key, and a few others, but minor) and the springs are in freaky good condition, strong and nearly rust-free, likely won't need to be replaced for quite some time.
On the other hand, the pads on the instrument looked as if they had never been replaced, all green and swollen and generally gross.
Other than that it was in fairly good condition for it's age and state of "neglect" and has a lot of life left in it.
So...
I decided to spoil myself (and the instrument) with some very nice leather saxophone pads... so rest assured this is going to be a lovely instrument to play.
Of all my experience as a hobby-technician... working on this tárogató has thus far been the most rewarding and exciting.
I'm planning on having a new mouthpiece made for it though. The old one is, well, old, the inside was a bit rotted, and it's going to need a fairly thick bite pad, there's a huge tooth dent on the top, now keep in mind this instrument has the "clarinet style" wood mouthpiece with the tenon attached versus the mouthpiece going over a tenon saxophone-style. It's an itty bitty tenon.
Anyways thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to lately... I'll take some after pics in a few days.
The entire middle tenon (metal) was lodged in to the bottom joint, as whatever was fastening it to the upper joint disintegrated over time, the instrument was in storage for a very long period of time.
It took over two hours of careful work to pry out the string-wrapped metal tenon, and blood was drawn in the process... somehow the string "swelled" as the wood shrunk around it, it wasn't going anywhere without a good fight.
After all that drama, I noticed that the area around the tenon socket was fairly weak and a bit rotted from neglect and prolonged exposure to environmental "basement" moisture... perhaps a little wood-in-a-tube coating should help sort that out, or a bit of grafting... I'm still assessing the damages, it's the area "underneath" the ring. It's not the end of the world but it's discomforting as I'd prefer it to not chip away (it's already began chipping) and have to do any serious wood rebuilding.
Now also since the wood is stained/lacquered, there are some obvious "chips" and scrapes exposing the bare wood color... already in the process of taking care of it, that's purely a cosmetic issue and is very simple to rid safely.
What's spooky is, even though it was a neglected decoration for who knows how long, and not to mention it's obvious antiquity, the keys look freshly polished (however are not, because of some rusty looking bits around the register key, and a few others, but minor) and the springs are in freaky good condition, strong and nearly rust-free, likely won't need to be replaced for quite some time.
On the other hand, the pads on the instrument looked as if they had never been replaced, all green and swollen and generally gross.
Other than that it was in fairly good condition for it's age and state of "neglect" and has a lot of life left in it.
So...
I decided to spoil myself (and the instrument) with some very nice leather saxophone pads... so rest assured this is going to be a lovely instrument to play.
Of all my experience as a hobby-technician... working on this tárogató has thus far been the most rewarding and exciting.
I'm planning on having a new mouthpiece made for it though. The old one is, well, old, the inside was a bit rotted, and it's going to need a fairly thick bite pad, there's a huge tooth dent on the top, now keep in mind this instrument has the "clarinet style" wood mouthpiece with the tenon attached versus the mouthpiece going over a tenon saxophone-style. It's an itty bitty tenon.
Anyways thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to lately... I'll take some after pics in a few days.