Hi all- came here to see if anyone could help me with a project. I recently purchased a vintage Noblet Eb alto clarinet that I am preparing to send off to get overhauled. My technician is confident that he'll be able to work on all aspects of the instrument, except for one key detail- a previous owner of the instrument glued the middle joint together very tightly. Both him and I aren't exactly sure what it might take to remove the glue and have concerns about damaging the instrument. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this kind of scenario? And would it be better to just leave the joint as is rather than trying to separate it? Thanks in advance.
Advice on ungluing the middle joint on an alto clarinet?
- Thread starter contrabassclarinet
- Start date
I'm surprised one of our clarinet types haven't responded to this. As the owner of many saxes and clarinets, I'm not sure that having the glued joint repaired passes the so what test. If you have a case that can accommodate the instrument, you should be fine? Good luck.
I hadn't commented because I hadn't seen a two-piece alto clarinet body until this thread. I'm also not a repair tech, so you shouldn't listen to me about that.
Personally, if my tech said the horn was OK, as-is, I wouldn't bother trying to un-glue it. However, if it needed to be unglued for some repair and/or the horn has other things that need expensive repairs, I'd probably go for buying a different horn. Used alto clarinets are usually not that expensive.
Personally, if my tech said the horn was OK, as-is, I wouldn't bother trying to un-glue it. However, if it needed to be unglued for some repair and/or the horn has other things that need expensive repairs, I'd probably go for buying a different horn. Used alto clarinets are usually not that expensive.
Tony Fairbridge
Tony F
The original poster doesn't say if the clarinet is plastic, rubber or wood. If its plastic then the parts are probably fused together, so leave it as it is. If its wood you might try heating the glued tenon. If it's been glued with shellac or hot-melt glue this may soften the adhesive, but if it's epoxy or cyano-acrylate then it stuck for ever.
"Two pieces is not enough. It should be thousands of pieces. Then dowsed with kerosene. Then set on fire."
For those who don't know, Terry, aka SOTSDO, was one of our staff. He passed away several years ago. He didn't like alto clarinets. That may have been because he had to play an open hole alto clarinet.
While I quite enjoy adding Terry's opinion to any thread about alto clarinets, I'm generally joking. If playing an alto clarinet makes you stick with music, I'm all for that.
ihave 2 of these altos. i would not try to seperate these parts as you are likely to do more damage than good. as long as you you have a good one peice case your good. these are execellent altos. as good as any made except the buffet.