Repair and Restoration of Clarinets

Whether you're fixing up an old clarinet to sell on eBay, or you've just bought one at a bargain and want to restore it for yourself, here are some tips for making it beautiful (and playable) again.

You may, of course, decide to take your instrument to a professional restoration shop.  If you are unfamiliar with the instrument, this is probably a good idea.  However, if you know the clarinet well, with the right tools and parts on hand, you can do the work yourself at a fraction of the cost.  Some of the items you will need are: a sharp utility knife, small screwdriver, spring pliers, matches or lighter, contact cement, sandpaper, felt, silver polish, and dish soap (for plastic clarinets) or wood oil (for wooden clarinets).    Also, you will need to contact a local music store for a full set of pads & corks.                                        

So!  You're ready to begin.  First, make sure your clarinet is disassembled into it's five parts of mouthpiece, barrel, upper joint, lower joint, and bell.  The bell and barrel require the least amount of work, so begin with them.  First, use your silver polish to shine up the silver trim on the bell.  Then clean the black surface.  If your clarinet is plastic, use a cotton washcloth and clean the black surface, inside and out, with warm soapy water.  Do NOT immerse the clarinet in water!  Dry with a soft, dry cloth.  If your clarinet is wood, put a small amount of mild wood oil on a clean, soft cloth, and carefully polish, being sure to rub with the grain.  Use your felt to shine the bore to a high lustre.  Set your bell and barrel back into the case.  The real work is about to begin!

You can start with the corks on the mouthpiece and joints.  These are called the tenon corks, and are the ones that hold the clarinet together when the pieces are joined.  Check the condition of these corks...are they fairly clean & whole?  Then they probably don't need any work.  Are there any ripped out pieces?  Are the corks black, thin, and have no give?  Then they need to be replaced.  Use your utility knife to carefully remove the old cork.  Sand off any remaining pieces until the area is clean and smooth.  Choose a replacement tenon cork from your kit.  Put some contact cement on the clean joint.  Use your thumb to carefully press the new cork in place.  Remove the extra cork at the end with a utility knife, cutting at an angle.  Finally, use your sandpaper on the cork to smooth out the seam.  Repeat this process for any tenon corks that need to be replaced.                     

Now it's time to work on the keys!  The best way to work is to use the screwdriver to remove all the keys from the upper joint.  You will want to sketch a numbered diagram of the clarinet, so as you remove the keys, you can place them on the diagram for easy reference later (you will put the keys back on in reverse order from how you remove them).  Number the first key you remove as 1, the second as 2, and so on.  It is easy to get mixed up, so be careful!  Remove all the silver keys and place them on your diagram.  Clean and dry the black bore, inside and out, as described above. 

Now you will be fixing up the keys.  Choose any key that has a cork (not a pad).  As you did with the joints, see if the cork needs to be replaced.  Find a new piece of cork from your repair kit. Remove the old cork with your utility knife; use contact cement to put on the new cork.

Put each key back in it's correct place on the diagram as you finish with it.  Replace all the corks as needed.

Now we'll work on pads.  Choose a key from the diagram that has a round pad.  Hold the key pad-side-up.  Light your match or lighter under the silver key cup; this will melt the old glue.  Once the glue is melted, you can use the pliers to pull out the used pad.  Clarinet pads come in various sizes; be sure to choose the correct size for the key you are working on.  Put a drop of contact cement into the empty cup, and place the new pad inside.  Press gently with an emery board or file to be sure it fits evenly (this will prevent leaks).                                

Put each key back in it's correct place on the diagram as you work.

Once all the pads and corks have been replaced, you may use your silver polish to shine up your keys.  You can then use your numbered diagram to reattach the keys to the clarinet.  Repeat the whole process with the lower joint.

Once all the keys have been re-attached, your clarinet is ready to play!  You should play up and down the scales, testing every key and note.  Congratulations!  Your newly restored instrument will be a thing of beauty for years to come.