Fixing woodwind cracks with carbon fiber banding

A relatively new way to fix cracks in woodwind bodies is carbon fiber banding.

carbon fiber

The first step is to cut a channel for the fiber to lay in. I did this on the lathe.

 

channel

Then we lay some epoxy in the cut and wrap the carbon fibers around, making sure we get them covered in lots of epoxy.

 

I cut off the excess fiber and let the joint sit overnight. Once it is nice and hard, I sand the excess glue and fiber down until it is even with the body. A little bit of light sanding with micro-mesh afterwards and the band is hardly noticeable. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the finished product as a metal ring went over the banding so you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

Replacing a Broken Clarinet Tenon

The other day I replaced the bell tenon on a clarinet. First I used the lathe to cut off the old tenon so it was flush with the clarinet body. Then I used a cutter to bore the right size and depth hole into the body to fit the replacement tenon. Finally, I glued the new tenon in with epoxy.   This was a replacement tenon sold by Votaw Tool. You could manufacture a tenon yourself from plastic stock but its much easier to just buy one if you can.

This is a plastic clarinet, on a wood clarinet it would be more difficult to repair a broken tenon. Not impossible, but would be much more time consuming.

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Buffet clarinet overhaul

Here’s a before and after picture of a R13 that I just finished overhauling. It turned out nicely if I do say so myself.