This article is part of a series of repair articles written Rheuben Allen.
There are a number of reasons that the wood of your clarinet may crack and if it happens, there are two different methods you can use when repairing that meddlesome crack in your instrument.
Keep in mind that it is always safest to bring your clarinet to a professional repair person who has the training and experience to repair the crack, but if you are unable to do so, here is how you can fix it yourself.
The first way to repair a crack in the wood of your clarinet is to pin the crack. The second is to use carbon fiber and epoxy to repair it. The second method is the easiest to complete, and seems to be the most preferred means of repairing a crack.
The reason the second method is the most popular is because carbon fiber and epoxy vibrate the same as wood. Therefore it should not have any effect on the tone color or response of the clarinet.
To fill the crack:
First, one or two grooves are cut around the clarinet. The crack is then filled with epoxy and the two grooves are filled with the carbon fiber and epoxy. The filled grooves then need to be cut level with the wood of the instrument and polished to match the wood. If the job is done well, it is hard to tell the clarinet has been banded.
This article has been taken with permission from Rheuben Allen‘s website.
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