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RonRobbins
Technician
Joined: January.13.05
Location: USA
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| Posted: March.19.06 at 10:00am | IP Logged
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A friend of mine who works for a repair shop, in the area, stated that the owner of the shop has developed a 25 minute clarinet repad. She said that it was confidential and couldn't tell me how it was done.
Thinking about it for a while I came to the following assumptions: A. The repad was done with the keys still on the horn. B. The tenons were probably not redone. C. What about missing or old key corks? D. Surly the horn was washed? E. This could possibly be cost effective for the rental stock? Are there many shop doing this type of repad? Am I getting outdated by taking the keys off and feeling that I am doing a more quality job? I don't sell repads only. I only offer a complete overhaul which includes new pads, new tenors, new key corks, clean and sanitized horn and mouthpiece, buffed keys, key fitting, necessary springs, and regulation.
Ron Robbins
Band Instrument Repair Shop
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stevemarti
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Joined: January.19.05
Location: USA
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| Posted: March.19.06 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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I'd like to see a before and after of a 25 minute repad. What does the store charge for a job like that?
Even if a horn needed nothing but pads and was mostly not disaasembled, (How to easy put a pad in the F# ring key with no disassembly?) I'm skeptical. That implies taking the old pad out, selecting the right size replacement, and installing it in less than 1-1/2 minutes for each pad. That's impressive. If someone seriously claimed they could do this, I'd call his bluff. "Here's my clarinet. I'll wait outside for 25 minutes and pick it up immediately when it's done." It would be very interesting to see the results. Even if the repairer wouldn't tell me or show me how it's done, I think I could get a pretty good idea what was and wasn't done to the horn.
I can believe it would be possible to develope a rental return play condition and clean up process that took an average of 25 minutes.
Semantics between the customer and technician can be a problem sometimes. I've seen horns that the customer claimed were recently overhauled that obviously had only minor play condition work done. I don't beleive there was any attempt at deception, just misunderstanding. Seems pretty obvious that a repad must mean a least all new pads, right? My repads are identical to what you're calling an overhaul. I also swedge keys as needed on a repad. I can see that in some circumstances if they're perfect, maybe key corks or a tenon cork might not need replacement, but I don't remember the last time I saw one like that.
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RonRobbins
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Location: USA
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| Posted: March.19.06 at 2:04pm | IP Logged
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Hi Steve,
This is a repair shop in the Phoenix area. He also must be quoting this type of job to customers? I just took in a Yamaha wood and the customer said that some store quoted her this type of job. She did't tell me a price but I got the feeling that it was fairly high. We have several shops in the area that are over $500 for a wood clarinet overhaul and over $300 for a Bundy clarinet overhaul. More power, I guess, if you can get it. When she picks up the horn I will see if she can get more specific.
I agree with you. Generally if a clarinet comes in with bad pads the tenor corks are pretty well along. I have had clarinets come in with fairly new pads and bad tenons. I usually have to change all three tenons.
Ron
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stevemarti
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| Posted: March.19.06 at 5:03pm | IP Logged
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Hmmmm. So I can spend a couple of hours each week doing 3-4 clarinet repads and do pretty well for the amount of time. ggg.
Last time I checked, I thought a new Selmer plastic clarinet and similar stuff was $300-400. Must be one heck of an overhaul to be able to convince the customer not to just buy a new one.
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PatHiatt
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Joined: February.02.05
Location: USA
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| Posted: March.22.06 at 1:59am | IP Logged
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No, Ron, you are not outdated in removing the keys and cleaning everything. Whomever is doing a 25 minute repad is doing a disservice to not only the customer but to themselves as well. 25 minute repad ? Ludicrous !!!!!!!
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IanWhite
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Joined: January.11.05
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| Posted: March.22.06 at 10:46am | IP Logged
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I agree with you Pat.
I seem to remember someone saying that there is no such thing as a re-pad only an overhaul. There is always much more to be done by the time time the pads require changing.
Ian
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harpmeister
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Joined: March.23.06
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| Posted: March.23.06 at 9:12am | IP Logged
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It's probable that the customer's teacher said 'you need a repad on this clarinet.' We run into this all the time and just can't justify a full repad when to replace a few pads or fix only what is necessary takes only 25 minutes. Otherwise it's not fair to the customer. They find out eventually. For a $300 repad on a bundy I agree with others and would direct the customer to a new student instrument. The customer always comes first.
harpmeister
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stevemarti
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| Posted: March.23.06 at 2:35pm | IP Logged
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I've run into that situation too. An instructor or someone really doesn't know what's wrong and assumes "it needs a repad" Often fixing what's really wrong, is 25 minutes or less. I also make sure the customer knows that I did a play condition job and not a magical 25 minute repad.
The issue concerning me the most is I think it is darn near impossible to do a repad in 25 minutes, even without doing all the stuff normally associated such as disassembly, cleaning, swedging, etc. While I can appreciate the idea of someone not wanting to share a proprietary technique. I can't help but wonder if this claim represents something else. Makes me curious.
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motomom
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| Posted: April.09.07 at 1:33pm | IP Logged
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RonRobbins wrote:
Thinking about it for a while I came to the following assumptions: A. The repad was done with the keys still on the horn. B. The tenons were probably not redone. C. What about missing or old key corks? D. Surly the horn was washed? E. This could possibly be cost effective for the rental stock? Are there many shop doing this type of repad? Am I getting outdated by taking the keys off and feeling that I am doing a more quality job? I don't sell repads only. I only offer a complete overhaul which includes new pads, new tenors, new key corks, clean and sanitized horn and mouthpiece, buffed keys, key fitting, necessary springs, and regulation.
Ron Robbins
Band Instrument Repair Shop |
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We also call this a repad, swedging keys if necessary. To us, an overhaul is when you also have the keys replated.
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Topic: Clarinet repad. In 25minutes????
