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Metal Clarinet Services

We buy, sell, repair, and restore metal clarinets, but we do all woodwinds too!!!

Metal Clarinets are getting hard to find, most are in poor condition or have ended up as decorative lamps.  We believe this is a shame, so we restore these old clunkers to their original glory and do some custom work to make them more playable in today's modern environment.  Most jazz musicians in the 20's and 30's preferred the metal clarinet because of its distinct timbre, but everyone now knows these instruments suffered from intonation problems and poor tone.  We use our experience and modern technology to go thru every instrument that we sell to correct these problems so they play better than new!!!   We even fix the no name and low-grade clarinets to modern playability.  We try to salvage every one we can, so if it has ended up as one of our lamps then it was truly unrepairable, or an instrument we used for parts to fix up another beauty.  

We are pleased to offer woodwind repair and restoration.  We also offer beginner instruction and tutoring on Clarinet and Saxophone.  If you need a pad, spring, or a total overhaul we can do that too!!!  We have years of experience and all of the special tools that are necessary to craft an instrument back to top quality.  We have even developed a few new tools for the metal clarinets to open up the tone holes and straighten the bore and body, as nearly all suffer from a moderate bend.  All of the metal clarinets that we restore have had hours of craftsmanship go into them, making sure everything is straight within tolerance, and that each note will come out as beautiful as the next, leaving late 19th century technology and production techniques behind.  Even low-grade and no name metal clarinets will play as well as the full silver instruments of the day.

We have synthetic pads and premium cork pads available straight to you!!!

These are the same high-quality pads that we use on each and every instrument that we repair and restore. 

Both pads are the finest quality available, and average 3mm thick.

Cork Pads: Available in 7-12mm

$1.25/ea+

Cork pads are preferred by some musicians in the upper section of the instrument.  These pads are pure, high-quality cork with the least amount of grain possible.  They make slightly more noise than synthetic pads, but offer a better seal.  They are not acceptable for outdoor usage as cork tends to sweat and contract more than a standard or synthetic pad.

Synthetic Pads: Available in 8-20mm

$0.99/ea+

These pads manufactured by Precision USA are of the highest quality available.  Most musicians prefer a felt/skin construction but as we all know they simply do not hold up under usage, that is why most pads are hybrids, offering felt construction with a synthetic skin.  These pads are fully synthetic, emulating the feel and seal of a true skin pad but with the durability of a hybrid.  These pads are far superior to any hybrid pads we have seen, pushing the quality of rubber pads, (a forgotten art).  For the price, you can not go wrong with these pads.

Metal Clarinet Restoration:

Instrument is taken apart, stripped down and tanked in a special cleaning solution.  It is then checked for straightness and adjusted if necessary.  All dents and dings are then removed before being polished or re-plated.  The keys are then checked for straightness and functionality before receiving new, high-quality synthetic pads and new springs.  The instrument is then hand polished to a mirror-like finish before being played and checked for timbre and intonation.  Tone holes are deburred or bored and cut to cure the common intonation problems of the instrument and presto, a finely tuned precision instrument is born!

Vintage Martin Bb Clarinet Before & After our Premium Polishing Service

Basic repairs have flat-rate pricing.  Advanced repairs such as dent removal and straightening we subcontract at actual labor rate charge.  Missing the barrel mouthpiece adaptor???  No Problem!  Custom work such as tuning adjustments and fabrication/metal repair first require inspection and estimate, so pricing will vary.  

WE ARE NOT OFFERING CLARINET REPAIR/ RESTORATION AT THIS TIME!!!