hi! I just bought a new Leblanc Cadenza clarinet (designed by Backun, and it's wood) yesterday. I was using one of my Backun barrels and now it's stuck! I greased it extra because i had this problem when i played it yesterday but now the barrel won't budge. I have twelve hours to get it off. need some major help.

i had a friend who's clarinet got stuck, and she had to put it in the freezer to get the joint to shrink and loosen. probably this is a terrible thing to do to a brand new wooden clarinet and will cause it to crack.

when you do get it unstuck, you probably need to get the cork shaved down.

It actually has nothing to do with the cork, but the inside of the barrel. I had the inside of my barrel shaved down when this happened, and it has been fine ever since.

Try rocking it back and forth in several directions. If you're really sensitive you'll feel a very slight pop (feel, not hear!!) It should then twist off. I unstick 99 of of 100 clarinets this way. Normally, the problem is the wood at the top of the male joint expands with use, especially on a new horn, and that causes the wood to touch and lock up near the top of the female barrel joint. Once the wood binds like this, it's stuck! Rocking back and forth with very small but deliberate motion always works for me. I go back and forth, then turn the horn slightly in my hands and try the new angle, working around the whole horn if necessary. Eventually you should find success.
Too much force and you will crack it (this is when you hear a pop)
Be sure you never leave a new horn together for very long. It's generally a bad practice for all horns, but especially new ones.

The solution for a binding joint is sanding the upper part of the male joint, or sanding the inside of the barrel where the two are rubbing. I recommend a professional do this, because he/she will be able to take off just the right amount of wood and to polish the wood so it looks new after the work. If you do it yourself you risk taking off more wood than necessary. Good luck!

This happened before to me on my new clarinet. Despite the "rules of thumb" out there, there is no simple way to tell if it is the cork or the wood. Both can swell when brand new, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting the wood shimmed right away. Play the clarinet for a month, and, if this issue reoccurs, get it checked by a tech. I've never heard of the "rocking" method, but it's probably worth a try. When this happened to me, I simply left the instrument at room temp overnight and the next morning, it was fine. Also, follow the break in info for the instrument, if any. Good luck.

My clarinet does that all of the time! I can't figure out why?

-Amanda

Wow. All that money and the barrel doesn't even work.

Is it too late to get a refund?

Why didn't you buy Vito?

-Phil

It's doing better. i just have to learn to work with the shrinking and expanding of it and sometimes letting the excess moisture away. thanx for the help.

That's the worst advice I've ever heard. Follow the manufacturer's advice on oiling. Over oiling will crack any wooden horn. New horns don't need oil unless the manufacturer says they do. Relative humidity and altitude play a big role in whether or not horns need oil. With a top half that binds, oiling would cause major problems as the wood would expand even more causing more binding. A Backun barrel would crack, because it has no tenon rings.

Try breaking-in the barrel the same way you do for the clarinet. This way the barrel will match the clarinet. Tap the barrel, lightly, on a table. Make sure it is on the clarinet for better leverage. Little by little increase the force with which you are tapping, kind of like a long crescendo. Hit it harder and harder and harder. Keep going until you hear a cracking noise. This will tell you when the barrel is completely "broken-in".

This method works well for barrel removal as well. I take my clarinet apart this way every time I play.

try greasing around it twist and gently pull then shave the cork a little