Reply To: Buying a clavietta – how to check it’s condition?

#14779
Melodica-Me
Participant

Hello Jelte, I own several Clavietta’s and most I have purchased will have some sort of beat. The good news is that they are very simple to repair. Air leaks come from a few areas. Primarily from broken valve stops that have dried and broken off. Second the gasket at the air chamber again simple to replace. Third and most uncommon bent air chamber and a little harder to fix. if you see a Clavietta and the back screws have been over tightened and screws seam to be sunk in, this may be the case. Lastly, cracked and broken dried reed wax that lets air escape. The valve washers can be replaced with rubber washers available at most hardware stores and big box like Home Depot. a 1/2″ over all size with with a 1/8″ hole that is 1/16″ thick. this is a common size. For the chamber gasket you can purchase leather lace on amazon that is !/8″ wide and 1/16″ thick, normally sold in a spool, unfortunately you will be left with a lot of extra but not to expensive. For the broken reed wax, you can purchase a small piece of accordion wax on Ebay. place the wax in a small can “like a tuna can” on your stove and heat until it starts to smoke remove from the heat and use a small artist brush as cheap as you can find as they will tossed after use. Dip the brush in the wax and spot fill any areas that appear to have cracks. For the bent chamber, remove the brass air diffuser with a screw driver (it will pop our very easy) lay flat on back side and with a wooden dowel tap with a small hammer to flatten the areas at the screw holes. Check on a flat surface to see if the chamber cover sits flat with no gaps. a simple way to check if there are air leaks, mix up some soap and water mixture and with a eye dropper wet areas around the chamber and blow with out depressing any of the keys if there are leaks bubble will show up at in those area.
I hope this helps, the Clavietta is a great melodica and usually found relatively in tune.
Melodica-Me

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