[jelte]

Hi all, I have an option to buy a clavietta for a fair price, it is in reasonable condition although it’s definitely used a lot and is worn in some places. Seller says all keys are working properly. I’m not a collector, I want to buy the clavietta for playing it, and I’m not knowledgeable about repairing – is it a good idea to buy one in such a shape? I can visit the seller, what are things to look out for to see if it’s in a good shape? Thanks for your help! 🙂

[Daren]

Hi jelte, if you want it for playing, you need a model which is airtight, with all reeds working.

Ask the seller to try blowing into the mouthpiece without pressing any keys. You shouldn’t be able to blow through at all. If they say they some air passes through, it’s not air tight and should be avoided.

Also ask them to play every key, one by one to check that the reed is working and notes are sounding.

Ideally you’d do this through a video call, or by telephone, but of course – if you can visit and see the instrument in person and play it, that would be great

[jelte]

Hi Daren, thanks a lot for your reply! All notes are working, but I didn’t ask yet for the airtight test. That’s good to know, i’ll Ask before I’m going to visit.
All the best!

[Melodica-Me]

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

[froggy]

as someone who just purchased a Clavietta and immediately had to set about unexpected repair work, just want to thank Melodica-Me for his many posts over the years, which i’ve found extremely helpful. to any buyer i’d recommend asking the vendor to open up the instrument for inspection, which will allow you to see the state of the washers and gasketing and give you some idea of whether you’re going to run into issues #1 or #2 as described above.

for example, here’s an image from forum user Michael of the interior of the instrument found in shabby condition, with the original brown washers, some of them cracked. here’s the same instrument after replacing the washers and gasketing material. depending on what it looks like in there, you should be able to get some idea of the kind of legwork you’re going to need to do to keep it playable

[Author]

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