Tech/maintenance Does the loose neck cork have to be replaced?

[atwl77]

After practicing today, I notice my neck cork is coming loose. It has not totally come off, just that little portion in the picture.

Do I need to replace the entire cork, or can I go with an easier/lazy solution like... say... stuffing some contact glue into the gap?

(Note that the gap is a bit exaggerated because I'm applying pressure to make it easier to notice)

 

[Targa]

I'd say go with your lazy solution, if it works - good, if it doesn't you've lost nothing.

 

[PiccoloPirate]

If a competent tech is nearby/available, then a new cork might be wise.
Glue if you want to play asap.
I did the glue, for a clarinet joint, until new cork arrived.

 

[Stephen Howard]

Contact adhesive will likely not work. There'll be all kinds of mess in that gap and you'll only get once chance at glueing it.
What I do is pop a bit of sellotape over the end ring to protect it, then get some superglue gel (it's less messy) and pop a drop on the end of a small stick. Work it into the gap, then press the cork down firmly hand hold for a minute or so.
Remove the sellotape to clean up.

 

[atwl77]

Contact adhesive will likely not work. There'll be all kinds of mess in that gap and you'll only get once chance at glueing it.
What I do is pop a bit of sellotape over the end ring to protect it, then get some superglue gel (it's less messy) and pop a drop on the end of a small stick. Work it into the gap, then press the cork down firmly hand hold for a minute or so.
Remove the sellotape to clean up.

Thanks, that sounds easier to work with. Though at the moment I only have superglue liquid... which I guess still works but can be messy, so I'll go ahead and order some gel first...

 

[turf3]

This failure comes from the mouthpiece being too tight on the cork. When you squeeze the cork radially, it gets longer, and that's when it can lift up.

So when you get it stuck down again, make sure it's not real tight fitting to your mouthpiece and sand it down if it is.

Because the cork's longer (in the circumferential direction, going round the neck) than it was, you may not be able to get it to lie back down on the neck. You might have to cut a little bit out of it and glue it back together. (Harder to describe than to do.)

 

[Stephen Howard]

This failure comes from the mouthpiece being too tight on the cork. When you squeeze the cork radially, it gets longer, and that's when it can lift up.

So when you get it stuck down again, make sure it's not real tight fitting to your mouthpiece and sand it down if it is.

Because the cork's longer (in the circumferential direction, going round the neck) than it was, you may not be able to get it to lie back down on the neck. You might have to cut a little bit out of it and glue it back together. (Harder to describe than to do.)

Nope. This failure comes from an incorrectly fitted cork in the first place.
There'll be no need to cut the cork - it'll squish down just nicely.

If I had a quid....etc...

 

[turf3]

Well, we'll see. Or not. Either could be the case.

No harm in trying to stick it back down as is. Do that first, and see.

I just had to reinstall the neck cork on my baritone after it came loose. Cut it off with a bevel, like the way it was installed originally, and peeled it off the neck. No damage to the cork, so I cleaned the back side of the cork and the neck with alcohol, applied contact cement, and lo and behold it wrapped further around the neck than when I took it off. Squished down over the 10 years or so or use. No biggie. Couple minutes with the razor blade and back to normal. We'll see how long it lasts like this. Might go years.

 

[Dr G]

Argh, just do it right - put on a new one.

 

[turf3]

Argh, just do it right - put on a new one.

I'm too lazy. If I can half-arse it, and get by another year, I'll do that.

I've played many hundreds of gigs with a gas receipt wrapped around a neck cork.

 

[Dr G]

I'm too lazy. If I can half-arse it, and get by another year, I'll do that.

I've played many hundreds of gigs with a gas receipt wrapped around a neck cork.

I ride that delicate balance between lazy and obsessive-compulsive.

 

[skeller047]

I've played many hundreds of gigs with a gas receipt wrapped around a neck cork.

I keep a roll of teflon tape in my soprano case. The need comes from an adventure a few years ago with a lot of different mouthpieces. Now that ride is over, the mouthpiece I ended up with is just a hair too big (or rather, one of the other candidates was a hair too small…). I get somewhere between 3 and 6 uses out of a single application of the tape. I have in the past had a piece of notebook paper on a clarinet joint last for a few months, but sax corks seem to take a bit more punishment.

Obviously I’m lazier than than I should be. I mean, I have cork and cement handy, it’s just that when I open the soprano case I think “Oh yeah, I need to get around to fixing that cork” and then I put on the tape and the mouthpiece and spend a happy hour or two making noise.

 

[Dr G]

The rub with that cork in the image is that unless the excess is removed, the "hump" will ultimately deteriorate and crumble. I see that as a failure waiting to happen - not of question of "Will it get worse?". Those predictable failure opportunities are the ones I fix as soon as I notice them.

 

[turf3]

The rub with that cork in the image is that unless the excess is removed, the "hump" will ultimately deteriorate and crumble. I see that as a failure waiting to happen - not of question of "Will it get worse?". Those predictable failure opportunities are the ones I fix as soon as I notice them.

That's what I think, Steve thinks it'll lay back down OK. We'll see. Neither one of us has the thing in front of us, just one picture.

 

[Colin the Bear]

It takes less than a minute to replace the neck cork with that self adhesive synthetic cork. Lasts ages. Can't think what it's called.🤔

 

[Stephen Howard]

That's what I think, Steve thinks it'll lay back down OK. We'll see. Neither one of us has the thing in front of us, just one picture.

It'll be fine. Cork's a very compressible material.

 

[thomsax]

It takes less than a minute to replace the neck cork with that self adhesive synthetic cork. Lasts ages. Can't think what it's called.🤔

Yes. If you want to replace the cork with a natural cork, sheet or tube, you have to put in some extra time.

 

[Pete Thomas]

The only thing I would add to the excellent advice is that just on the left of the cork where it’s come away there is one of the natural holes on the cork. Possibly a very slight split. Make sure the glue is properly holding it down well all over but specifically around that area.

 

[atwl77]

That's what I think, Steve thinks it'll lay back down OK. We'll see. Neither one of us has the thing in front of us, just one picture.

It's a lot less excess material if I am not applying pressure to the cork to emphasize it:

 

[atwl77]

Anyway, things did not turn out the way I had hoped and it's been a pretty disappointing day, overall. Due to the 2-image limit, I'm gonna split my post into several posts.

---

First of all, it's a lot harder that it looks, to try and insert glue into the gap using a toothpick. So, I gave up on that and tried liquid superglue instead, hoping that maybe I could get some glue inside via capillary action. I thought I managed that, but after waiting for the glue to set, it didn't seem to work.

So I decided to replace the entire cork -- something I was hesitating originally, because I could never get my mobile phone screen protectors installed perfectly the first time. I'd always waste one or two sheets before I got something I was satisfied with; I imagined I'd run into the same kind of thing when dealing with contact glue.

Anyway, the old cork came off relatively easily. Only a few bits and pieces were actually stuck and had to be scraped away with the back of a sacrificial reed. In fact, the majority of the neck seemed pristine:

I couldn't get those bits of hardened glue off with the sacrificial reed though; I ended up scraping them off with a knife.