Technical LibraryACTION VI: Replacing a broken quill Entire Contents Copyright © 2010 CBH |
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Assembling your tools… Firstly, you’ll need to collect some tools, if you haven’t done so already. I hope the maker of your instrument has at least given you a few spare quills: Be sure to match the plectra material, and not use Celcon to replace odd quills in an instrument which was originally voiced in Delrin. For safety, always support your quill on a block. Any endgrain hardwood block is fine—we often use rejected sharps. Work with the sharpest of knives under good lighting conditions. Most surgical scalpels are a bit too flexible at the tip— I far prefer an X-Acto hobby knife with a #11 blade. The blades dull rapidly, so keep a few fresh ones on hand. You'll also need some means of removing the stub of the broken quill from the tongue, and reinserting the new blank.
You’ll find many useful materials and tools on our Spare Parts page. Removing the dead quill Support the back of the tongue while you grab the remaining stub of the quill, and push firmly. If there is nothing to grab hold of, you will have to do some operating from the front, perhaps using the tip of the fine jeweller’s screwdriver. Go easy, because you do not want to split either a wooden or plastic tongue, nor make the hole so large that the quill is going to slop around—the last thing you want is for it to fall out when you play. Inserting the new quill This is a good time to check that the jack is in its correct slot: Often the top jack has been pinched to get a note in the midrange playing in an emergency, but if you keep doing that instead of fixing the problem, pretty soon the whole instrument becomes unplayable! |
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Replacing a delrin quill Carey Beebe demonstrating replacement of a delrin quill. |
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Technical Library overview |
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