The Shop

The Shop
My name is Jake Rendell. This blog is a description of the various skills and information that I have learned and will learn while studying at Minnesota State Southeast Technical, in the Band Instrument Repair Program. Before coming to study in the BIR Program, I graduated cum laude from Laurentian University with a B.A. Music - Vocal in 2010, and First Class Standing with a B.Ed. I/S Music from Lakehead University in 2011. This final certification from MSC-ST will finish in May of 2012. I will try to update this blog on a weekly basis.

Week 14 - November 21st and 22nd

This week was a short week here in Red Wing. Thanks to school meetings and Thanksgiving Holidays, we were in school for a total of two days. We used one of these days to have some fun on the lathe.

This week we made some tuba valve stems from scratch. We began with a 1/4" brass stock, turning it to length and threading one end. To ensure proper piston function and porting, the length of the stem body had to be precise. The stem was faced down to a specific length and drilled out. Finally, the stem was tapped, cleaned, and tested with its corresponding valve button.


 In preparation for working on flutes, we made a flute screw board. The pattern was pasted onto a block of pine and holes were drilled out. Nothing fancy, but it works quite well. To end off the week, we were given flutes to practice nomenclature and maintenance on. This flute is an Artley student level flute. With a five day weekend ahead, we dive into the flute world next week.


As a last note, I have posted a page dedicated to the process of the Armstrong project clarinet. For more information, leave a comment or email me at airbandrepair@gmail.com.

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