My wife picked up a Schott tenor recorder for a song (sic). It has a lovely mellow tone.
The joints are wound with waxed thread, and have a brass ring on the outside. Well, one brass ring, the one from the top joint is missing.
When this is played for 10min or so, it buzzes. One suggestion is to try to replace the missing brass ring to stabilize the top joint.
I was also wondering about replacing the waxed thread with cork. This would seem to be more stable and less likely to allow the joint to rock.
What do you sages think?
cork or waxed thread joints.
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Yuri
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Re: cork or waxed thread joints.
Cork has no advantages over thread. It's faaaar less forgiving. What you do is simply wind a bit more thread on, and cover it with cork grease.
In fact, I have come across a situation where two people had to pull two joints of a recorder apart, pushing each other by the feet. It's a miracle the insrument hasn't broken up. It was corked.
A lot of professional players travelling around from one kind of weather into another do this: they have an amount of thread of one colour on for a wet climate, and when arriving into a dry climate, add some thread of a different colour. Going back to wet, they know how much to take off.
And as a last aside, a few big-name companies, especially in Germany are returning to thread for the more expensive instrumnts.
In fact, I have come across a situation where two people had to pull two joints of a recorder apart, pushing each other by the feet. It's a miracle the insrument hasn't broken up. It was corked.
A lot of professional players travelling around from one kind of weather into another do this: they have an amount of thread of one colour on for a wet climate, and when arriving into a dry climate, add some thread of a different colour. Going back to wet, they know how much to take off.
And as a last aside, a few big-name companies, especially in Germany are returning to thread for the more expensive instrumnts.
Re: cork or waxed thread joints.
The Internet being what it is, if you ask five people you'll get ten answers. 
In my opinion, the advantages of thread caulking is that it is easily adjusted and replaced. It's disadvantage is that it needs constant adjustment and replacement. I play in wildly changing environments from sweltering humidity to climates so arid your nose will bleed. I have put cork on all my thread-caulked instruments and have never regretted it for a minute. You couldn't make me go back to thread if you held a gun to my head. Corking a joint must be done properly though, and while you can learn to do it yourself (I cork all my instruments), if in doubt leave it to an experienced technician. Treated with appropriate care, a well corked joint will last for years.
But on the other hand thread is very traditional, and a great many players take pride in maintaining traditions. I think that’s a good thing. I've never had any problem specific to thread caulking, it's just that I find cork to be less work and for my individual purposes, far more mechanically stable and reliable.
As for a jammed joint, I've never experienced that, and can only imagine that the case in point was a very unusual circumstance. Perhaps the instrument was poorly corked or left together for an unacceptably long time? Perhaps it was dropped? At any rate, I would not allow fear of that to change my mind about cork. But should a jam occur, I would leave that to a competent technician as well.
P.S. I would have that missing ring looked after. The ring is much more important to the continued success of the instrument than either thread or cork, and is far more likely to be a source of trouble.
In my opinion, the advantages of thread caulking is that it is easily adjusted and replaced. It's disadvantage is that it needs constant adjustment and replacement. I play in wildly changing environments from sweltering humidity to climates so arid your nose will bleed. I have put cork on all my thread-caulked instruments and have never regretted it for a minute. You couldn't make me go back to thread if you held a gun to my head. Corking a joint must be done properly though, and while you can learn to do it yourself (I cork all my instruments), if in doubt leave it to an experienced technician. Treated with appropriate care, a well corked joint will last for years.
But on the other hand thread is very traditional, and a great many players take pride in maintaining traditions. I think that’s a good thing. I've never had any problem specific to thread caulking, it's just that I find cork to be less work and for my individual purposes, far more mechanically stable and reliable.
As for a jammed joint, I've never experienced that, and can only imagine that the case in point was a very unusual circumstance. Perhaps the instrument was poorly corked or left together for an unacceptably long time? Perhaps it was dropped? At any rate, I would not allow fear of that to change my mind about cork. But should a jam occur, I would leave that to a competent technician as well.
P.S. I would have that missing ring looked after. The ring is much more important to the continued success of the instrument than either thread or cork, and is far more likely to be a source of trouble.
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crookedtune
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Re: cork or waxed thread joints.
I, too, prefer cork. But for my Casey Burns flute, which has thread, I just add waxed dental floss when needed to tighten it up. (Hit it with some grease, too). Not a big deal, and it's easily removed if it starts feeling too tight.
Charlie Gravel
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
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brewerpaul
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Re: cork or waxed thread joints.
What exactly seems to be buzzing?
If it's a buzzing tone when you play, you may be dealing with nothing more than breath condensation in the windway. The fact that this arises after 10 minutes of playing suggests this diagnosis.
Try sucking in your breath sharply when the buzz starts and see if that doesn't help.
Good idea to try to replace that ring anyway to prevent splitting if you can get it done cheaply. I don't think the old Schott recorders are very valuable so it may not be worth spending a lot on a repair.
If it's a buzzing tone when you play, you may be dealing with nothing more than breath condensation in the windway. The fact that this arises after 10 minutes of playing suggests this diagnosis.
Try sucking in your breath sharply when the buzz starts and see if that doesn't help.
Good idea to try to replace that ring anyway to prevent splitting if you can get it done cheaply. I don't think the old Schott recorders are very valuable so it may not be worth spending a lot on a repair.
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Adrian
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Re: cork or waxed thread joints.
I also replaced the cork joints on my collection of wooden recorders with waxed thread a couple of years ago. The thread option works much better for me as it is much more forgiving and more easy to adjust in this climate. Before this I had a corked joint seize rock solid for several days on two separate occasions.