Klarinet Archive - Posting 000218.txt from 1994/02

From: Cary Karp <nrm-karp@-----.SE>
Subj: Re: Clarinet and soprano saxophone? (no problem - go for it!)
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 1994 03:56:46 -0500

On Wed, 16 Feb 1994, Michael B. Favreau wrote:

> Watch out for curved sopranos!!!!
> They are notoriously very hard to play in tune (that's why they began to make
> them straight, they were originally curved) and I find the tone to be stuffier
> than a Buffet R13 A clarinet (OOPS, I hope I didn't start trouble).

I'm delighted that a real saxophonist is now contributing to this discussion.

I certainly agree with the caveat, but am not sure that the original
sopranos were curved. Old Man Sax made straight ones and I'm pretty sure
that the patent drawings verify this as his original intention. I can ferret
out the documentation if anyone wants and am speaking from first hand
contact with Sax's instruments as far as the hardware goes.

I believe that the curved model started its life as a vaudeville gimmick in
the States. Good ones can be very good, indeed, but they're not easy to
find. Their sound differs more from that of the straight instrument in
the ears of the player than in the ears of the audience. Since it's hard
to make an in-tune soprano, in any case, the extra fiddliness of making
one curved provides nothing other than additional trouble.