Klarinet Archive - Posting 000084.txt from 1994/05

From: Clark W Fobes <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Clarinet "Blow-out"
Date: Wed, 4 May 1994 13:24:35 -0400

In a recent post Dan Leeson thought that I had stated that he and I were
in a agreement as to whether or not clarinets become "blown out". In point
of fact I stated that Mr. Leeson and I are in complete opposition on that
idea. (I believe clarinets become "blown out" in 10 - 15 years and he
emphatically does not).

I wanted to clear this up , because it is the major point of irritation
in our long and annoying relationship. It is , in fact, the grain of sand
that has produced many wonderful pearls of abrasive commentary from Mr.
Leeson. If we were to ever agree on this one point I think the world might
come to a stop.

However, I do maintain that clarinets do change over time. In almost 20
years of repairing instruments and 5 years of selling new instruments, I
have probably played well over 1,000 clarinets. From my experience with my
personal instruments and many other instruments I can say subjectively
that clarinets lose resistance over time , change negatively in regard to
tuning parameters and pitch center becomes less distinct.

I am not certain that these subjective observations can be set in
scientific or measurable terms, but many players have come to me with
very similar complaints about their aging instruments.

I have some thoughts on why this occurs. Probably the the most
significant change in the instrument takes place where the undercut
portion of the tone hole meets the bore. Over many years of swabbing this
area becomes rounded and polished. I know from my work with voicing
instruments that "rough" sounding tones in new instruments can be softened
by removing the extreme sharp edges left from tooling. (Don't try this at
home unless you already know what you are doing!)

The positive result of this long term polishing is that older instruments
have a very smooth legato where as newer instruments are more defined
from note to note. In extreme cases, though, the pitch center becomes elusive
and less convincing.

I have also noticed that as clarinets age that the twelfths become wider,
particularly at either end of the instrument. The third register tends to
sharpness and becomes "wild". These problems may be a result of the bore
diameter increasing generally.

Some of these problems can usually be minimized by changing to a tapered
barrell or by changing to a slightly smaller diameter barrel.

One last point regarding older Buffet clarinets. I have observed that
Buffet made some changes in tunig and playing charactersitics around serial
number 110,000 and 220,000. In my opinion the clarinets made after 220,000
have much better tuning parameters than earlier models. I am referring only
to R-13 clarinets.

Clark W Fobes reedman@-----.com (415) 585-0636