Klarinet Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 1994/09

From: Timothy Tikker <tjt@-----.ORG>
Subj: Re: full Boehm?
Date: Tue, 6 Sep 1994 12:28:25 -0400

On Tue, 6 Sep 1994, Jay Heiser, Business Development wrote:

> Who makes such a thing? I've never brought up the articulated G#
> thing (you can get it on that gold-plated Pete Fountain horn),
> but now that somebody else mentioned it, it seems like a nice thing
> to have. What's the disadvantage of having one? Sitting at my desk
> w/o a clarinet, I can't think of any fingerings that wouldn't be
> available with an articulated G#.

My full-Boehm was made by (French) Selmer in 1930. I think that any of
the big-name makers will make it on special order at least.

I forgot to mention one thing: there's also a right-hand key between the
2nd and 3rd fingers, same type as between the 3rd and 4th, which is an
alternate to the left hand 5th finger C#/g#.

"Articulated g#" means that if one plays B/f# but holds down the C#/g# key,
one can trill the RH middle finger (as if trilling B-C/f#-g) and get a
B-C#/f#-g# trill. The advantage is that this trill is otherwise very
clumsy, even impossible, on the standard-Boehm clarinet. The main idea
behind this device was to be able to handle a B-flat-C/g-a trill when
transposing A clarinet parts.

My full-Boehm is metal, so I have no trouble with a weak joint where the
hole in the tenon is. The only disadvantage I find with full-Boehm is
that the RH E/b key is hard to find between the F#/c# and low E-flat keys
(I problem I don't recall having when playing bass clarinet with this
setup - must be that b.c. keys were larger).