Klarinet Archive - Posting 000186.txt from 1995/06

From: thehat@-----.ORG
Subj: questionable buying/ tuning advice
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 1995 18:04:37 -0400

On 06-10-95, INTERNET: lgbuick@-----.L wrote to ** ALL **:

>------------------------------------
- If you want to modify the holes to change the pitch permanently, it's
much easier and safer to close down a hole (lowering the pitch) using
tape,
wax, or nail polish (all of which are easily removable) than to open it up
by filing, undercutting or drilling (all of which require specialised
tools
and skills and are not undoable).

Have I overlooked some key point?
>------------------------------------

Any new clarinet which one expects to use professionally will have to be
overhauled when new. The mechanism needs to be regulated, the pads should
all be replaced and some of the tone holes need to be refined, plus more.

Intonation, as you say, can be adjusted up by undercutting, a process well
within the capability of a Bill Brannen or a Tim Clark or a Mark Jacobi,
etc. Brannen always told me never to buy a clarinet with sharp throat
tones "It's easy to take wood out of there, but you can't put it back in!"
he says. Why fuss with tape when it's not necessary?

Of course, if the thumb f and adjoining f# are also flat, the
corresponding notes (b/c) in the upper registre had better be low as well,
otherwise you will have real problems.

---
This copy of Freddie 1.2.5 is being evaluated.