Klarinet Archive - Posting 000074.txt from 1997/01

From: Anne Bell <Anne_Bell@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: 2 Q's - Oil and E/B lever
Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 04:05:04 -0500

This may be painfully obvious but I would have a repairman check the pad
alignment for your lower keys. If one of them, particularly, but not
necessarily the lowest, is crooked it will seal with pressure but not respond
quickly to a soft touch. The low E doesn't act as rudely under normal
circumstances anyway. You can take a pad tester- it looks like a toothpick
with a very thin and narrow strip of some kind of paper attached to the end-
and close the pad with the paper sticking into the tone hole. Then gently
pull it out, checking for resistance. Check the entire perimeter of the
seating surface. With normal pressure to the key the tension felt should be
approximately the same the whole way around. The left key could be worse
because of some other mechanical difficulty but I would assume that since the
force applied is spread over such a long distance that it would magnify a pad
misalignment problem. Hopefully this is the problem since it is a very easy
fix! Good Luck
` Anne Bell
Anne_Bell@-----.com
----------
I thought I had made it clear in the message, but I meant B natural, not B
flat. I have known about this fingering for a while, but I prefer to use my
knuckle instead of my thumb (lot less awkward). I should also mention that
my problem, although it affects both the left and right keys, it is much
more noticable with the left key (more mechanical action?). Thanks again.

Christopher J. Thibeault