Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 1997/03

From: jay.seifried@-----.COM
Subj: Re[2]: A Clarinet bores (was: barrels)
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 13:08:04 -0500

Interestingly, I was unable to find any currently available NEW clarinets
where the bore size is different from A to Bb in the same model 'family'.

For example:
Yamaha Custom SE Series Bb and A bore - .568
Leblanc Concerto Series (1189) Bb and A bore - .575
Leblanc Noblet Model 45/45A Bb and A bore - .584
Buffet Prestige RC bore size not listed but side-by-
side photo clearly shows the A
model about 20-30 mm longer
Selmer Recital Series Bb and A bore - .563
Selmer 10G Series Bb and A bore - .574

So, as a decidedly amateur player who does not actually own an A clarinet,
and have only played one occasionally in the past, I'm wondering if recent
production standards/practices from the major manufacturers have changed, or
am I just too uninformed on the REAL WORLD of clarinetting.

Jay Seifried

> >This is correct. Have you ever noticed that your A clarinet is more
> >resistant than your Bb? This is, no doubt, a result of the smaller bore.
>
> I've often wondered about this. I have always theorized, with no
> scientific evidence to cite at all, that the reason an A Clarinet is
> normally made with a smaller bore was to avoid having to lengthen the
> instrument body (and therefore the tone hole/finger spacings) any more than
> necessary. The reason for this would presumably be a less drastic change
> for the player's fingers when switching instruments. If an A clarinet were
> made longer with a correspondingly larger bore diameter so that the pitch
> of the instrument were still correct, would the resulting instrument play
> more freely than most modern A clarinets do? Or would the additional
> resistance over what we get from a normal Bb clarinet still be there, now
> because of greater air volume that needs to be moved?