Klarinet Archive - Posting 000560.txt from 1998/08

From: "MARY A. VINQUIST" <kenshaw@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Leblanc Infinite + cracking
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 12:39:07 -0400

At the ClarinetFest this summer, I played a number of Opus, Concerto and
Infinite instruments. The Opus and Concerto were quite similar, but the
Infinite did not play the same. =

I asked Tom Ridenour, who designed them, about the differences. He said=

that the Opus and Concerto were identical in design and did not seek to
reproduce any other instrument. =

Leblanc's literature states that the Infinite has the same design as the
Opus and Concerto, except that it has the Leblanc "jump key" keywork. =

However, Tom said the Infinite is in fact an attempt to produce the same
playing qualities as the Buffet R-13 and is quite different from the Opus=

and Concerto. Tom said he recommends that R-13 players try the Infinite,=

which solves some of the tuning and evenness of scale problems while
preserving the R-13 sound and response.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Concerning cracking, repairmen have always told me that the places most
likely to crack are where the wood is thinnest. Oboes have a very thin
area between the two trill keys above the left index finger, and this is
where they almost always crack. Jim Caldwell (former principal in the
National Symphony) told me that John DeLancie in Philadelphia had this
happen so often that he never went on stage without a soft leather
briefcase (the kind that opens at the top into a "V" shape), which he kep=
t
open and put a second oboe into the "V" so that he could grab it quickly
when the one he was playing cracked. I can vouch for this, as I saw him
carry the briefcase onstage and lay a second oboe in the opening.

On the clarinet, the thin area is between the bottom of the socket on the=

lower joint and the top of the hole covered by the key attached to the
right hand rings. It's made even thinner at the bottom by any undercutti=
ng
of the hole. The problem is exacerbated on instruments with the
articulated C#/G#, on which the socket must be even deeper.

The other common site of cracking on the clarinet is the top of the upper=

joint. Kalmen Opperman told me that this is usually caused by shrinkage =
of
the bottom socket of the barrel, combined with leaving the instrument
assembled, which creates high pressure on the top of the tenon. The
cracking occurs when you twist or, worse, wiggle the barrel from side to
side to break it loose.

I would think that the upper joint would also be more likely to crack
because it is practically girdled with tone holes and screws at about the=

level of the left thumb -- the thumb hole, Ab hole, A hole, left index
finger hole and the one above it operated by the left index finger ring,
plus the metal thumb hole insert and 6 or 7 posts screwed in to support t=
he
keys. Certainly all that metal, shrinking and swelling at different rate=
s
than the wood, and being incompressible as the wood swells, could produce=
a
lot of strain, particularly at the top of the upper joint, which is more
affected by warmth and moisture from the breath.

Cracking is nothing new. Several years ago, I heard Harold Wright play t=
he
Brahms Quintet with the most gorgeous sound I have ever heard before or
since. When I went backstage, he told me that he had used Ralph McLane's=

Buffet A clarinet. He said that the instrument had cracked constantly fo=
r
McLane and showed me a silver ring that Moennig finally had to install to=

stabilize it. He said it was still the finest A clarinet he had ever
played.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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