Klarinet Archive - Posting 000169.txt from 1998/09

From: Jack Kissinger <kissingerjn@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: [kl] Short barrels
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 23:06:05 -0400

Mark Bradley wrote:

> Yes the 65mm barrel on my E-11 really was a problem for me before I got
> a new barrel. (BTW, I use a Vandoren M13 mouthpiece) Every time I put
> the instrument together I had to pull the barrel out automatically since
> it would *always* be sharp, 100% of the time. I use a 66mm (or 67 I
> can't remember) barrel now that is from an R13 and I am more in tune.
> Even the conductor at music camp noticed the tuning improvement. I do
> wish that the standard E-11 barrel was a little bit longer since that
> would have saved me a few bucks. I think that the barrel on my old
> resonite Signet is even longer. I wonder why they use the short barrels
> but maybe it is not a problem for most of the players that use an E-11.
>

FWIW, the other day as I was going through some old messages, I found one
with an address for Fred Scheim's web page. There, (in addition to a nice
picture of Fred ;^) ), I found an old brochure on clarinet care published in
the 50's by Carl Fischer. The brochure focuses on Buffet clarinets that
Fischer carried at the time. It states that the standard barrel for the R13
at that time was 65mm and that, with that barrel, the instrument was tuned to
A = 443! The brochure went on to recommend that, if anyone needed to tune to
A @-----. My 1963 Buffet came with a 65mm
barrel and is still sharp compared to a tuner set for A = 440 even when I use
a 67mm barrel. I believe that Buffet, perhaps in the 70's (?), changed to a
66mm barrel as standard. For some reason that may not have filtered down to
the Evettes. If anything, however, I believe Buffet has LOWERED the pitch at
least of its R13s since the 1950's.

Something to think about.

Best regards,
Jack Kissinger
St. Louis

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