Klarinet Archive - Posting 000113.txt from 1999/02

From: "Gordon Macey" <g.macey@-----.uk>
Subj: [kl] Bore sizes
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 16:35:55 -0500

John Dablin wrote

I'm very grateful to Tony Pay for such a comprehensive reply to my
request for information about the Boosey and Hawkes 1010.
> According to Jon Steward, the bore size of a 1010 clarinet was supposed
> to be .600 inches, which is 15.24mm
Oops! If Tom Ridenour is correct then I don't have much chance at all of
playing in tune. Following suggestions made in response to a previous
post of mine about intonation, I've been testing my B flat instrument
against a tuning meter, and I was surprised at quite how much variation
there was, even on adjacent notes. For example, top line F is good, but
the G a tone above is flat. The throat G sharp, A and B flat measure
flat, but when I'm playing they feel sharp some days, I think it depends
on the weather :-) Similarly I've always found it easy to vary the
pitch in the altissimo register quite a lot, but the flip side is you
need a very good ear to hit the notes in tune first time.

Looking back to the time I bought them, I think we were extremely
parochial those days. I never even considered buying anything else,
after all, Jack Brymer played 1010s, so they *must* be the best. When I
joined the RAF in 1963 I was issued with a plastic B & H 926, and as far
as I know the RAF bought nothing else. I knew about Buffet, but they
were ... well ... French. B & H were solid English stuff, made in
Edgware, after all. Selmer? But they made saxophones. LeBlanc?
Le-who? No Klarinet list in those days, all I knew was learnt from
teachers or colleagues, who probably didn't know much more than me.

John, just caught up with this,

Interesting to read your note, although a little late, about the good old
B&H 1010 which I had a pair of up until quite recently. Like you I was in
the UK forces but in one of the Army bands , The Gordon Highlanders in fact,
and it was when the band amalgamated under the government review that a lot
of the instruments were sold off. I picked a pair up for less than the price
of a B12.

I agree that the large bore caused certain intonation problems but one
learned to adjust and the plus point was always the sound which was the
selling point and indeed one of my favourite recordings of the Mozart K622
was played by Jack Brymer in the 60's. I looked forward to getting him as my
"professor" at the Royal Military School of Music but I ended up with Paul
Harvey, not a bad substitute.

I found that the Peter Eaton Mouthpieces were pretty well matched as the
Elite and the 1010 are somewhat similar in bore size and I experimented with
various bored out models but found the Peter Eaton focussed the tuning
pretty well. I eventually sold them on and bought Buffets but remember them
with not a little affection.

One thing I do miss is the regulation adjusting screw for E/B which made the
adjustment a breeze, Peter Eaton's and Howarth clarinets have this and
Howarth's even go so far as to have an adjusting screw which takes care of
long Eb/Bb. I just wonder why no one else has this or is it a Question of
patent, anyway it makes life so much simpler.

 

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