Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 1999/02

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bore sizes
Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 04:29:57 -0500

I met a player of the large bore Peter Eaton instruments a while ago who
*despised* the 1010 - said they were nasty, mass-produced intruments,
whereas the PEs were nicely hand-finished.......
rjs

On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Gordon Macey wrote:

> Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 21:35:55 -0000
> From: Gordon Macey <g.macey@-----.uk>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: "Klarinet@-----.org>
> Subject: [kl] Bore sizes
>=20
> John Dablin wrote
>=20
> 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.
>=20
> 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.
>=20
> John, just caught up with this,
>=20
> 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 i=
n
> the UK forces but in one of the Army bands , The Gordon Highlanders in fa=
ct,
> and it was when the band amalgamated under the government review that a l=
ot
> of the instruments were sold off. I picked a pair up for less than the pr=
ice
> of a B12.
>=20
> 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 K62=
2
> 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 Pau=
l
> Harvey, not a bad substitute.
>=20
> 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 w=
ith
> various bored out models but found the Peter Eaton focussed the tuning
> pretty well. I eventually sold them on and bought Buffets but remember t=
hem
> with not a little affection.
>=20
> 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 o=
f
> long Eb/Bb. I just wonder why no one else has this or is it a Question o=
f
> patent, anyway it makes life so much simpler.
>=20
> =A0
>=20
>=20
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>=20
>=20

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