Klarinet Archive - Posting 000781.txt from 1999/04

From: Sfdr@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: HANS MOENNIG'S ANSWER TO UNDERTONES
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 01:55:04 -0400

After reading the most recent postings on clarinet undertones, I
wanted to share a few thoughts on the problem.
In 1978, I was accepted as the last apprentice of the great woodwind
repairman, W. Hans Moennig. During that time I was able to observe and
document some of his most guarded acoustical secrets and repair techniques.
Many of his acoustical innovations were developed at the request of famous
orchestral clarinetist such as Ralph McLane, Bob McGinnis, Robert Marcellus
and Harold Wright.
One day, Mr. Wright brought a Buffet R-13 to Mr. Moennig as he was
having trouble with the High A, B, and C breaking and producing an undertone.
Mr. Moennig informed him that the undertone problem on his clarinet was very
complicated and could not be resolved with one single remedy. At that point
Mr. Moennig used the following techniques to correct the age old problem
which had plagued clarinetist since the 1920s.

1. He removed the register tube and replaced it with and shorter
one to improve the
response of the High A, B, and C while playing Pianissimo.

2. He added a Moennig reverse cone barrel to improve the wide
twelfths of the left
hand notes.

3. He undercut the three tone holes to clarify the timbre of the
notes.

4. He changed the interior shape of the register tube to an hour
glass design which
improved the timbre of the throat B flat without making the
High A, B, and C play
sharper.

5. Finally he installed a cork pad on the register key and beveled
the perimeter of
pad with an emery board instead of lowering the key opening.
Mr. Moennig felt
that reducing the key opening added friction the throat B flat
and caused it
to become stuffy.

I hope these tips will help you with you undertone problems! For more
information on the Exact Moennig tube dimensions, please feel free to contact
me.

Good Luck,
Alvin Swiney
Affordable
Music Co.
P. O. Box 4245
Virginia
Beach, VA 23454
757-412-2160
Fax 412-2158
E mail
sfdr@-----.com

.

<< >I am having trouble eliminating an overtone (or maybe its an
>"undertone") I get when playing at the top of the clarion register. I
>get a soft tone an 11th below the note I am playing. This happens
>mainly from the A thru C. For example, when I play a C (T + RK), I also
>get a faint throat G. For a B, a throat F. My old instructor noticed
>it, but we couldn't figure out a way to get rid of it. It typically
>happens when playing softer-not much problem when playing louder.
>Perhaps I'm pinching? I am using #3 V12's on an R-13. Thanks in
>advance for any suggestions!

I had read earlier on this list that this undertone problem could be
corrected by minimizing the opening of the register key. I had been having
this problem when I first got my new-to-me Eb, and reducing the amount the
register key opened significantly helped. This is easy to try without
major surgery to the clarinet by putting a small piece of note card (or two
or three) on the body of the clarinet, under the key, with double sided
tape, at the point where the cork on the underside of the key contacts the
clarinet (right next to the thumb hole).

Don Yungkurth (clarinet@-----.net)

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