Klarinet Archive - Posting 000529.txt from 1999/08

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Sumner mpcs and Signet Special
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 11:42:19 -0400

Thanks very much to Dee D. Hays, Ross Anderson, Doug Phillips, Scott Morrow,
Christopher Hill and Gregory Smith for the information about my yard sale
finds, the rubber Sumner mouthpiece with the Selmer Signet Special clarinet.
I've now tried the Sumner on everything I've got that's playable. This seems
like a good, basic mouthpiece, although it's probably too resistant for a
young child (or any beginner). It gives out a well-balanced tone. I plan to
keep it.

The 1975-ish Signet Special Bb clarinet has turned out to be a keeper, a
major surprise, given the negative majority opinion about this instrument.
Lavish amounts of cork grease and bore oil had turned gummy in long storage,
and had attracted and held a lot of dirt. All I've done so far is clean the
case and the clarinet and re-glue pads and corks that had come loose. The
pads weren't rotted after all. Most of the dark brown discoloration came off
with Listerine (high alcohol content -- chose that because of lingering
traces of "smoker's breath") after I'd finished cleaning up the wood and
metal. Under the grime, the pads had deteriorated less than I'd thought.
The instrument is playable right now and I don't plan to re-pad it after all,
unless these pads turn out to have "the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb" (by which
I mean that sometimes old pads on a clarinet left unplayed for a long time
will seem all right at first, but then they'll pack down and disintegrate
rather suddenly, once someone starts using them again).

I like the feel of the keys. Someone commented in the Archives that the keys
are set close together and that it might be a good clarinet for someone with
small hands. I agree with that. I have very small hands with thin fingers
and I find this key layout unusually comfortable, although I have to remember
not to "reach" or else I overshoot with the pinkie fingers. I can see how
someone with big hands and thick fingers might hate this layout, however.

This clarinet has a big, loud voice and projects like crazy. I tried all my
mouthpieces with it. With any of them, it would hold its own against a loud
brass section. It might sound especially good for klezmer or hot jazz. A
clarinetist playing classical music in the second or third section might have
to throttle back to make it this instrument "blend" well, but IMHO it would
make a good, prominent first clarinet.

I've read many disapproving comments (especially in the Archives) about
Signet intonation, but Scott Morrow likes his Signet Special. I think
everybody's right! Scott, has someone adjusted your upper section key cork
heights? Couldn't find many specifics about what other people found wrong,
but I suspect that custom adjustment might account for why Scott's clarinet
sounds good, and might improve some of the unsatisfactory Signet Specials out
there.

My yard sale find has slightly wide twelfths, not bad at all, with no other
significant problems. However, I found much evidence that someone made major
adjustments after-market. (It's a basic Boehm system, with no special
features -- no low Eb, articulated G#/C# or forked Bb/Eb.) With the grime
cleaned off, some of the key corks are conspicuously paler and newer-looking
than others, and these newer corks are very unusual heights.

In particular, the register key and the throat A and Ab have newer-looking
(or more recently sanded down), paper-thin corks under the key touches.
Both throat A and Ab sound slightly flat. Side Eb/Bb has a new-looking,
extremely thick cork under the key touch where it contacts the bridge. The
key still gapes open like an alligator's mouth, but it's in tune above the
break and only slightly flat below. G#/C# has a fresh- looking, paper-thin,
sanded-down or replaced cork. It's just a hair flat on below-staff C# and
right on pitch for top-space G#. Notice the consistency: All these notes
play on pitch above the break and slightly flat below the break.

These recently-altered cork heights are so extreme that if this clarinet came
from the factory with the more typical-looking setup, I'll bet it was
impossible to play on pitch. The more recent work was intelligently done,
because the other wide twelfths, on the keys that don't seem to have been
adjusted later (including the whole lower section; all the adjustments are on
the upper section), also show up only below the register break. The repair
tech maintained the same pattern, with the result that it's easy for the
clarinetist to remember to "lip up" consistently from the break on down.

Bottom line: I'm keeping both the clarinet and the mouthpiece. I'm
delighted to have this clarinet, since my only good wooden Bb clarinet was my
1937 Buffet. I want to preserve the "vintage" instrument, so I think the
Signet Special will become my practice workhorse for now.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to send information!

Lelia

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org