Klarinet Archive - Posting 000914.txt from 2000/03

From: "John W. Sheridan" <otare@-----.au>
Subj: [kl] Buffet intonation
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 20:55:05 -0500

I was playing along with a student recently and noticed we were badly out of
tune. I dragged out my Korg pocket tuner, to demonstrate the difficulty must
be hers - a beginner of around 6 lessons, and to my embarassment discovered
that she was right on the money and it was I who was out. I did a slow scale
and found everything below the break was about a half step flat, while
everything above the break was equally sharp. I remembered a recent
commentary about the very same thing but it seemed to relate to the "cheap"
beginner instruments - this is a wood Buffet - made approximately 1952 -
described here as an early R 13. I'm wondering if this is a familiar
problem with older Buffets - and while I don't perform professionally - just
with students and a couple local bands if I should consider a newer
instrument. I just had it overhauled and it has a great sound, with no
cracks or other flaws. I'd previously assumed that my alto sax playing
might induce me to be flat on the clarinet, but it was the same amount sharp
all the way up to high G. I tried droping my embouchure until I was
practically drooling but I couldn't get close to the correct pitch.
A further question - I've been using a Selmer C85 120 with Vandoren 2 1/2 -
3 reeds - have a good strong tone but difficulty with high notes, so from
advice from this board I've received a Vandoren B45 and Vandoren 5RV,
waiting for a Selmer C85 105 to try. So far the B45 seems to enable the
higher notes. Here in Austalia these mouthpieces run $150. and I'm tempted
to order the B45 and Selmer both from BW WW. I tried the B45 and my C85 with
the tuning meter and it showed equal out of tune characteristics with both.
Any constructive comments would be appreciated.

John

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