Klarinet Archive - Posting 000416.txt from 2000/05

From: "W. Edinger" <wde1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] beer, ligatures, and Albert
Date: Sun, 7 May 2000 16:52:16 -0400

1) 10 pints of Guinness?!? Hell, I can't even have a glass of wine with
dinner anymore and not have it screw up my Thursday night rehearsal.
That, my H.S. friends, is all part of the Middle Ages (and I don't mean
Europe prior to 1500).
2) I've tended to discount the effects of things like ligatures as
making more than marginal, possibly mostly psycho-somatic differences,
until I got a new Bay ligature (from The Man himself in return for a
favor) a few weeks ago. I was absolutely startled at the improved tone
and response that I got on any kind of reed I used. I might even
actually buy one for my Eb, it was such an improvement. OTOH, I've
tried Rovners, Luybens, and Bonades, along with an assortment of other
such no-name devices I've accumulated since the early '60s, and never
found a whole lot of differences between them. And then I met Charles
Bay...
3) My 1907 Buffet Albert Bb is finally in playing condition, after a
round trip to Paris Customs (but not the Buffet factory), followed by
another trip to Toronto, where Steve Fox worked his magic, and some
final amateurish adjustments by me. Someone recently pointed out the
uncomfortable nature of playing an Albert, and he was quite right. The
thumbrest is positioned so low that the thumb lines up with the middle
RH finger, so that's going to have to be changed. The pads are of
different sizes than Boehm pads, so I had to trim a few Valentino pads
to get some that fit. And does anyone have any recommendations for
loosening the rollers on the roller keys on these things? They seem to
be seized to the screws that act as axles, and I don't want to break
anything. Parts for a 1907 Albert are a little tough to find. Finally,
this thing is HP (High Pitch), so it plays about a half-step sharp. Can
someone tell me what frequency of "A" a HP instrument is made to?

Bill Edinger

*****************
"Music and wine are one." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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