Klarinet Archive - Posting 000043.txt from 2001/10

From: Tom.Henson@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Eaton International Bb Clarinet
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 14:30:00 -0400

Hello everyone,

I spoke to Linda Brannen yesterday about the Eaton Bb clarinet that I had
sent them to inspect to see if they would be able to work on it.

Unfortunately, the answer is no. She had nothing but praise for this
clarinet and felt it was very finely built. She loved the way Peter Eaton
has designed a different mechanism for the right hand F# and E to work
together rather than using a traditional crows feet arrangement. Something
that tends to go out of adjustment often she said. Also, because of the
different mechanism, the Eaton clarinet does not require any notching of the
wood like those that use the crows feet.

She appreciated me sending the instrument to them so that they could get a
first hand look at it. They had heard good things about it, but had never
seen one up close. She and Bill both looked at it and played it. The reason
that she was unable to work on it is mainly due to the pad cup sizes being
somewhat larger than the standard Buffet, Leblanc, and Selmer that they
mostly work on. She did say that they could cork the top joint, but did not
recommend that since they would not be able to do anything with the bottom.
If you are not familiar with the Brannen's, they make their own skin pads
and the dies that they use to cut the felt were too small to accommodate the
Eaton pad cups.

She was also impressed that the Eaton clarinet comes with the end grain of
the wood sealed from moisture in all the tenons and sockets. This is the
area where moisture will collect in the small air space between the tenon
and socket bottom. Most clarinets have a very small space between the two
when assembled and this over time can cause problems if the owner neglects
to dry this before putting the clarinet in the case. She especially does not
recommend a case where the bell has to be left on the lower joint for this
very reason, unless you are very careful to always dry it before you put it
back together. She has actually seen clarinets with rotten tenons on the
lower joint because of this. I would feel that it was more neglect on the
owners part that would allow this.

She also mentioned that Peter Eaton as even gone to such lengths as to seal
the surface of the tone holes in order to get a better seal with the leather
pads. She said that the extra sealing reminded her of the Wurlitzer
clarinets that the CSO are now using. The Wurlitzer factory told the owners
to send the clarinet back to the factory in about a year and a half to have
all the end grain resealed and the tone holes treated. They claim that it is
very rare for one of their instruments to crack due to this extra effort of
their part. Peter Eaton also says the same thing.

Linda also said the wood on the Eaton clarinet was excellent. She speculated
that they may have an older supply of wood that they were able to source and
as such the wood appears well aged and of excellent quality. She also said
the key work was of very high quality considering that they make all of
their own keys, using the old soldering jigs from Boosey and Hawks. This she
said is where many of the independent clarinet manufacturers are lacking.
She said most of the independently made clarinets that she has seen (she
would not name names) were only 2/3 to 3/4 "finished" in her opinion and
that the Eaton was one of the rare ones that was absolutely "finished" and
very well done. She also like the tone.

Well, having said all of that, I am still in need of having the Eaton
adjusted. I have was appears to be a small air leak, nothing major, but
since Linda did not want to work on it she recommended that I contact Peter
Eaton to see what he recommended. I sent him an email and he responded that
he has no affiliation with any repairers in the U.S. He also said on the
occasion where an instrument needed his personal attention, he simply had
them ship it back to him in England and he would work on it himself. I can't
say as I blame him. He also told me that he takes great pains to make sure
that no clarinet leaves his shop unless he feels it is perfect (do people
actually still do this?) and that perhaps the change in climate has caused
the air leak. He said it probably only needed a pad to be reseated which is
a couple of minutes job.

Can anyone on this list that has an Eaton, or knows of someone that has one
let me know if there is anyone they work with in the U.S. to do minor fixes
on these clarinets? I live in Houston, Texas and do not know any repairers
here locally. I'm sure there are some, I just don't know who I could trust.

Thanks for any and all input,

Tom Henson

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