Klarinet Archive - Posting 000114.txt from 2001/10

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Success!!!!!!!
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 04:20:12 -0400

If anyone has bothered to follow my posts, back over a year ago, you might recall several posts concerning intonation problems on my A clarinet.

I was rehearsing and performing the Mozart and Brahms Quintets, and having some knotty problems in the high register, especially b and c about the staff. They were quite sharp, and I had to employ several strategies, none terribly effective, to get these notes down to a itch acceptable to my string playing friends.

When I did manage, it was often at the expense of the throat tones becoming flat, expecially thumb f.

Based on that experience and some of the things I had read in Benade, and the O. Lee Gibson book, I determined I would make barrels for my A clarinet, until I could come up with a better intonation pattern.

A year later, and minimum 10 barrels, I believe I have come up with the answer. (I also believe Hans Moennig came up with the same answer about 50 years ago).

I made my barrel one millimeter longer than what I need to have in order to play at A@-----.

While making this barrel, I slowly reamed the bore, from a starting conical bore of 13 mm, to a linear reverse conical taper bore of 14.60 to 14.50.

When I reached this point, the ugliest 12th, thumb F to C about the staff, dropped into place.

The rest of the horn preserved a fairly good intonation pattern.

AND......The Tone was where I wanted it to be.

Then, wonder of wonders, I tried the barrel on my Bb.

And it WORKED.....best intonation scale and 12th I have ever had, and a nice deep open tone that I was quite pleased with.

Ironically, this barrel is the one I photographed and put on the web two weeks ago as a gag.

No, Roger, this is not a commercial. It took me about 2 weeks to get this barrel right. If I make many for sale, I'll surely go broke.

If you want to see the little gem, go to

www.clarinetXpress.com/odds.html.

(And yes, I am aware that that site was not operating last night).

Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news.

Walter

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