Klarinet Archive - Posting 000639.txt from 2001/11

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] reamers
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 15:12:20 -0500

Walter says:

I am NEITHER a genius or experienced in altering antique instruments, but I would like to comment on some of Tony's comments:

Tony Pay says:

<<I would be very interested in a more detailed discussion of what makers on this list think can be done by someone like myself with a hand reamer, or with sandpaper and/or nail varnish (say); and what can only
be done by using specially constructed tools.>>

Walter says:

Clark, and I, and others of course, use tapered reamers to alter mouthpiece blanks and the interior bores of barrels. We have our own ideas and concepts about what tapers work well and go with that. I myself have no experience with a cylindrical reamer, as you describe Tony, but I am sure that in the coming year I will get there.

Tony, you have exceptional experience in working with older clarinets in having to make them work for actual performances and recording sessions. You do what you need to do to get results.

Tony continues:

<<My own interest in the matter arises from the fact that the internal dimensions of instruments, particularly those made of boxwood, can change quite radically. In fact, you might want to adjust the bore even of an antique instrument, correcting the twelfths, in order to make the instrument playable.>>

Walter says: and I would do the same.

<<Some people think that to do such a thing is horrific, because it 'destroys evidence'. But I have yet to see even the beginnings of a study that uses information like the current dimensions of an unplayable
wind instrument to draw conclusions of any worth. How could such a study even exist? (And if the instrument belongs to me....)>>

Walter: If the instrument is unplayable, due to drying out and warping, how can making it playable be anything less than an aid to understanding what these instruments actually sounded like?

Tony again:

<<In the case of copies, I've already said that I made my Ottensteiner instruments playable by using my reamer, opening up the top part of the top joint on both instruments. The difficulty had arisen gradually as I played the instruments in, and was cured by my action. I took advantage of the well-known fact that the bore adjustment that affects a particular twelfth needs to be made either a third or two thirds of the
distance from the mouthpiece to the first open hole of the twelfth in question.>>

Walter says: Bravo! With the caveat that anyone who does such a modification be willing to live with the result.

Tony: <<I subsequently improved my old (Buffet) Eb clarinet by taking similar action, because the problems were the same, and I'd gained a bit of confidence.>>

Walter: The only way to gain this confidence is to actually do this kind of work and see what it does. It requires diligence, a knack with tools, and considerable understanding of how the clarinet in question actually works.

Tony <<Now of course it isn't my intention to suggest that clarinet players worldwide start hacking their instruments about unthinkingly. But I'd
say that the subject's worth discussing; and I get the impression that the danger is rather on the other side -- namely, that players assume that expertise belongs to a small group of magicians; that we have no other solution but to defer to their genius; and that we can do nothing for ourselves.>>

Walter: For myself, I always say TAKE COMMAND. Understand what it is that you need or what your shortcomings are. Since I have launched myself on my mouthppiece - barrels - clarinet bore explorations - and my understanding has increased, there has been a gradual but noticable improvement in my playing ablility.

It's because I TOOK CHARGE of my own playing, rejecting that which I could not prove to myself, and accepting what WORKED for ME. The "experts" do not play my clarinet for me, only I do.

In some cases, I had to completely rethink things I had believed were TRUTHS for decades, like the issue of flat vs. concave table.

I found these things out by experiment which sometimes entailed some risk. I ruined a few good mouthpieces and barrels, in the process.

I say that more people should risk, learn and experiment, but not to do it in a vacuum. You must do your homework first.

Walter Grabner
www.clarinetxpress.com

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