Klarinet Archive - Posting 000272.txt from 2001/12

From: Mark Thiel <mark.thiel@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Materials, Benade NX
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 10:37:04 -0500

This post is in reference to a thread that more or less died out a day
or so
ago, but there are a couple of points that need clarification.

I had posted a reply refuting Clark Fobes' contention that Arthur
Benade was just a theoretician, not a hands-on guy. In the
course of this post I also implicitly accepted David Hattner's assertion

that the Benade NX design clarinet constructed by Stephen Fox was
"the worst sounding clarinet I have ever played" and said that
this was because this example of the NX was just a prototype -
not a final design. In making this statement I was completely
out of touch with the actual current state of the NX, and this was
pointed out to me in a private post from Virginia Benade Belveal,
Arthur Benade's widow . Quoting from her post:

"Art in the summer of 1981
inscribed the B-flat NX with the identifying mark that (at least to Art)

meant that it was in its finished state as a design and an instrument.
Admittedly, small tweakings were done later than that, for no instrument

is ever completely finished if its maker is using it frequently and
still both musically and intellectually active! However, its form was
essentially the same as when Stephen Fox came down here and spent many
hours measuring every facet of it, copying all the piles of paperwork on

the design, playing it, etc. Fox has an MA in physics, so he could
easily follow the more theoretical parts of Art's notes. "

So what is the real story on the Fox NX, given Fox's considerable
reputation as a clarinet maker and that he is faithfully copying
what Benade considered a mature design? Well I am eager
to see for myself whenever I get the opportunity to try one.
Concerning Hattner's comments, again quoting VBB:
"Steve thinks he actually
only tried the NX with his own mouthpiece (an idiotic thing to do when
the bores don't match) and very briefly--just long enough to form a very

strong opinion! "

If you're interested in the NX clarinet (and if you're not, you should
be! it's
undoubtedly the most important innovation in clarinets in a long time)
go to http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/marl/ which contains
"The Arthur H. Benade Archive". Probably the most importatnt reference
on the NX is:
The physics of a new clarinet design (with Douglas H. Keefe), Galpin
Soc. J., 49 (March 1996), pp.
113-142.
Unfortunately this article doesn't say much about the actual
construction
of the instrument, but it does make clear that Benade wasn't just
concocting a clarinet design from pure theory; he was analyzing and
building on the strengths of modern clarinet design and clarinet
design back to the invention of the clarinet.

So I would urge everyone to try these for themselves (see
http://www.sfoxclarinets.com/
), and keep in mind that to give something as innovative
as this a fair trial, you need the right setup, and
that you may have to unlearn habits that you needed to
compensate for deficiencies in what you are used to.

Mark Thiel

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