Klarinet Archive - Posting 000769.txt from 2002/03

From: "Patricia Alison Smith" <pattiesmith@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bass Stuff
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 09:02:39 -0500

Gary Smith wrote:

>From my experience with Selmer basses, I have not found this problem in the
register mechanism or extreme stuffiness you describe. This particular one
may have had some adjustment problems.

Patricia:

Indeed. In fact, not being the best of bass clarinetists, and always having
to really woodshed everytime I take up the bass, I have found that, having
to choose between Selmer basses and Buffet basses, unlike the Bb's, where I
have found great horns of both brands, the Selmer basses are, in my
experience, far and away the better horns.

I wish I could buy a Selmer low-C Bass~! The one I had the privilege to
play when I got to perform "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with an orchestra
several years ago was fabulous! The mechanism needed very little adjustment
in order to work quite well - and though my fingers are long, they still
have to stretch when I play bass. The endpin (I guess we call it an
endpin!) was long enough so I could adjust the horn quite the way I wanted
it. The mouthpiece (I now forget what I was using with it, but if it was
stock, it was pretty incredible. I don't think it was, however.) I didn't
have to play "reed roulette" for long to get several good reeds going. I
had plenty in time for the concert, and was able to concentrate on that bear
of a part - at least it was for me.
Though I have read bass clef ever since I was six (I also play piano), the
transposition gave me no end of fits. I could never remember which octave I
was supposed to be in!

The Buffets I had tried didn't even go to low C, which made them quite
unsuitable for some of the licks in the piece. I had also played on a
Buffet bass in another situation, long before that, and I remember it not
having quite the nice sound the Selmer had.

Again, this is only my opinion...and perhaps now Buffet may have some new
products I'd like to try. I'm always game- at least if I have money. (I've
got to start playing the lottery again~! Or see if I have a rich relative
somewhere! j/k) Seriously, though, I love the low-C basses...the extension
of the horn's length seems to do something as far as making it sound more
open or something. Do you other bass meisters think there is something to
this, or do you think my bass playing simply improved between 1981 and 1991?
(without practice, I rather doubt it!)

Patricia A. Smith
pattiesmith@-----.net

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