Klarinet Archive - Posting 000829.txt from 2002/04

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] One-piece wooden bodies (was: [kl] CL301)
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:24:50 -0400

Ken Shaw wrote,
>To keep holes from overlapping the tenon and socket, the
>C#/G# hole is higher and smaller than is acoustically ideal,
>and the hole covered by the pad attached to the right-hand
>rings is larger and lower.

<snip>

>The only real solution is to have a single-piece body, as on
>Luis Rossi's instruments. On each Rossi I've tried, the first
>thing I've noticed is how good the C#/G# is, and how even
>the scale is on notes vented by the holes around where the
> joint is on other clarinets.

Another alternative is a Buffet from the 1930s, when the company made several
models with one-piece bodies. (I've also owned metal clarinets with
single-piece bodies, but can't say I've really given them a fair test, since
they're all either somewhat out of adjustment or have various features that
don't quite suit me.) The weekend before last, I changed my usual grubby,
flea-market-crawling ways long enough to buy a 1931 wooden Buffet in A from
Jim Lande. (Thank you, Jim! Great fun setting up several of our clarinets
on his nifty handmade multiple clarinet stand and trying them out!) It's pro
quality, with the single-piece body, and I love it. With both stacks
attached to each other on one long rod, maintenance such as changing a pad
will be a minor nuisance. Also, the doughnut-shaped upper A/D ring doesn't
use a normal clarinet pad, though I think it probably does use a standard
size of French-style flute pad. However, the excellent intonation and the
evenness of tone up and down the scale are major attractions that for me more
than outweigh any minor inconvenience. The more I practice and get used to
some new-to-me keywork and key placement (19 keys and 7 rings), the better I
like this clarinet. Very glad I bought it.

Lelia

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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 13:13:13 -0700 (EDT)
From: 13@-----.net (Shadow Cat)
Subject: Re: [kl] One-piece wooden bodies (was: [kl] CL301)
Message-ID: <13crush-cl*r*n*ts@-----.net>

I'm making my stupid pet human type this. She's completely wrong, as usual.
It's a horrible cl*r*n*t, just like the others: nasty, screaming, vicious!
It has tortured me daily since she bought it. How could she?! As if the
house weren't infested enough already!

At first, I thought maybe Jim was a nice fellow, because four cats
scent-greeted me when I sniffed his shoes. But then he brought armloads of
screech-stick vermin into the house with him, and Lelia fetched more from
upstairs, and the humans hooted and bleated on them until they nearly drove
the entire neighborhood insane.

Afterwards, Jim deviously attempted to cover up the entire episode, by using
a flashy-thingy on me. I've watched the movie "Men in Black" with my humans
and I know what that flashy-thingy is for. It's for making people forget
everything they just saw and heard, including the alien monsters invading the
Earth. Well, I'm here to tell you, the flashy-thingy doesn't work on cats.
I remember everything and I'm keeping score.

Shadow Cat

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