Klarinet Archive - Posting 000012.txt from 2002/05

From: "J Limacher" <jlimacher@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Rossi clarinets & barrels
Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 03:33:25 -0400

Neil,

In summer of 1996 I purchased a pair of Rossi French-bore blackwood
clarinets that I played exclusively from the summer of 1997 (when I resumed
playing after a long career-related hiatus) until recently. (I now play
Yamaha SEVs, the Bb since December 2001 and the A since February 2002.)

Luis Rossi shipped the clarinets with two barrels for each instrument: 65mm
and 66mm for the Bb, 70mm and 71mm for the A. I had specifically asked for
instruments that tuned to A@-----. The instruments were under 440, but Luis
assured me that they would rise in pitch during break-in. They never did
rise, so Luis has provided me with other barrels. I now usually use a 63mm
barrel on the Bb and a 68mm barrel on the A. All the standard barrels Luis
provided for my French-bore clarinets were cylindrical (i.e., not tapered in
any way) and measured .587" in diameter. The instruments sound very good
with the standard barrels.

I have of course wondered how other barrels would affect my Rossi
instruments. (I think it's nonsense to contend that any change of barrel
would necessarily be bad.) However, I found that the after-market barrels
typically don't fit the top tenon of the Rossi body. That is, the bottom
socket of my Rossi barrels has a diameter of .957", while that same
measurement on Buffet and after-market barrels seems to be about .940". I
don't actually know the measurement for the tenon itself, but the non-Rossi
barrels just don't quite fit. My curiousity has not yet compelled me to
take sandpaper and remove excess wood from one or the other piece.

Joseph Limacher

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