Klarinet Archive - Posting 000700.txt from 2003/04

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Necks and barrels
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:40:36 -0400

I have heard that even the bends in bassoon bocals has a lot to do with
how they play. Of course, we're talking a different sort of scale. A
bassoon bocal is a very small bore and sensitive to very small
variations, whereas a bass clarinet neck is much, much larger in bore
and is (I think) cylindrical.

Just as bassoonists will shop and play through dozens of bocals to find
what they want, many saxophone players will do similar shopping for a
neck.

For the above reasons, plus my own experience with soprano clarinet
barrels, I would think that bass clarinet necks probably are a huge
component of how a bass clarinet plays.

Getting specific information out of the major makers would probably be
impossible. If they know something that the other doesn't know, or even
if they think they have the inside track, they're going to guard that
information. It would be nice, though, if the makers would publish or
share "general" information about such things.

On Friday, April 18, 2003, at 08:42 AM, GrabnerWG@-----.com wrote:

> In a message dated 4/18/2003 9:22:39 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> gkidder@-----.org writes:
>
>> We have had a lot of discussion recently about the influence of
>> minute variations in the diameter and shape of barrels on the sound
>> quality and intonation, all related to the soprano clarinet. Walter
>> Grabner says 0.01 mm can be important in a soprano clarinet barrel,
>> although I don't know how he could measure this without a
>> microscope.>>
>
> I use a Vernier caliper, which is accurate to .01 mm. In this line of
> work, if you can't be accurate to .01 mm. forget it!
>
>> a barrel with a different twist, so to speak - the neck on a bass
>> clarinet which roughly occupies the position of the barrel on a
>> soprano clarinet.>>
>
> As far as I know, there has been VERY little research on necks.
> Charles Bay makes replacement necks, some of them VERY EXCELLENT, so
> maybe he has. I doubt he'll share his measurements here, however.
>
> There are necks, and necks, Mike Lowenstern has been quoted as saying
> one should try as many necks as possible, some are very good, some are
> quite bad. How to do this, unless you visit the factory, is quite a
> question in my mind.
>
> Walter
>
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