Klarinet Archive - Posting 000335.txt from 2003/05

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] when to switch
Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 08:18:03 -0400

Bill,

First, I am wondering about the Leblanc being stuffy...usually,
Leblancs are so UN-resistant, that people used to Buffets and
Selmers are uninterested in them. I think this is a MOUTHPIECE
problem, and not a barrel problem. A correct barrel can solve
some of the stuffiness, but a correct mouthpiece makes MUCH more
difference. I have a Leblanc A and I use a different mouthpiece
on it that I do my other instruments since it is so
free-blowing.

Secondly, I would not ever compare an R13 with a Sonata...Sonata
is "supposedly" a professional instrument, but it is really a
great transitional horn...nothing to be compared to a REAL
professional instrument.

Lastly, if you took the instrument to a regular repair person
who was not familiar with Leblancs, they might have made the
instrument even more stuffy than it was before, in an attempt to
make it more like the NON-Leblanc.

I do think unless the student can afford it to buy a new or
different instrument, you could maybe get a second opinion about
getting rid of that instrument, and try out a few other
mouthpieces on it. If you use the mouthpiece you use on a Buffet
on the Leblanc, you could easily get bad results that might look
like the instrument's fault. The same goes for the student who
plays well on the Buffet you let him borrow. The mouthpieces I
tend to play on do not work well with Buffet R13s (I usually
play RCs in the Buffet line) and they play ok on the Leblanc I
have. I would never say that every R13 I tried was a sub-level
instrument, just because it didn't play well with my mouthpiece
choices, even though I really have problems getting anything
satisfactory, performance-wise, out of an R13.

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - New York City
--- Bill Semple <wsemple@-----.com> wrote:
> I have a student who owns a Leblanc Sonata. His playing has
> improved
> remarkably, but only AFTER I lent him my Paul Schaller Buffet
> R-13.
>
> Since Paul played this instrument in the Detroit SO for twenty
> years, I know
> it be a top level instrument, apart from my own personal
> impressions. It was
> made in the 1950's; it needs some WG barrel work to get its
> intonation
> in-line. But its sound is, uh, pleasant.
>
> I decided I couldn't let my student get too used to it, but it
> seems the
> horse has left the barn. For me and for him. The idea of his
> struggling with
> the LeBlanc, which is stuffy and constricted as hell, has
> caused a dilemma.
> The LeBlanc has been overhauled; it doesn't leak; and it
> probably will
> improve with a better barrel match. But . . .
>
> How do others handle this challenge, when it becomes evident
> that a
> different instrument (i.e., a new purchase for less than
> wealthy parents)
> seems to be demanded?
>
>
>
>
> William T. Semple
> Office: 202-364-2466
> Home: 540-364-4823
> Cell: 540-903-6645

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