Klarinet Archive - Posting 000843.txt from 2004/10

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Question about middle Bb (or: I think I'm in love)
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 00:45:02 -0400

Michele,

Besides different resonance fingerings many people have
suggested, a reversed cone tapered barrel (like many third party
clarinet accessory makers make, such as Clark Fobes, Guy
Chadash, Walter Grabner, and Morrie Backun) would fix some of
the stuffiness.

Another mouthpiece would make a difference too (I have found
Selmer mouthpieces quite wonderful on Selmer instruments, but
the Selmers have flat throat tones, which the mouthpieces are
usually made to correct, while the Buffet instruments
traditionally have slightly sharp throat tones.)

Clark Fobes makes a wonderful San Francisco brand mouthpiece
(which I use,) Walter Grabner makes well received mouthpieces,
Guy Chadash has a joint venture with a list member Chris Hill to
make the Chadash/Hill mouthpiece (which I use also,) and Greg
Smith makes great mouthpieces. All of these people are on the
list. If budget is an issue, I might suggest a Vandoren M15 or
M30 mouthpiece, which start at under $60 (but are not hand made
like the others I mentioned.) Between the barrel and mouthpiece,
I believe you could have a Bb that would be much more to your
liking than the mismatched Selmer mouthpiece to a Buffet
instrument. Again, not to know the Selmer mouthpieces...they
work great on a 10S or a Centered Tone, but drop them on a
Leblanc, Buffet, Yamaha, or even on the newer Selmer lines that
are more polycylindrical, and the sound, to me, is less than
desirable.

By the way, all of the names I mentioned are here on the
Klarinet list, except for Guy Chadash, at
http://www.chadashclarinet.com (so you can chat any of them up
here for more info on their products, or in the case of Guy, you
can go to his website.)

Hope this helps!

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - Computer Geek
Hattiesburg, MS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--- Michele Kaeder <nmp@-----.com> wrote:

> Long-time reader, this is my second or third post.
>
> I've been searching for the right clarinet for myself for
> quite some
> time now. Since I am in a rock band, I had been thinking
> 'anything but a
> Buffet' (since that is the 'proper choice' for classical and I
> am
> anything but 'proper'). Then I played one today and realized
> the error
> in my thinking. My local shop has one, serial number 84xxx
> which puts it
> in the 1964-1966 range (by the charts I could find on the
> net). It plays
> like a dream and has near-perfect intonation - no note was off
> by more
> than 2-3 cents (even with my sloppy rock-n-roll chops). It's
> had a tiny
> crack pinned, but the repair was so good that I didn't notice
> it until
> it was pointed out to me. Pads and corks are new and perfect
> and it
> comes with a sweet Selmer mouthpiece that I also tried and
> liked. It
> even has that lovely dark reddish tone to the wood that I like
> so much.
> In short, it's a dream clarinet, in my hometown, for $900.
>
> Except for middle Bb. The standard fingering gives a thin,
> pasty, airy,
> sad little tone. The alternate fingering sounded superb, so
> with the
> parts that I have to play, I can easily work around it and
> will probably
> buy it tomorrow morning.
>
> My question is, do all clarinets have really stuffy, sub-par
> tones on
> the wide-open Bb, or is it just every clarinet I have ever
> played? Are
> there adjustments that can be done to improve that tone, or
> should I go
> ahead and get used to that alternate fingering? The tech at
> the store
> seemed to think there was nothing he could do about it, but
> he's also
> not a high-end tech, so I thought I'd get a wider opinion.
>
> Thanks for any feedback you can give. Also a big Thank You to
> the whole
> list for keeping on my case (albeit passively) about the
> wisdom of
> getting an R-13. I know I will not regret it.
>
> Michele Kaeder
> ---------------------------
> http://www.redvenuslovearmy.com/
> [ Note, no clarinet on tracks on website, just my saxes. I
> couldn't
> stand to track clarinet parts until I have the above-mentioned
> horn. ]
>
>
>
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