Klarinet Archive - Posting 000578.txt from 2004/11

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Meaning of undercut tone holes?
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 08:34:08 -0500


Bill Hausmann wrote,
>If you have ever seen a countersunk hole for a
>screw, that is pretty much what they do inside
>the bore with the tone holes. They cut an
>outward-tapered entry into the bore from the
>straight-walled tone hole. Undercutting is not
>required on older-design, straight, large-bore
>clarinets, but must be done on the smaller-bore,
>polycylindrical instruments.

What's the likely result if somebody does undercut the tone holes on an
old, wide-bore clarinet? Recently I had an e-mail from the original owner
of a Boosey & Hawkes clarinet. I've forgotten the model name, but he said
that it was a professional-quality clarinet and that he bought it new,
shortly after the end of WWII. He told me that he undercut the tone holes
himself in the 1970s, after reading that "all" the new clarinets had
undercut tone holes. He wanted to know what the clarinet was worth, before
he listed it on eBay. I told him truthfully that I didn't know.

I didn't mention that one reason why I didn't know was because I didn't
know enough about this man to have any idea of whether or not he knew what
he was doing when he started grinding away. Apparently he's not a
professional repair technician. I don't think there's really a going rate
for vintage Booseys anyway -- so much depends on condition -- although I've
heard they're excellent instruments and I do like the sound of a wide-bore
clarinet.

No, I'm not tempted to try do-it-yourself home surgery -- I know my limits
and I like my old wide-bore Buffets just as they are! My instinct is to
restore vintage clarinets as close as possible to their original condition,
but maybe I'm just being ignorant, since I've never played one that's been
undercut after-market. I'm curious whether undercutting (assuming it's
done by a pro, of course, and not by...well, me, for instance...) is likely
to improve or to damage a wide-bore clarinet. Also, does undercutting
lower the value, the way re-finishing old furniture lowers its value?

Lelia Loban
Cthulhu cultists support school prayer!

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