Klarinet Archive - Posting 000598.txt from 2004/11
From: Curtis Bennett <curtis.bennett@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] An Eb quandry
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 23:47:28 -0500
I need some advice.
I bought an Eb clarinet on eBay a while back (yea, some of you are
groaning already, I can hear it now...) actually, this was the _third_
one I bought, I ended up sending the first two back, but that's a long
story.
This is a wooden, Cabart (Paris). The guy I bought it from advertised
it as being played by a New York studio musician. Whether it was or
not, I have no idea. The thing is, it didn't come with a mouthpiece.
Apparently, the guy liked his mouthpiece so opted to keep it. And the
barrel has a repaired crack in it.
So, I took it to a music store (Luyben's in Kansas City) and asked if
I could use a mouthpiece just to try out the instrument. They were
happy to oblige. I ended up buying a new mouthpiece for my Bb, so I
ended up making it financially worth their while, anyway, so it was
all good. Anyway, the clarinet didn't play very well. I'd go over
the break, and the thing would just vapor lock. No sound would come
out. I figured maybe it just needed a tune up and it'd be ok.
But first I needed a mouthpiece, so I got a Walter Grabner (from
suggestions on here, largely), and Walter himself recommended a Super
Revelation BG ligature, which I also got. So, the mouthpiece/ligature
is awesome now. And I had the clarinet worked on. The guy told me
that he just adjusted some keys, and replaced the cork where the
barrel attaches (it was loose), and the d#/Bb flick key was "corked
down" meaning there was an excessive amount of cork to where you
couldn't move the key. Apparently, the previous owner had big fingers
and didn't like it getting in his way. The repair guy removed that
for me as well.
So now it's an improvement, but it's still not in good shape. I took
it to band (I'm in a community band) and it was horribly out of tune.
I had to pull the barrel out almost 2 millimeters to get the throat
notes in tune. And the throat A is way off. In one passage, the
director just told me not to play because it sounded like someone was
playing a wrong note. So, that was frustrating. But, beyond that, I
still can't play it like I can my Bb. I should just be able to run
scales up and down this thing, and it's like pulling teeth. The
responsiveness just isn't there, and I can't play a high D without it
squeeking after about a second. Are there different fingerings for Eb
than there are for Bb? I tried playing a Bb-C trill using the two
side flick keys and they do absolutely nothing. So that seemed odd to
me. If my fingers aren't in exactly the right position, when I move
over the break, I get nothing at all. So, I'm just kind of aggravated
with this horn.
My first thought was to try to get a new barrel. Eb clarinet barrels
are hard to find, and expensive, but I thought it might dramatically
improve some of the intonation problems, and might improve the sound
(it sounds airy). The repair guy said he could do a complete overhaul
for $250, but at the time he and I agreed it didn't seem worth it
since his minor repairs seem to have done the job (of course, this
conversation was over the phone, and I didn't have the clarinet in my
hand to argue with him). Although, I am curious if he was able to get
all those notes out, and I can't - am *I* the problem? I admit that
I'm not Eb expert, but the first one I bought (a cheap Chinese one I
sent back - I *could* play, very easily in fact), so I'm fairly
certain it's not me. I admit it takes some getting used to the size,
but I can work on that. And a barrel isn't going to solve all the
problems, anyway.
So, my question is, what should I do? I admit this might be a hard
thing to answer if you can't actually pick up the horn to examine it.
My thought was to try to get a barrel, because even if I end up
ditching the horn at some point, a Walter Graber mouthpiece/Pyne
barrel (or whatever I go with) is a great combination that I could
simply transfer to a new instrument. So, if that works, great, if
not, I'll just keep the barrel/mp and use them on a new horn. My
other option was to send it back to the repairman and say "I don't
want this back until every note is in tune, and I don't get vapor lock
trying to cross the break". That could easily run me $300. I already
spent $300 on the clarinet, so I'm not sure how much more I want to
invest in it, so there is obviously some risk involved. Also, if I
get a new barrel, and not even sure which size to get. I think I
measured this one out to 40 millimeters (using a cheap tape measure I
have attached to my keychain, and did the conversion to metric
manually), but if I have to pull it out almost two millimeters to get
it in tune, should I go with a longer barrel?
I bought this thing as a novelty. Basically, I'm 5th chair out of
like 20 in a community band. I just started in it, since I just moved
to a new town, but I decided that I'd like to play it if for no other
reason so that I can actually hear myself play, and maybe get some
solos or something. Lord knows that ain't happening anytime soon on
the Bb, so this was a nice alternative for me. I just didn't want to
sink a small fortune into the thing to be able to do that. I'd hate
to sell it, since I'm not sure I'd want to shaft someone else with it,
and I wouldn't want to suggest to the guy I bought it from that he
take it back. I bought it in August, and I've since moved, so I doubt
he'd take it back at this point anyway. I'm not sure I would if I
were him.
Ok, well that was long, so thanks for reading this far! :)
--
Curtis Bennett
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