Klarinet Archive - Posting 000603.txt from 2010/09

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Noblet 45 C
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:09:06 -0400

On 23 Sep 2010, at 18:16, Karl Krelove wrote:

> Your problem is very similar to the one I have with the Patricola C that I
> bought a couple of years ago. On mine, whether you call the chalumeau very
> sharp or the clarion flat, the two registers aren't in tune with each other
> - the twelfths are too small. I've asked several people, including Walter
> Grabner and Clark Fobes as well as my regular repair guy and no one seemed
> hopeful that I could solve the problem with a barrel or a mouthpiece
> (although your Noblet may have a different issue and perhaps may respond
> differently).

You may need to modify the bore in order to make the twelfths better in tune -- this is done usually by putting an appropriate reamer down the top joint after removing the speaker tube and thumb bush.

To check that such a modification is likely to make the instrument more tractable in this regard, you can reversibly *narrow* the bore by dangling something like a drinking straw -- or a small 'worm' of blutak or plasticene -- down the top joint to see if that makes the problem *worse*. If it does, then that's an indication that reaming may help.

We are very faint-hearted about this sort of thing nowadays. I took my life (and a reamer:-) in both hands a few years ago with my Ottensteiner copies just before an important concert (because they were wildly out of tune between registers) and came out with much more tractable instruments.

It's perfectly possible for instruments to 'draw in', of course, as the wood changes with age. I heard that a European player early in the last century, travelling in order to take up a position in America, was provided with a set of reamers and gauges by his instrument manufacturer so that he could deal with the problem himself if it arose (it was expected to, apparently).

The 'drawing-in' phenomenon is often detectable by the fact that it makes the bore cross-section slightly elliptical, due to the different behaviour of the wood along the grain and perpendicular to the grain. Of course, your Noblet may have a design fault too.

Tony
--

Tony Pay
79 Southmoor Rd
Oxford OX2 6RE
tel/fax +44 1865 553339
mobile +44 7790 532980
tony.p@-----.org

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