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Clarinet length/pitch Chart Available?

Author: fuzzystradjazz
Date: 2009-07-10 20:05

So, I'm trying to get my hands on a couple high-quality 13 (or 15) key wooden Bb clarinets. As I scour the web looking for some of these items, I'm struck by how many of these clarinets exist, but NOT in the Bb versions!

I am curious as to whether anyone knows what the various lengths of clarinets in the various "keys" are (in approximation). I.e...what is an expected range of lengths for an A clarinet, a Bb clarinet, a C clarinet, an Eb clarinet, a D clarinet, etc. My wife bought me a clarinet as a gift (minus the mouthpiece unfortunately), and the clarinet is labled as "C LP" on each joint, but the clarinet is exceedingly small (22 inches without mouthpiece...wouldn't this be close to an Eb?!)

At any rate - I've tried searching the forum for this data, but either I'm not using the proper search criteria (likely), or this hasn't been covered before (unlikely).

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

I'd like to start using quality Bb simple system clarinets for performances...but I don't find many to buy right now. I see so many odd-sized/pitched clarinets out there, I'd like to know what I'm looking at when the seller can't give me accurate data.

As always, thanks for your time.
Fuzzy

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Re: Clarinet length/pitch Chart Available?

Author: Curinfinwe
Date: 2009-07-10 20:38

Wouldn't there be quite a range of variance, depending on bore size?

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Re: Clarinet length/pitch Chart Available?

Author: fuzzystradjazz
Date: 2009-07-10 21:37

Yes, but I'd think there would be some fairly close ranges within each pitch. I'm not sure how much overlap there would be from pitch to pitch, that's one thing I'd like to evaluate though. (Meaning: there might be variation, but a 27 inch (mouthpiece included) Bb can (in practicality) be ruled out if you're looking at a 23 inch instrument (mouthpiece included)). However, the differences between an A and a Bb, or a C and a D might overlap...but I would think there'd usually be an "average" length a person could work with for making educated guesses on the pitch of an "unknown" clarinet.

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