 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: plutek
Date: 2015-04-02 20:32
greetings!
i have recently acquired a Kohlert clarinet in C (Albert system). the instrument is in great shape and plays wonderfully, except for pitch! generally, the horn is sitting around 20-25 cents flat, with the throat tones going even lower... down to almost a 1/4-tone flat on the A and Bb.
unfortunately, the mouthpiece is not original -- it came with a Selmer Bb mouthpiece. i know this is the root of the problem, and the mouthpiece should actually be somewhat smaller than a standard Bb, but an Eb mouthpiece is too small. obtaining a proper C mouthpiece seems pretty much impossible.
i've had some success by playing with inserts in some Bb mouthpieces which aren't too large a chamber to begin with, but it's been a real struggle to retain a good sound and to even out the pitch while bringing it up, as you can imagine!
so, i'm wondering if anyone knows of a particularly small-chambered Bb mouthpiece which might get me closer, or a source of a correct C mouthpiece...
many thanks in advance - i love the sound and feel of this instrument when i play it without worrying about being flat! unfortunately, i do need to play with other folks, at A440...
cheers!
.pltk.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-04-02 22:15
You know the Germans still play with a full gamut of horns. I'd check with Germanic companies for contemporary "C" clarinet mouthpieces, such as Zinner, PlayNick, Viotto, and ESM. You probably won't see any mentions on their websites, so I'd just e-mail them and ask. Since yours is an Albert system, chances are the German pitch bore/tone chamber would work fine.
You may already know this but Ridenour's "C" clarinet is made to acoustically match with a standard "Bb" mouthpiece.
............Paul Aviles
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-04-02 22:49
Most modern Boehm C clarinets are intended for use with a standard Bb mouthpiece. Walter Grabner on his website mentions that some players of C clarinets get better reults using one specific model of his (can't remember name but see site).
German C clarinets are generally smaller bored than Boehm but an approx 80-90 year old Hawkes Boehm C I measured recently had a bore of 14.4 mm quite a bit smaller than a more recent Leblanc.
from your description of problem it sounds like a shorter barrel could fix, but if you don't want to mess with the barrel then a good tech can shorten your mouthpiece by 1-2mm to give same result
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Author: plutek
Date: 2015-04-02 22:53
interesting that you mention Grabner, Norman... my instrument is a Kohlert "Winnennden" model. when i wrote to Grabner about it, he said he didn't have anything that would be suitable. i gather the older Kohlert models have some difficult issues, which i'm not too clear on...
cheers!
.pltk.
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Author: plutek
Date: 2015-04-02 22:55
...btw..... where in the bore is the 14.4 mm that you mention? i'm curious to measure now....
.pltk.
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Author: plutek
Date: 2015-04-02 23:07
funny thing: as an experiment, i just sealed a soprano saxophone mouthpiece on the barrel with silly putty, and the pitch is actually pretty great! hahahahaha...
just eyeballing it, that's about 3/4 the size and volume of a Bb clarinet mouthpiece.
...maybe i ~should~ actually try an Eb mouthpiece.....
cheers!
.pltk.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-04-03 03:30
The Hawkes clarinet I measured had a virtually parallel bore from top of top joint until about 2/3rd way down lower joint.
For a clarinet with some taper in top joint then equivalent place to measure would be at the lower end of the top joint, but beware that some distortion can occur over time at the tenons and ideally you need to measure about 25mm / 1" in from this using a bore guage to avoid it.
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