 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2005-04-12 02:00
Has anyone seen a clear BASS clarinet?? Someone on ebay is selling a Pedler clear bass clarinet. It seems more rare than the clear B12. Has anyone actually ever played one?
--CG
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-04-12 02:47
CG - I have a Pedler wood bass cl AND a Ped wood alto of that vintage, about 1930, I believe. Both are playable, my bass requires much finger/hand "stretch" for me, the alto is a fair player, BOTH have Double Register Keying, of different structure from Selmer et al, making the lower clarion much easier to speak. I've not played them much, but they seem to be OK at 440 pitch and quite well in tune with themselves. The clear plastic must be some early acrylic, I had some colored poly methacrylate samples from DuPont back in the late 30's, from other plastics pioneering which led to nylons. IMHO, a prospective purchaser should look carefully at the bodies for cracking/crazing damage before bidding deeply !! LUCK, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2005-04-12 08:04
hehe, I'm not thinking of buying it. I just thought it was really cool.
I guess the sound wouldn't be too much different than a regular "plastic" horn.
--CG
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-04-12 14:21
I have a length of clear acrylic thickwall tube, 1" ID by 1.5" OD, from which I made a low-C extension for my bass clarinet; and after seeing the aforementioned clear Pedler bass on eBay, I started to have the itch to build an entire low-C bass clarinet out of the remaining length of tube. Maybe someday in my spare time........In my opinion and experience the body material has absolutely no effect on the sound of the instrument, but a clear bass clarinet would be cool-looking, and that's more important than how it sounds, ja?
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-04-12 14:24
Speaking of body materials.......I had the privilege of overhauling the brass Kohlert bass clarinet pictured on contragirl's website, and before returning the instrument to its owner I played a wind ensemble concert on it. I will attest that the brass bass clarinet sounded virtually identical to my wood Kohlert --- and I think anyone who has heard me play both instruments would agree.
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Author: Pete
Date: 2005-04-12 20:58
I have used this example before, but the idea is still valid.
Take the finest wood bassoon.
You play into a metal bocal,
Your wing joint is lined with plastic,
Your boot joint is lined with plastic until you get to the metal U tube,
Many boot joints are lined up the back side with plastic,
Most of your tone holes on the way down are lined with metal or plastic,
All the wood is doing is holding on the keys.
So, how is a wood bassoon any better than a plastic bassoon? Well, if it is a good one, it is the workmanship, not the wood.
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