 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarisax
Date: 2005-02-07 02:58
okay... i am seriously stressing over this right now. Bb is overly stuffy everytime i try and play it. B natural is even stuffy. i have a fairly new buffet festival clarinet and the mouthpiece i use is a morgan rm06 with vandoren v12 size 5 reeds. i know that a size 5 sounds kind of hard to most people but for whatever reason that is the only size that works well on my mouthpiece. anything softer gives me a really honky loud sound that i dont like. i guess i am pleased with this set up and my tone in the high notes and the low notes is supposedly good. the middle notes however are horrible, imo. i didnt realise how bad they sounded until i played my teachers super old buffet from the late 50's at my lesson tonight. with my mouthpiece/barrel/reed/ligature i was able to get probably the best sound i have ever personally produced. nothing was stuffy and the clarinet seemed to really just play itself.
now, ive heard horror stories of bad clarinets that people buy, but i really dont think that is the case with mine since i tried about a dozen of them before i, along with my teacher, settled on this one. it was by far the best one they had ( i also tried numerous r13s).
so do i just settle for this stuffy tone? is there anything i can get done to my clarinet to fix this problem? should i try a whole new mouthpiece and see if that fixes it? maybe one that is more open than my rm06 which is very closed from what i understand. is it possible that my mouthpiece matches her old r13 but not my new festival? that doesnt seem to make a lot of sense to me. any recomendations would help a lot.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-02-07 03:36
The throat Bb is one of the weakest notes on the clarinet, due to the compromise location of the register key vent. Resonance fingerings are often used to help focus this note.
First, make certain that the vent tube is clean and free of debris. Remove the register key and carefully clean out the tube with a pipe cleaner.
Other areas to check:
For the throat Bb:
Check the opening of the register key. It should be open to about the thickness of a (US) nickel.
If the register key has a cork pad, beveling the pad to a truncated cone shape may help.
Check the opening of the throat A key - is that note also stuffy?
Check all pads on the upper joint for loose or torn membranes.
For the long B:
Check all pads for leaks, torn membranes, etc...
Check spring tension - are any keys being blown open?
Experiment with a different (less extreme) mouthpiece/reed set-up to see if the problem lessens...GBK
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2005-02-07 05:01
If venting is the issue, either from the throat pads not lifting high enough,or from the design 'unalterables', such as tone hole diameter and length, then IMHO using a very hard reed makes the problem far worse.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-02-07 13:09
Did you check to see if the alternat Bb key is also stuffy? (top trill key with the A key)? If that one is MUCH clearer, it's more than likely something to do with the register key.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-02-07 13:29
I think Alexi meant the NEXT to top trill key with the A, which is usually the best Bb obtainable from a student cl. GBK's summary of problems is VG, I'd just add [for Gordon's comments], that the [low] Ab/Eb pad spring is often too "soft" for good seating of that pad, which interferes with the clarion D down to B 's speaking. A bit of experience. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-02-07 13:34
Thanks Don. Didn't have my clarinet on my person so I was trying to remember which one it was)
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: clarisax
Date: 2005-02-07 13:50
thank you all for your help. i cleaned the register tube as suggested and it did not solve the problem. there wasnt anything in it to really clean out. the height of the register key is, just by looking at it, way more than the thickness of a nickel. is that a bad thing? i do have one pad, the top trill key pad, that has a torn membrane. its actually starting to turn a dark brownish black color...im assuming thats not a good thing. when i play A i sound fine, especially when i put down my middle and ring finger of both hands along with the C key.
it seems like the stuffy sound IS coming from the register key. When i play Bb using the side key i sound fine. to help me hear if it was the register key again i fingered a low E, or a B without the register key, and had my mother press the 2nd trill key to make it jump up a 12th. this B was much much much much better as far as tone goes, but i obviously cant play it that way everytime. so what do i do now? will beveling the cork of the register key help to reduce the resistance against the air that is coming out of the register tube?? it seems like that is the problem because i dont have this awful noise when i play A or G, or anything else that doesnt use the register key. i also dont hear it from C all the way thru the top notes. why is it there on B, but not on C? frustration...
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-02-07 13:53
When you buy a Clarinet you should always get a good repair tech to check it over and make modification suggestions. Can save you a lot of questions and possible problems - even the Buffet Prestige "hand crafted" Clarinets come out and have problems. Not as much as in the past before Francois was doing quality control but still.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-02-07 15:02
Have a tech replace that BAD PAD immediately !! Its prob your trouble over and above poor construction if your cl is like most student models the school teachers here refer to me for local, faster "get it up to playing condition" repair. I cant speak to many recent good-quality [wood pro] cl's other than my Sel Omega, but from the 1950s, both Selmer and Leblanc have made significant improvements with their "pinch Bb" mainly by virtue of reg vent size, tube length [inside the bore, with a "boss" on the outside the surface". There have been several improvement attempts [unsuccessful in marketing] such as by Stubbins [the best IMHO], Mazzeo and others, but player/teacher resistance to change doomed them. {again IMHO!!} Thats the way I see it, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2005-02-07 15:20
Don wrote "..I'd just add [for Gordon's comments], that the [low] Ab/Eb pad spring is often too "soft" for good seating of that pad.."
I find that if the key cup is appropriately aligned with the tone hole, the pad is appropriate thickness, and aligned properly with the tone holes, then there is seldom a problem with this pad's sealing.
However many DIY people are not aware that the spring needs to be hooked to the spring cradle while the key is displaced slightly towards the springs 'free' position - BEFORE the pivot rod is installed. Otherwise the spring is often de-tensioned when being hooked into the cradle. This is because this particular spring is usually working close to its elastic limit.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-02-07 16:02
TKS,G NZ, you say it better than I, yes, I found this out "the hard way" but some time ago. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2005-02-07 23:47
Throat Bb is the worst note. Try a resonance fingering. ....along with the Bb fingering add 3,4 and left Bkey(low E) There are many possible fingerings to give you a better sounding Bb. I think most clarinetists use a resonance fingering for Bb unless it is in a fast scale or arpeggio.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2005-02-08 14:03
Did you say #5...? I find all #5 reeds I own stuffy and need work!
Make sure you have some key height between the Bb speaker key and the tone hole opening~
David Dow
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