 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: christoph440
Date: 2005-03-31 02:08
Does anyone here have experiance with Bettoney clarinets, or with any clarinet that old? My bass, a DeKay Craftone, is probably over fifty years old, and still plays extremely well, but I have heard that many clarinets of that age loose their sound and suffer from shrinking bore diameters.
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-03-31 02:26
AFAIK, A lot of the degredation in a Bb is from saliva's action on the bore over the course of 3 or 4 decades. Ovbiously, that's not a big deal on basses as the bore is more likely to only see condensation.
I play a bass that's at least 40 years old and see no degredation. I bought it off of Dave S. about 4 years ago now and I don't know where he got it from of what condition it was in when he did but I get the feeling that it definitely spent several years unused.
The tuning and tone quality are unchanged from when I got it, and I'm certainly still happy with it. The bore doesn't show any of the color loss you hear about with old Bb's but the top of the upper joint does have several small surface cracks and evidence of some raised grain where the machining was done.
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2005-03-31 11:43
The smaller instruments have a "tighter" relationship between the bore and toneholes - any maladjustment in pad height, deposits in the toneholes or loose debris will be manifest in the sound.
Bass clarinets need attention too, particularly in the long mechanical connections. I wonder if your instrument might feel like new with a good service and cleaning?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-03-31 12:28
Chris - Are you speaking of Bettoney WOOD or Metal cls, soprano or bass?? I have an {USN[avy] wood sop, it plays, just not as well as a relatively new one, and a lot of us have Bet-made metals, some of which may still play well [Jim Lande is our BB expert here and elsewhere].. I've never heard of your bass, perhaps Dave S et al have, is it wood or plastic? You can find much previous discussion/info by SEARCHing our archives, before asking your newer questions. We are all glad to help. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: christoph440
Date: 2005-03-31 21:43
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was unaware that they had made basses. I was contemplating purchasing a wooden soprano, but was worried about the effects of age.
I know little about the origins of my bass, other than the fact that it was made in France, and it is made of wood. I purchased it from my teacher Jerry Hall, who bought it from a guy who had played it for a long time in the Air Force Band, and had it customized by Charles Bay. I have never seen another one like it, but it holds its own against the Buffets.
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