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Re: Bass Clarinet Straps

Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2005-06-10 17:21

I think the rubber tip on a bass clarinet peg is an abomination. Who ever saw a cello player with a rubber tip on their end-pin!

My advice: Remove the rubber and grind or file your peg to a nice sharp point. Advantages of this are acoustical connection to the (hopefully) wood stage floor you are playing on, no possibility of slippage (due to a dusty floor, for instance), nice defensive weapon if a nasty flute player turns around after you flub a high hard one!

When I play a cathedral gig, with a marble floor, I just bring one of my car floor mats in with me; playing on a carpet you can just invert the peg--put the blunt end down. Most concert venues that have a floor they want to protect from end pins will supply you with a wooden thingamajig to stick your point into.

I've always felt that the bass clarinet makers had no real connection or respect for the pro players of the instrument; they call it a "harmony" or (worse) "background" instrument, fit it with a thumb rest that is totally out of touch with the need to stabilize the instrument with the right thumb, and now they put a silly rubber ball at the bottom of the whole package! (Who wants to be a monochirid?)

A number of years ago I was invited to meet with a couple of Yamaha suits visiting Washington from Hammamatsu with a prototype, presumably to tell them how great their new model bass clarinet was. We spent a couple of hours together, and I critiqued their instrument--hitting on some of the above issues. They took copious notes, thanked me profusely and rewarded me with a "Y" tie pin! When the instrument in question came on the market, it was exactly the same as the prototype--not a single one of my suggestions had been heeded!

Post Edited (2005-06-10 19:21)

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Bass Clarinet Straps new

Bnatural

2005-06-09 23:33