The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Allan Segal barrel and the elusive "A" clarinet

Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2006-01-03 13:30

(Disclaimer - I get no remuneration from ClarinetConcepts or John Butler)
An age old story - the search for the wonderful "A" clarinet ... The story begins with the return of a vintage borrowed "A" clarinet to the owner after using it for several years. My mistake was telling the owner what a great "A" clarinet it was and when he moved out of town all of my cajoling and offers of huge amounts of cash could not keep the clarinet in my possession. Dave Spiegelthal kindly sold me a very nice hard rubber (in olive drab color) "A" clarinet that he rescued from becoming a lamp which played nicely but still not the tonal quality that I was seeking. I love the warm tone of my Amati 604 full Boehm Bb clarinet and was looking for the same qualities in an "A" clarinet. Enter an Amati "A" clarinet with great tone but with intonation problems and two, too short barrels ----

Dr. Allan Segal is an true artisan in the world of barrels. I recently acquired the Amati 675 full Boehm clarinet in "A" and loved the tone and resistance but it still had some unusual intonation quirks after being lovingly and expertly refurbished by John Butler. It must have good karma because John was working on it as hurricane Rita came ripping through Houston this past summer and both survived in fine shape.

I sent the clarinet to Allan without any barrels (a goof on my part) and he fashioned a gorgeous barrel from Rosewood sans any template to work from. He also divined that the bell probably did not originally come with the clarinet and was too long (an alien bell ??). With the new barrel and some minor pad height adjustments by me, - I rarely venture into the world of the competent technician - and switching the bell from the sister Bb horn the intonation problems were all fixed. The tone with the new barrel was also more rich and velvety with wonderful focus. What a difference the right barrel can make in tuning and tone! Note - the bell switch alone did not cure all the problems. A new bell is now being fashioned and the alien bell encased in concrete so as not to infect any other "A" clarinets.
L. Omar Henderson

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics