 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chris Horril
Date: 2006-03-04 14:59
Author: Chris Horril
I have a Buffet R13 Bb made in mid-1990s. It plays nicely throughout all register but the F# below the break is very stuffy and the E a semitone below is rather flat.
Does anybody have ideas as to what could cause this and importantly what can be done about it? The instrument has leather pads througout. Would replacing them with conventional skin or cork pads on the top joint make any difference?
Thanks
Chris
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2006-03-04 15:16
Search R13 intonation on this BBS to find myriad discussions of this problem.
Intonation and tuning require such compromises, it's a wonder clarinets play on pitch, let alone reliably.
*****
Have a check on pad height for the notes in question.
It should be a cheap fix if those are off.
Otherwise, you're in for some "Fraising" and adjustment of the toneholes.
I once owned a terrific Boosey Imperial set that had sticky tape stuffed in almost every tonehole of the right hand...it was tremendously resistant, as the toneholes were effectively smaller, but spot on my tuner.
This is not a job for the inexperienced, so it will cost you considerable money.
(It's a slow process.)
Try Dave Spiegelthal for starters...
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Author: donald
Date: 2006-03-04 19:32
re E-B 12th
fraising the hole or raising the venting pad (next hole down) will make upper reg B sharper (though you can flatten that by lowering the reg key or installing a smaller reg vent)(but this will also flatten throat B flat). Using a Moennig barrel etc (with slightly reduced bore due to reverse cone etc) will most often make the E a bit higher and the B a bit lower.
Once you have gone through all this, you will still most likely have an E that is a bit low, and a B that is a bit high. Make sure that you are playing with a high tongue position/fast airstream on the low note, and this improves things. You will still have a low E and a high B.
At the end of the day, the most useful trick is to learn to play with the left hand little finger C#/G# key on when you play the low E (on my R13, i use this for low E and F when exposed or if the note is held). An example of where i think this is needed would be- 3rd mvt of Muz Time Pieces. If this sounds tricky.....
At least two top US symphony players i've spoken to have advocated actually putting the third finger of the left hand down, and then using the side Bflat/Eflat key to bring the pitch up! That is just going a little far for my liking, but it works.... (it actually acts as a resonance fingering to improve the tone as well as helping intonation)
donald
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2006-03-04 20:22
It sounds like that may be a pad height problem, or a leak. I think the culprit is the pad under the throat A touchpiece just above the left hand first finger. Have it checked out.
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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Author: donald
Date: 2006-03-04 23:06
re crnichols....
why would that pad height influence the intonation of the notes in question? it should be closed for both those notes. On the other hand if it were leaking it could affect the tone and intonation- but this mess up more than just these two notes
donald
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2006-03-05 00:08
If your E is a semitone below your F# then you really have a problem!
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-03-05 02:52
My Buffet (Full Boehm, 1960-ish vintage) has a serverely flat Long F#, the corresponding D# is sharp (wide 12th).
I took the horn in and had the lowest pads raised. It helped only a little. Next move: have some other folks play the horn.
Bob Phillips
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2006-03-05 19:54
Donald,
You're right, it would cause some much more substantial problems than that. Donald's fingering suggestions are good and one's that I use regularly, especially when playing the third of a minor chord. If the E is really flat, you also can just open the side Eb/Bb key and not put down the third finger of the left hand. They also work for the throat F a semitone above that. You could take it to a respected acoustician like Morrie Backun or Guy Chadash and see what they have to say...but there would probably be a compromise with the corresponding twelfth above.
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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Author: graham
Date: 2006-03-06 08:15
Chris: Have you ever degunked the toneholes? I would expect that to help more with the open G but it could be relevant to you F sharp and E (though I would then expect F natural also to be flat).
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