 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-04-05 01:04
Has anyone see Benedikt Eppelsheim new Eb contrabass saxophone?
http://www.contrabass.com/pages/Kontrabass.jpg
A bigger version of his own bass saxophone.
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Author: ukebert
Date: 2006-04-05 09:30
So Eppelsheim has now produced, in effect, a bass, two contras (incl tubax), two subcontras (Bb and C) a contrabassoon (contraforte) and a sopranissimo (soprillo). I know the tubax isn't really the same as a contra, but its a saxophone with the right pitch, so thats what I call it.
What next I wonder?
I would want to buy his C sub-tubax, if it wasnt for the fact that it costs somewhere in the region of £15k...
Regards
ukebert
>>just realised that I may have confused some people, 'contra' is referring to 'contrabass saxophone' not 'contrabass clarinet'
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-04-05 09:55
Errrmmm... only problem is you'll need an articulated lorry to transport the beast! It's GINORMOUS!
Looks like a good design (and down to low A as well) - much better laid out than the Orsi contrabass sax, but probably still too big to fit in a Volvo (my Salvi harp goes in with a bit of a squeeze with it's covers and trolly attached - and that's about 6'5").
But as it's in Eb, reading concert pitch bass clef parts are a doddle.
(same link as above) http://www.contrabass.com/pages/Kontrabass.jpg
It hasn't appeared on his site http://www.eppelsheim.com/ so it's probably still in an experimental stage.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2006-04-05 11:09)
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-04-05 15:16
ukebert, besides the instruments you mentioned, he has also designed (if not produced) modern contrabass sarrusophone and ophicleide.
I urged him to design contrabass clarinets.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-04-05 15:39
...and octocontrabass clarinets as well!
Do you reckon he'd build both Boehm and German system contra clarinets?
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-04-05 15:41
When we were discussing this, he mentioned that his will be, if he decides to, built with Boehm system, and made of metal instead of wood.
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Author: ukebert
Date: 2006-04-06 18:11
"ukebert, besides the instruments you mentioned, he has also designed (if not produced) modern contrabass sarrusophone and ophicleide."
Yes, I had heard about them, the ophicleide was a rumour. I have a pic of the C Sarrusaphone somewhere, but he wasn't planning to go into production with that.
I want him to produce a Conn-o-sax, that's on my wishlist, as are a number of other things...
I have a problem with transposing, and so am always on the look out for concert pitch single reeds. If I could afford it, I would buy his Sub-Tubax in C, one octave below the C Bass, two below the Cmel. Witha range of 3-4 octaves, depending on whether you ask for an extra altissimo vent, bliss... :-)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-04-06 23:38
This extra altissimo vent thingy... are there any detailed pictures of it?
If it's the thingy on the crook that looks a bit like a transducer with the wire coming off it (but isn't), how does it work?
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-04-29 02:47
Here is another photo of his new contrabass saxophone (in Eb)
http://members.aol.com/saxtek/Benediktandcontra.jpg
drool.....
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Author: chistletoe
Date: 2006-05-15 13:27
why not?
I have one ...
This little old man who has smoked for 35 years probably bit off more than he can chew ... I can play it, have performed with it, but its a little too much like work ... my deaf friends love it, though, for the first time they can "feel" the music through the floor ... the pictures on the web don't do it justice, its over 4 feet high and is easier to play standing up or leaning against a bar stool ...
-chiz
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-05-15 14:36
Terje Lerstad is a bass and contra specialist.. On the contrabass board, he wrote that he had had the chance to play the Leblanc octo-contra-alto and octo-contrabass, but that their locations were unknown now, and some of them had been destroyed. Leblanc made only 3 of the Eb instruments and 2 of the Bb instruments. See http://www.contrabass.com/2000/2000-09-20.html.
According to an article in the first series of The Clarinet, Leblanc kept an Eb octo in the reception room at their factory, and people used to blow a few notes on it just to say that they had played one.
I can't find the reference now, but I remember that Terje wrote that the octo-contra instruments were playable only in the low register. They had register keys, but the higher notes didn't come out, at least in playable form.
Terje wrote that Lucien Caillet, the bass clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, had a non-Leblanc octo-contra, which he played in the soundtrack for Mission Impossible.
The best pictures I've found are at http://kunst.no/lerstad/octos.html.
Ken Shaw
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Author: ukebert
Date: 2006-05-16 15:31
The extra altissimo vent...
You know those camera shutter mechanisms to minimise shaking? Well...
Lets just say that Mr Eppelsheim is an exceptionally talented and imaginative maker. I'm longing for the day where he'll produce some more ordinary saxes, cheap enough for skinflints like me to buy...
My first choice would be the Conn-o-sax, trememdous instrument.
Regards,
ukebert
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