Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-06-10 13:54
Lots of interesting key refinements. Note the angled touch pieces on the top two trill keys, which, depending on your finger length, may make their use more secure.
The rollers for the right little finger are on most German system clarinets and, as I recall, are on the Wurlitzer Boehms and reform Boehms.
The lower keys for the right little finger are rounded quite a bit on the outer edges. I'd have to check carefully to make sure my finger wouldn't miss the key when I have to slide down -- for example, for (in the low register) G#-F#-E-G#. For G#-E-F#-G#, where I have to slide diagonally from the G# key to the E key, I worry even more, not to mention possible interference from the rollers, which make the two upper keys longer and squarer and this make the slide longer. I've never had trouble sliding without the rollers. A little "nose oil" solves any problems.
The F#/C# pad is closed by an arm. This may replace the crow's foot, but seems more likely to be a mechanism to give a pure middle B/C# trill and facilitate passages in sharp keys by giving the Patent action we find on all but the lowest level German instruments. The disadvantage is that you can't play E/B with just the E/B key, but have to put down the F/C key too.
Mazzeo put a similar mechanism on his kitchen sink Personal Model, but with a reversed action that preserved the one-finger E/B, at the cost of some very laborate (and heavy) keywork.
I tried a Marigaux many years ago. The company representative said that all the top French Conservatory players had switched, but I doubt that. He particularly noted that, as Ben says, the tone match over the register break was particularly good. It came at a price, though. Rather than make the throat register more colorful, they seemed to have dulled everything else down to match.
This is also what (IMHO) Tom Ridenour did to get the very even scales on the Leblanc Opus and Selmer Signature. This doesn't work for the way I play, with a fairly open mouthpiece and soft reed. It's better for the way Tom plays, with a close mouthpiece and stiff reed.
Ken Shaw
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The Clarinet BBoard
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