 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bufclar
Date: 2007-07-26 19:44
Hi All,
I have a question regarding my R13 A clarinet. It's just a little over a year old and about a month ago the throat tones have gone very flat. I can't figure out what would make this happen? I have taken it to my tech and we did some things to it like checking for leaks, changing some pad heigths but the problem still remains. I checked for cracks in the tone holes, the register tube was removed and cleaned and shortened (for some clarion issues) and all the tone holes have been cleaned.
The tone quality has become very hollow sounding from notes g through bflat and I have to lip them up quite a bit to keep them in tune where as a month or two ago I could put down some fingers on these notes to give them a little more depth.
My tech is one of the top people in Chicago so I don't think I need to go to someone else but after the recent work he did, the problem is slightly better but still an obvious problem. Any suggestions or ideas about what this could be?
Post Edited (2007-07-26 19:44)
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Author: claritoot26
Date: 2007-07-26 20:45
Maybe have him try other register tubes? I had to get mine changed/reamed/shortened a few times before it was just right. For some reason, the A clar. is more sensitive to that adjustment than the Bb clar. It sticks farther into the bore, so more problematic. Good luck with that.
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Author: marshall
Date: 2007-07-27 01:46
A register tubes are twice the size of Bb register tubes. Because of this, A's tend to have more resonant throat tones but they generally go flat over time. A lot of people replace the register tube in their A clarinet with a Bb register tube when they first get their instrument to solve this. I've only heard that it works and I've never actually been witness to hear the difference between the two...I just know it's done. Also...a lot of people replace their register tubes anyway because they are generally too tight from the factory and can cause cracking.
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Author: Chris Hill
Date: 2007-07-27 01:48
Have you changed mouthpieces or barrels recently? This can greatly affect the throat tones.
Chris
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Author: 2E
Date: 2007-07-29 01:45
I would experiment more with resonance fingerings. Atm I'm using them to lower pitch and make the tone more fuller but there are options that raise the pitch somewhat. 2E
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2007-07-30 00:28
Yeah, barrels. Try a Chadash. There should be NOTHING flat about your throat notes with that one.
...........Paul Aviles
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Author: bufclar
Date: 2007-07-30 04:11
Thats what is so strange Paul, I do use Chaddash Barrels. I'm convinced there are some leaking pads. I'm going to see my tech again next week to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully a solution will be found.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2007-07-30 11:02
Its' summer, so the air inside the clarinet is warmer, so you were playing sharp, so you 'pulled out', which flattens the throat notes more than the others.
Well I tried :-)
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Author: marshall
Date: 2007-07-31 03:02
Just because your barrel has Chadash printed on it doesn't make it a better barrel than your stock one. In fact, if you lined up twelve Chadash barrels to try out, no one would feel or sound the same. They (being barrels) seem to vary almost as much as clarinets themselves. They might have a 'better' (different) bore, but the production quality and the wood itself affect the barrel just as much as the bore.
At least...that's what I've found. The stock barrel on my current R13 has been 'better' for my sound than any other barrel I've tried. I've tried three or four Moennigs and a couple Chadash's and neither of them seemed to make my sound any better, and in fact I prefered the sound and feel with my stock.
I digress...I guess what I'm trying to say is just because you spent $150 on a new barrel doesn't mean it's better than the one you had. Try playing with the barrel that came with your instrument, and if that doesn't clear it up try some other Chadash and Moening, or really whatever barrels you want, and see if you can find one that you prefer to your current one.
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Author: bufclar
Date: 2007-07-31 04:01
I got my barreles from Guy himself and are quite good. I was able to try many to select the ones I got. I understand those of you thinking it's the barrel but I got the barrels when I got the clarinet. The A clarinet did not have this problem with the Chaddash barrel. This is something that just started happening recently.
The Chaddash barrels I was able to sample and purchase are fantastic and a massive improvement over the barrels that came with the instruments. It's not the barrels.
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Author: grifffinity
Date: 2007-07-31 05:59
In August of 2000 I had purchased an R-13 A from Vince Marinelli and at the time of purchase it had a great throat register - overall a good horn. However, about 2 months later something changed in the horn and the throat tone Bb became horrible. It was stuffy and flat - and whatever happened, none of the techs I took it to could make it better. One tech in Boston, where I was studying, actually made it worse when he swapped out the register tube with a Bb tube - that made the long B natural horrible on top of everything else in the clarion.
A friend told me to go to Guy Chadash, whose solution was to fill in the old register hole and redrill a new one higher up. At my wits end, I let him do it. He fixed some of the problems, but all in all - the horn has never been the same as it was when purchased. A few years later I found Jimmy Yan and he worked on the horn, but still, the charm was lost.
The point of my story is - I have had a similar situation happen to my horn. None of the techs could find a leak or reason why the throat Bb suddenly went bad. It made no sense. It was frustrating because no one had an answer for me - and I was short on cash. In hindsight, I should have demanded that Buffet or the original seller do something. But I was in a desperate situation, and at least Guy Chadash had a solution, while perhaps it wasn't the best solution.
In your situation, since you have had the horn over a year I don't know what your options are as far as exchanging the top joint. I have to wonder if these changes occur because the wood isn't properly aged...hence why top techs cannot fully resolve these issues.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2007-07-31 10:43
Clutching at straws here...
"...and all the tone holes have been cleaned...."
It is reasonably easy to clean tone holes. However without an endoscope it is pretty well impossible to even SEE the undercut part of a tone hole.
Without access to fraising tools of the same angle that were used originally to do the undercutting, it is even very difficult to clean lint-set-in-hard-mineral-deposits matter from the undercut surfaces.
Perhaps build-up here flattened your notes.
Just a possibility.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-07-31 11:46
Throat Bb is a crap note on most A clarinets with the standard fingering (Sp+A key - and the added resonance fingerings) - use the side key for Bb instead of the speaker key.
Yeah it's awkward to use all the time, but it makes for a far better tone quality and much clearer note as and when you can use it.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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