 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2007-09-25 20:20
I noticed that the interior of my Chadash is quite rough, unlike the polished smooth bore of my other barrels. I seem to remember someone saying that Chadash did this on purpose. Does anyone know the reason for this?
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2007-09-25 20:46
The smoothness is immaterial if it plays well.
There is no correlation with tendency to crack, either.
While barrel artisans try to burnish bores to glass-like smoothness, it is NOT uncommon to find that their better-playing offerings have some roughness to them. Smoothness is perceived by the buyer as an indication of quality.
I try to achieve smoothness, but overzealousness can ruin a perfectly good barrel. (Perfection is the enemy of good)
There are those who believe that porousity, or wider grain, increases sonority. Moennig believed this, and my original barrel made by him was a bit rough. The same approach is said to apply to the ridges seen in hand-applied baffles found in mouthpieces.
Disclaimer...I make and sell barrels.
Allan Segal
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
Post Edited (2007-09-25 20:50)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-09-25 20:53
Liquorice -
Two reasons, I think. The first is that the adjustment of a barrel's bore is critical work. When you get it playing just right, you stop working, even if it doesn't look perfect. I have several handmade barrels by Kalmen Opperman, and none of them has a polished bore. In fact, one has a chunk dug out in the middle. Kal said he had learned to leave well enough alone, and that if he tried to make a barrel look perfect as well as play perfect, he'd ruin more than he improved.
Second, people with credible expertise say that wood with low density and large pores plays better, even though it's not shiny. See, for example, Alvin Swiney's posting at http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/1999/05/000596.txt and David Hite's at http://urd.cyberstreet.com/jdhite/mouthpieces/shop1.htm.
Ken Shaw
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2007-09-27 01:49
I certainly trust Kalmen Opperman on this area of expertise...his mouthpieces are not totally shiny or burnished as well. He made a super mouthpiece for me one year in Boston back in the 80s and it is really excellent. Strangely enough I play the Hite D facing as my regular orchestral mouthpiece and it is super.
So it is not surprising to see two different makers in agreement or accord on the same subject.
David Dow
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