 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: na1965
Date: 2007-10-25 17:28
I have been trialing several overhauled Buffet R13 A clarinets from the mid 1970s as well as a Tosca A and although I prefer the tone of the vintage R13s, which I personally find richer and more complex, each of the R13s had clarion A's that did not speak easily. The note seemed stuffy on the R13s and occaisionally seemed to start with a slight chirp or a growl. I did not notice this on the Tosca. Is this a common issue on R13 A's, and what can be done to improve it?
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Author: Ryan25
Date: 2007-10-25 17:46
Yes, this can be common on R13 A clarinets and it is easily fixed by having a tech shorten the register tube. Usually, this solves the problem but each instrument can have it's own unique set of issues so it is not always a universal fix but in general, shortening the reg. tube usually works.
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Author: na1965
Date: 2007-10-25 18:02
Thank you for your response. Does shortening the register tube have any negative effects on other notes, particularly the throat Bb? The Tosca A that I tried had an interesting register tube/key set-up, having a fair length of the register tube outside of the bore.
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Author: Ryan25
Date: 2007-10-25 18:14
"Does shortening the register tube have any negative effects on other notes, particularly the throat Bb?
No, not at all.
The Toscas are very nice instruments but my hands are so big that the slightly different spacing of the keys is troublesome for me.
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Author: donald
Date: 2007-10-25 19:05
Shortening the register tube WILL slightly sharpen throat B flat and clarion register A, B and C. The A is sometimes a touch too flat in comparison to the G (on R13 A) so this may not be a bad thing. The difference is so little that you may very quickly learn to voice the notes in tune.
Sometimes a B flat register tube can be substituted, rather than slightly shortening the A register tube. This usually makes the clarinet feel much more responsive, but makes B and C very sharp. One odd thing i've seen is an R13 A (from USA) where a tech had installed a Bflat reg vent, then narrowed the diameter of the vent bore by placing tape on the top side of the hole (much as one might on a regular tone hole). This Clarinet had reputedly been overhauled by Hans Moennig, but i have no way of knowing if this was true and if he was responsible for this adjustment.
Clarke Fobes has a very good discussion of this (complete with measurements for the length of the reg vent) on his website.
keep playing the good tunes
donald
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Author: Ryan25
Date: 2007-10-25 19:49
".......The difference is so little that you may very quickly learn to voice the notes in tune."
I have had a register tube shortened on two R13 A's now and I really did not notice any difference in tunning. I agree that is very little if any at all.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-10-26 07:15
I've heard the clarion A on Buffet A clarinets is a known problem. Does anyone know when it was supposedly solved? I never found a problem with the A on any of the Buffet A clarinets I played, but the oldest one I tried was probably from the early 90s or very late 80s.
I have some information on this from a very good clarinet specialist in USA - Tim Clark. AFAIK he used to work at Buffet in charge of quality control of professional clarinets. He told me that he thinks the best solution to the clarion A note on the Buffet A clarinets is to replace the original register tube with a register tube from a Buffet RC model, and possibly ream it to 2.8 dia. and flare the outside end to 3.0mm.
I hope this helps.
Nitai
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Author: amyeliz
Date: 2007-10-28 20:19
this is a very common problem (read: pretty much all r13 A's have that "growl" on the clarion a and in particularly bad cases it extends upward into the altissimo range as well) the easiest fix, as opposed to having one custom made for you, is to simply ask your technician to replace your register tube with one from a buffet festival clarinet (what the company should really manufacture them with since everyone i know has a festival tube in their instrument). this should make that growl go away completely and does not affect tuning enough to be noticeable.
best of luck!
ps- as far as i know, this problem has yet to be solved. i bought my r13 A 2 years ago from muncy and had him replace the tube right then and there, which immediately removed the growl and improved the responsivity of the whole range.
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Author: rgames
Date: 2007-10-28 21:31
My Prestige A is about five years old and it has the same problem - the solo in Pines of Rome is a real bear because of it.
If there's such an easy fix, why doesn't Buffet make it standard? There must be more to the story...
rgames
____________________________
Richard G. Ames
Composer - Arranger - Producer
www.rgamesmusic.com
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