 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2008-06-07 03:39
This required considerable thought on my part. I have a Buffet which I bought in 1970. It is an incredible horn, very special to me. Also the tone is beautiful. Anyway, there is one area on the lower half of the horn that has developed a "weak" spot around C, C sharp, and I was thinking, what if I got a new or different lower half of the clarinet instead of putting out a bunch of dollars for a whole new horn when the top half is perfecto. I have had the horn overhauled recently, many trips to the technician in between, and just don't know what happens to this particular area. I thought the case might be rubbing the keys the wrong way. Or something. Who knows.
I wrote to Buffet and the fellow wrote back and said that it is possible to do this, change half of a horn, if you find a dealer willing to work with you - but - the sound might be totally different.
Interesting concept. I am going to check it out though. Anybody ever done something like this?
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Author: William
Date: 2008-06-07 13:38
If your refering to C4 & C#4, your "weak" sound may be due to pad heigth (pads too low) , pad deterioration or a build up of swab lint around the inner rim of the tone hole. IMHO, a new lower joint will only result in worse performance--intonation, tone quality, etc--than your original. Take a trip to a woodwind repair tech and have your clarinet checked out before replacing the joint--which could be very expensive.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-06-07 13:46
Or there could be a minor leak somewhere else on the instrument that affects these notes, and not neccessarily on the lower joint.
Do indeed have your clarinet thoroughly checked out before doing anything - it might be something very simple causing this problem and something simple and inexpensive to sort out.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2008-06-07 18:32
Really, it sounds like what you are experiencing could be fixed much more economically (and better!) by taking the calrinet to a competent repair technician and having that person go over the instrument, taking care to fx this provblem, any others which might be developing, and just checking everything out for adjustment and regulation. Far cheaper and more reasonable from a quality standpoint than investing in a new lower joint.
On the other hand, if you don't want to do that, please e-mail me, and I will provide an address where you can send the non-functional clarinet to receive proper retirement. ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Rob Vitale
Date: 2008-06-08 01:50
hmm, not sure what you mean by the "weak spot" but its not a good idea to replace a joint. For two reasons, 1 its almost impossible to get a buffet that is bored the same way today as they did 40 years ago, and 2, even if you could get an exact original replica brand new, the bore of the older joint portion has inadvertently changed over time. As the wood ages the bore changes dimensions, warps on a minute levels from the constant humidity of playing and then drying. Then the end product would be very inconsistant in both tone and intonation b/c you created a hybrid of old and new.
I looked into this for an old Selmer I have, didn't pay.
Post Edited (2008-06-08 01:53)
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