 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Seyer40
Date: 2009-05-30 13:09
I recently bought an old Conn hard rubber bass clarinet on ebay. I had it fixed up and I love the tone it has. The only major problem I'm having is the neck. The horn has neck that doesn't screw in it has one that has cork on the end. It resembles a tuning neck without the octave key and the part where it comes apart in the middle. It is in the shape of a question mark instead of an s. Does anyone know where I can buy a neck that would fit and is more of an s shape. Thank You.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-05-30 15:05
Unless your bass clarinet is pre-1950s, it is actually a Malerne-made bass clarinet stenciled as a "Conn". The mouthpiece angle is quite horizontal. I've re-angled quite a few of these to something more like a 30-degree angle. I wish I knew of a source of properly-angled necks for these instruments, but I'm not aware of any.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-05-30 16:27
Can't one just bend'em (with an appropriate tube bending apparatus, that is)?
--
Ben
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2009-05-30 16:43
The neck of my Getzen [as labelled, Malerne made, DS?] HR, single reg. key bass cl , a good player tho, is much as you describes, a ? . So far, in repair-tweaking playing, the ?small, upward angle has not been a problem/bother to me. I seem to compensate by vertically "pulling-back " the horn's bell, to an angle of perhaps 10-15 degrees. I installed a home-made peg !! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: blazian
Date: 2009-05-31 03:30
I JUST had my neck re-angled (by someone who may or may not remain unnamed) on my Malerne Four Star Pro. It's really wonderful now that the angle isn't horizontal. It may be cheaper for it to be re-angled than to buy a new one.
@ Ben - My neck would've been bent if it was possible. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the metal is very sturdy. Mine was cut and re-soldered.
- Martin
Post Edited (2009-05-31 03:38)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2009-05-31 14:59
Trouble is you have to maintain the internal bore shape, smoothness and dimensions without thinning and fatiguing the metal on the long side of the curve or kinking it on the short side.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-05-31 23:41
What kdk said, but still, you'd be amazed at how much denting, kinking and other irregularities a bass clarinet (or saxophone) neck can be subjected to and still play well.
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Author: Seyer40
Date: 2009-06-01 11:11
> in the process of altering the neck it can be severly damaged beyond repair.
With incompetency anything can be damaged beyond (economical) repair. Bending tubing without ruining it isn't rocket science - it's been done for many centuries.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2009-06-01 14:42
Having been employed as a Chem Engr in [petr/chem] pilot plant work, we used a lot of copper tubing, much 1/4 ", some 1/2 ", minor 1" dia's. We found that when new, with proper care, it could be bent ONCE, since it "work-hardens". For the larger sizes, best results were obtained by filling the section with sand, plugging it, and carefully, slowly bending. I believe this allowed "flowing" to take place thereby not overly thinning the stretched surface . With a [prob.] nickel-silver [a copper-nickel-zinc alloy] bass neck, Perhaps, this method might work, for a skilled metal-worker. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Gary Van Cott
Date: 2009-06-02 03:58
I experimented with a neck with a better angle on an older Leblanc bass clarinet. I found that the improved angle made the stretch for right hand keys uncomfortable. So unless you have long arms you have to be careful about this.
Gary
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