 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Stubby
Date: 2009-11-17 04:08
Hi everyone. I've been reading with interest several threads regarding bass clarinet register tubes/vents, and would like to pose some questions to any who are interested.
I have owned in my time 5 different bass clarinets - a Leblanc, a Yamaha, 2 Selmers and a Buffet. All have been low C instruments, and all with double register vent mechanism except the Leblanc.
Of those with the double register vent mechanism the one that seemed to me to have the best low E/long B 12th was the Buffet Prestige. This 12th still seems a little wide, but better than on others. I've noticed that the hole for the first register vent/throat Bb is placed further down the instrument on the Prestige than on other basses, and am coming to the conclusion that this contributes to a better E/B 12th.
I'm wondering if others have come to this conclusion too.
I'm also wondering (and this really is the main question) if anyone has experimented with relocation of the register vent/Bb tone hole on a bass clarinet with the intention of improving the E/B 12th.
On my Selmer Privilege bass the 12th is quite wide. I'm toying with the idea of moving the first register vent further down the instrument to make the B less sharp, and then perhaps opening up the size of the E/B tonehole to make the E less flat.
I suspect that the register tube would need to be made shorter and/or larger in diameter to keep the throat Bb in tune.
Any suggestions? Experiences? Warnings?
Any feedback would be most welcome! Thanks.
Stubby
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Author: USFBassClarinet
Date: 2009-11-17 04:40
There is a thread somewhere on here about a few people who experimented on Bb clarinets and bass clarinets with longer, shorter, wider, and narrower, tubes for those notes. As well, if you are not part of the Yahoo New Bass Clarinet Group, I believe the discussion was talked about there some too. I may be wrong. I think the people who took part in the experiment are still around and will comment.
Found it! Should be of great interest. I have read it 3 or 4 times.
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=20&i=843&t=839
After rereading it again...it doesn't seem to answer your question at all except that the width of the register vent on the neck seems to not affect intonation very much at all.
Post Edited (2009-11-17 04:56)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-11-17 07:10
An updated version of this article is here http://www.nitailevi.com/tests/bass_regtube/bass_regtube.htm Hebrew only but updated photos showing the comparison with the original tube better, and I also made it look better (which makes no difference to playability). Sicne then I changed the size of the neck register hole for two more players, one new Buffet and one older model Buffet. Generally, remember that a change in the register hole will affect all the notes using it, and not all in the same way exactly.
What you describe sounds like pretty expensive modification. I wouldn't do this unless you know from someone who did this specifically on instrument with similar concept of register tubes (not any double reg bass), preferably the same model.
Or you can experiment. The most basic experiment would be to make a new hole and tube and drill a new hole for it. You could try different sizes of holes too. Maybe best to drill in a slightly different place, which is necessary anyway if the new location overlaps the original. For making the modification also depends how important it is keep the original hole/tube and key, etc.
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