Author: William
Date: 2010-06-19 14:45
Many years ago (early 1970's??), my Buffet R13 Bb started to play flat on E6, which I assume is the one you are referring to. On the advice of my old UW clarinet professor, I took my clarinet to "Mac" McGibbon in Milwaukee who, after listening to my description and taking some measurements, diagnosted the problem as shrinkage of the upper bore of my upper joint. He was, back in the 1960's, the "go to" expert on clarinet accoustics and was quite the character--very gruff and smoking an upside down pipe constantly, even when he worked. His solution was to take out a huge, hand auger and proceed to reem out the upper bore of my precious clarinet, while puffing away on his pipe. Sawdust fell to his work bench until he finally stopped and said, "here, try this, kid." I did and the E7 was perfectly back in tune and has remained until this very day. Although I only visited his shoppe in Milwaukee a couple of times, I'll never forget Mac, who was best known for his hand made bassoons.
Bottom line: my tuning problem in the altissimo was a result of upper joint bore shrinkage after only 5 o 6 years of playing the clarinet from new. Perhaps that is yours as well.......just a thought.
Post Edited (2010-06-19 17:32)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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