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Selmer alto clarinet register venting

Author: Molloy
Date: 2010-07-04 03:37

I got a Selmer Paris alto clarinet (serial A####). The second register is great from C# to G, C and G# are ok, and other than that it won't speak. A will almost work and with practice I could probably get it out, but middle-line B and high B are not there at all.

The first register is fine from bottom to top. Is this just how Selmer altos are designed, with a single register vent that's really only appropriate for notes in the middle of the instrument, and you have to practice for months to coax out the other piss-poor notes? Or must I have some leakage?

I can play two registers just fine on my Pedler alto, and the first few notes of the third register too. It has two register vents and a mechanism to switch between them, while the Selmer has only one vent (and a mechanism to switch between a throat Bb tonehole and the one register vent).

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Re: Selmer alto clarinet register venting

Author: jbutler ★2017
Date: 2010-07-04 17:03

I don't think it's a venting problem but rather an adjustment or pad leak problem.

John B

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