 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: aclarinetmusician
Date: 2010-07-10 04:20
Hi everyone,
I have a wooden Buffet Bb clarinet that I purchased on sale from a reputable local shop for $800 about a year ago. It produces a strange sound and I cannot for the life of me figure out what the cause of this is. There is no air leakage that I can detect from simply blowing through the instrument with all holes sealed, so the pads seem to be ship-shape.
The sound is a sort of fuzzy hissing, which I thought at first was the sound of leaking, but now I have no idea. I removed some keys in the upper part (octave and the side keys) and checked the holes beneath them for any debris, and there was nothing.
Does this sound at all familiar to anybody? Or is that just how it's supposed to sound?
Thanks!
Post Edited (2010-07-10 04:21)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2010-07-10 04:33
Check either:
1. register key tube for debris (you can clean it out with a pipe cleaner)
2. torn or split membrane on one or more of the pads
3. tenon corks are making an airtight seal with no air leaking between joints
...GBK
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Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2010-07-10 04:36
My first thought was that the OP may be using an excessively hard reed.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
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Author: aclarinetmusician
Date: 2010-07-10 04:45
That is a possibility. I played with 3 1/2s for a long time but haven't played for a while. I'm using 3s now.
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Author: aclarinetmusician
Date: 2010-07-10 05:40
Merlin is correct. Even though I've been playing every day, it seems it just takes my embouchure much longer to warm up now, but once it is, the reed and instrument play beautifully. Need to practice more!
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-07-10 14:51
Assuming it's not you or the reeds I have to go with GBK. First check to see if your reeds are sealing on your mouthpiece, the MP could be warped. With the reed on the MP suck out the air to see if it creates a vacum, if not the MP could be warped. Try it with several reeds because your reeds could be warped too and either one could cause that problem. I suggest you have someone else play the clarinet and see if they have the same problem. If so I suggest you take it to a well respected tech. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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