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Re: Affordable C Clarinets Amati vs Forte

Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2011-03-11 03:49

I have a Forte C clarinet. It is a good instrument that does not suffer from the poor workmanship that perhaps plagued early models.
Regarding the low throat tones, I had a shorter barrel made by barrel-maker (and list-contributor) Allan Segal. The improvement on my Forte C clarinet with the Segal barrel was more radical than any improvement I have experienced on Bb/A clarinet with a better barrel. I ordered the shorter barrel primarily to raise the throat tones so the improvement in tone, homogeneity, lack of choke and increased headroom was an unexpected bonus!
(As an aside, I can't help wondering if the Forte/Amati is made for use with a (shorter) C clarinet mpc, resulting in low throat tones when played with a Bb mpc.)
On my Forte C clarinet the long B and C (and low E and F) were very flat on my instrument (and the 2 others I tried). I had a competent repairman do the following two operations:
1) There is a hole in the bell on the Forte C clarinet which I had tripled in size to bring up the B.
2) The long C's pitch is greatly affected by the size of the first uncovered tonehole below the C (ie the tonehole that the B key covers when you play B). On the Forte C clarinet this tonehole is bizarrely small. If you look at at a Bb, A or Eb clarinet, the two lowest toneholes (under the C and B key) are close in size. But on the Forte C clarinet these two toneholes are not close in size, as though the makers of this instrument got the requisite size of the lowest tonehole wrong. The pad and pad cup are the normal size but the hole is about 25% too small.
I had my repairman increase the size of the lowest tonehole (under the B key) and that brought up the pitch of the long C so that it is now in tune with the notes around it.

By the way, I second those comments that Doc Henderson is a good person to work with.
------------------------------------------------------------
Simon Aldrich

Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opera de Montreal
Artistic Director - Jeffery Summer Concerts
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne

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