 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Charles
Date: 2001-03-01 22:52
I play Forbes SanFrancisco CF on my Leblanc L7 and love it. But I'm not happy with it's volume. Any recommendation would be appreciated.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-03-02 15:49
Charles,
You might try a Vandoren 5JB. The L7 is a popular instrument for doublers and jazz players because of the bore size on this clarinet. Or, if you want to buy another handmade, try one of Fobe's more open models. The L7 usually gives a lot of volume (I have owned several of them). Another Vandoren noted for volume is the B45Dot.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-03-02 17:45
Having an L 7 and a Selmer CT [big bore?], I'll try out my BG - labelled Benny G -and an old Woodwind G 8 and maybe some other mp's into a bathroom corner to see if my old ears can find the "deep and dark" that is so desired! All suggestions for this "research" greatly appreciated. Don
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Author: drew
Date: 2001-03-02 17:49
Charles,
I have a Leblanc L70, which is successor to L7, and have experienced good results with Vandoren B45 (dot), which has slightly larger chamber than B45. I tried Vandoren 5JB but found it too open and couldn't maintain good tone production.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-03-02 18:13
Charles -
Fobes San Francisco mouthpieces are hand-made. He may be willing to adjust yours for your instrument and your preferences. It would be worthwhile to call or e-mail him.
Fobes also makes barrels, which can make a big improvement in resonance and volume, particularly when he matches them to one of his mouthpieces and your instrument.
A few things to try first. I assume you adjust your reeds. If you don't, you need to start. Taking off any bark that goes down the sides of the reed and removing some material near the top of the vamp will often free up the response and give you more volume. So does thinning the tip very slightly.
If the reed is even slightly wider than the outside of the rails, it will wrap around the rails, killing response and volume. In fact, the tip of the reed needs to be very slightly less wide than the outside of the rails (perhaps the width of a sharp pencil line) On a flat file, or on fine sandpaper over plate glass, narrow the reed down. Use a finger nail file *very* lightly on the corners to take down any sharp point. Then put the reed on the mouthpiece and move the tip from side to side by microscopic amounts. You will find a "magic spot" that gives a big increase in volume and focus.
Put on a slightly softer reed and take more mouthpiece into your mouth. A strange but effective experiment is to play with the reed on top for the few seconds your upper lip can stand it. You'll often find that the mouthpiece blows freer that way. Then turn the reed back to the bottom and work to find that same quality. It helps to switch to double lip.
Stand in front of a mirror and make sure that no more than half of the red part of your lower lip is inside your teeth. Any more dampens the reed and decreases resonance and volume.
Hold the instrument by the barrel and play and open G. Then rotate the barrel slightly one way or the other around the tenon(about half an "hour" if you think of it as a clock face). At some point, there will be a definite increase in resonance and focus. Mark the spot on the wood of the barrel just above the register key with a little dot of white-out, nail polish, or something similar and put the instrument together that way from then on. You can do the same thing with the bell, though the difference is more subtle.
At some point, you have to coax the sound instead of just blowing harder. It's a big change, but one you'll have to make sooner or later.
Of course, when you're in an orchestra, trying to be heard over massed strings, you have to blow hard. Anthony Gigliotti says, only half jokingly, that wind players in the Philadelphia Orchestra have only 3 dynamics: forte, fortissimo and BTSOOI (Blow the S*** Out Of It). Both he and Stanley Drucker in the New York Philharmonic play on reeds so hard you or I could barely get a peep out of them.
Finally, you may want to consider a new instrument. The Leblanc L7 is a good clarinet, but newer ones are better. I played a Leblanc Concerto last week that was out on display at Woodwind and Brasswind in New York that had a gigantic sound.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-03-03 23:06
Ken, your comments/suggestions are good, will try to experiment as you suggest. As I semi-promised above, I tried out my 5 "best" [and a couple of real old] mps on my L7, and seem-to-have-found that a 1960's ?? Ridenour Encore mp gave the "darkest" sounds [with more "resistance"]. Beyond the above-mentioned mps were a VD 11-6, an old Pedler and an old Penzel-Mueller [dern good!!]. Will try on my Sel CT later. Since "dark" is quite undefined, I presume it means the lack or partial supression of the very-high odd-numbered harmonics which produce "bright" tonality. What a can-of-worms this is!! Research?? Don
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2001-03-04 00:00
Light, Dark, Bright, Heavy.....I think all these terms have a diffrerent meaning to all of us. About mouthpieces.....I have one expensive hand customed mouthpiece and like Don have discovered some very good older mouthpieces. I happened to get an old Sumner Acousticut mouthpiece in a #3 facing out of the cadaver pile last fall. No telling how long it had been lying in the bottom of the bone pile. I didn't even realize it was there or what it was. So, being intrigued I cleaned it up and took care of a couple of very minor nicks and VIOLA!--I have a mouthpiece that blows the socks off of the $200 plus custom job! I don't know who made the Sumner Acousticut but I went back to my bone pile and found two more......another #3 and a #4 both with great sounds. The #4 played a little too freely on the Bb but makes a wonderful mouthpiece for the Selmer BT A that I have. I was getting ready to get a expenseive custom job for the A (since it played sharp with the other mouthpiece) but it plays well in tune with the Sumner #4. The mouthpieces look like Chedeville blanks with the three lines on them with the one line towards the other end. Maybe some of you mouthpiece afficionados can shed a little more light on them....but I'm not going to sneer at another "off beat" mouthpiece again until I've played on it. BTW I've also got a Gregory 5 18M that plays very well.
John
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