 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Jono
Date: 2012-11-21 06:41
What other extra attatchments can you get on a Clarinet other then the Eb/Ab key? Just very curious to see what else I can get on.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: KTJ78
Date: 2012-11-21 06:44
You can get a right hand low Eb/Bb key. I have both that key and the Eb/Ab key on my Eb clarnet and I hate them! They just get in my way. Sometimes less is more, in my opinion.
KTJ
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-21 10:17
You've got an Eb clarinet built to low Eb? Pictures, please!
You can get a RH C#/G# touchpiece that clamps onto the existing C#/G# touchpiece from Stephen Fox so you can use the RH index finger to do a C-Db, G-Ab and altissimo E-F trill easier as well as B-C# and F#-G# trills.
Rarely do you see anything more than the LH Ab/Eb lever on clarinets nowadays since the major companies (Buffet, Leblanc and Selmer) have rationalised things, whereas before you had all manner of options - LH forked Eb/Bb mechanism (ring for LH finger 3), articulated C#/G# (as on oboes/saxes) and low Eb, either separately (apart from the low Eb) or all together on a full Boehm which has the lot.
http://www.clarinetperfection.com/galleryclar/Keywork/FB/07.jpg
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Katrina
Date: 2012-11-21 17:54
A Full Boehm Eb would be great for those D-clarinet parts, right?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2012-11-21 18:12
Chris P wrote:
> Rarely do you see anything more than the LH Ab/Eb lever on
> clarinets nowadays since the major companies (Buffet, Leblanc
> and Selmer) have rationalised things, whereas before you had
> all manner of options -
Lamentably this is true. These days if you want any of the extra keywork you are pretty much stuck with either an Amati or a Patricola unless you are willing to drop a ton of money on one of the semi-custom reform boehm clarinets . Thankfully you can still find vintage clarinets with all of the extra keys for reasonable prices.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-11-21 18:20
There are no extra keys...only missing keys... no "Full Boehms"...only real Boehms and Incomplete Boehms...
I personally hate playing instruments without the "seventh ring" over the C/G hole. For me, it's essential.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2012-11-22 03:24
>> instruments without the "seventh ring" over the C/G hole. For me, it's essential. <<
...and for others it makes some fingerings impossible to use, which (depending on player) can be more important than its benefits.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Wes
Date: 2012-11-22 21:29
Yes, I have an Eb clarinet with full Boehm keys to low Eb and a real donut key. It was made about 1910-1920 by the Japanese Musical Instrument Company which became the Yamaha company after WWII. It was brought to the USA by q sailor sometime after the war. Glen Johnston remarked that it could play D parts also. I found it at a garage sale in Manhattan Beach.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-22 22:07
There was a photo of a Japanese Musical Instrument Company Bb clarinet posted on here years back (I think it was a full Boehm) - it looked very much like a Buffet copy.
I wouldn't mind a Selmer CT-era full Boehm Eb - there was an old Amati full Boehm Eb on eBay years back which I watched, but didn't bid on as I wasn't sure if it would be any good. Amati base their full Boehm keywork along the lines of Selmer Series 9.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ned
Date: 2012-11-22 22:53
You are talking about Boehm system instruments for (mainly, I suspect) classical music.
Well, I'm just a New Orleans style jazz player, so I'm talking just Albert system here. The current favourite horn of the jazz police is a Selmer Radio Improved from the mid 1930s. Big bore = big sound or so it goes. I have played one and............they're great, however..........I can't afford the $5,000 needed to own one of them.
So, I opted for a 17key+6 ring German Oehler system for a year or so, but it would not play in tune, that is to say, I could not bend notes, or lip up and down to accommodate the moment. I believe it's to do with the number of tone holes and vents...............again this is second hand information. Correct me if you know any better.
So after that, I went to a 14 key+ 4 ring 1918 Buffet (medium bore, as I'm informed), it played extraordinarily well in comparison to the Oehler system and I have used it for a decade or more.
But, for some unaccountable reason, it no longer plays as it should, so, recently, I pulled out an ancient Hawkes & Son 12 key+ 2 ring simple system (WW1 vintage, I suspect), which I had purchased 20 years earlier and had refurbished as a stand-by instrument. This, plus a Meyer MP gives me all the volume and tone I have ever wanted.
I'm baffled as to why I ever desired 17 keys and 6 rings!? Perhaps it was the visual appeal and the mistaken idea that I could actually improve my playing with more metal.
With just 12 keys and 2 rings I have all I actually need to play sufficiently fluently in the principal jazz keys of C, Db, Eb, F, Ab, Bb and the occasional Dm and Am.
Oh.......yes......the simple system weighs practically nothing in comparison to the other two. I have no intention of going back.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-22 23:27
Another non-Boehm system clarinet favoured by New Orleans players is/was the Selmer 'Improved Albert' system clarinet which has an articulated C#/G# key and LH Ab/Eb lever.
What you get with Albert/simple systems are much larger main fingerholes compared to Boehms, so this is why they're favoured as certain low register notes are stronger/less resistant in comparison. On Boehm system clarinets, the E natural (xoo|ooo), C natural (xxx|ooo) and open G can suffer with being stuffy and resistant if not vented properly as their toneholes are closed with a pad operated by a ring key, whereas on simple/Alberts they're plain toneholes.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-11-22 23:40
ned,
Not sure about the "jazz police" and the Selmer Radio Improved. In the USA, jazz players use a pretty wide variety of instruments, and the idea of an ideal instrument model is pretty well non-existent, at least in actual practice. Guys like Evan Christopher and Michael Marcus are using Selmer Alberts (last time I heard), Dr Michael White of NOLA is using a Wurlitzer R-B (and has played Buffets, Selmers, Leblancs and Rossis), Anat Cohen uses an R13, Don Byron a Leblanc (I think), Eddie Daniels a Backun (and he's sounded great in the past on Buffets, Yamahas, and Leblancs too).
If your setup works for you, that's really all that matters. In the jazz world, I think the more individuality there is, the better for all of us.
I personally use a Selmer CT and BT. Haven't found anything that works as well as those--for my concept and needs. But I'm hoping that some makers these days will return to those designs for inspiration. Large bore bazookas are an endangered species....
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-11-22 23:45
Ned,
I was interested to read about your 1918 buffet losing its edge after years of playing well. A few months back I checked out an old Selmer for an elderly gentleman who complained of the same sort of problem. The pads were in good condition, the venting seemed to be as it should be and springs and general mechanical condition was pretty good, but the problem was still there.
Following up on something I read on this bboard a while back I rigged a dentists mirror and checked the condition of the tone-holes from inside the bore. I found that they were all partially occluded with a build-up of very hard crud which narrowed the base of the tone-hole. I don't have the tools to clean them up from the inside, but a bit of careful work through the tone-holes with a riffler file removed the crud and restored the performance. Might be worth a look. I've since found and fixed the same problem on my circa 1900 Thibouville-Lamy.
I note from your email address that we're pretty close, I'm up the hill in Emerald.
Tony F.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jono
Date: 2012-11-24 07:37
Chris! What model is that Clarinet!!!! I play in a local orchestra(and I'm 16) and the lady I play with has that exact Clarinet and I asked what model it was and she had no clue at all! And she only paid $1,500 for it!!!!!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-24 07:49
They're a set of Selmer Series 9 full Boehms. I bought both of them off eBay for a very reasonable price and rebuilt them.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
