Author: kdk
Date: 2013-11-16 13:27
By "short twelfths" I assume you mean the clarion twelfths are flat compared to the chalumeau.
I'm not a tech, but I do have a C clarinet that had a similar problem, though it wasn't limited to RH notes. Neither the instrument's manufacturer nor my local tech, who is excellent, was able to fix the problem with anything as easy or straightforward as undercutting. I finally had to ship it to Morrie Backun, who had read postings I'd put here and offered to see what he could do. He did succeed in resolving most of the problem and making the instrument very playable, and I'm very grateful to him, but the work he did was much more involved than some simple undercutting.
Undercutting, fwiw, in general will raise the pitch of a given fingering and free up the fingering's response (remove resistance). But for a given fingering it affects all harmonics *in the same direction.* So, undercutting the RH 3rd finger tone hole to raise E5 will also raise and free A3. Not necessarily to the same degree, but still, both notes will be higher. Intuitively, I don't think you can get to a point where the twelfth is accurate without making both notes so high they don't work with the rest of the clarinet. And eventually the added freedom of response turns into wildness that can make the notes hard to control.
Again, intuitively (I don't know enough about instrument acoustics to be confident), the size of the twelfths or any of the other harmonic intervals probably has more to do with the bore shape than the tone holes themselves. When you start playing with the bore, you risk unintended consequences that you may regret.
I'd say, if the problem is enough that it can't be humored with embouchure or voicing adjustments or a different mouthpiece, don't buy it (if that's what you're considering, though you didn't say so). Whether or not you can fix a serious intonation problem like this is a crap shoot, and the odds may be better at the table.
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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