 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-04-29 20:43
I've been experimenting with this new invention for over a year and am more than enthusiastic. It consists of two little brass, silver or gold blades that you superimpose or attach, straddled over one, some, or all, of the joints of the clarinet: between the mouthpiece and the barrel, barrel and upper half of the clarinet, etc.. They are attached with a silicone band, and you have to do this every time you assemble your instrument: a little bit of a nuisance, but you soon get the hang of it. Acoustically, what this invention claims to do is absorb the "bad" harmonics of the instrument, a bit of a simplification on my part, but the inventor offers more mathematical, scientific explanations if you request them. The exciting thing is that it does make your sound smoother and more mellow. It makes the register breaks easier to negotiate, eases response in the altissimo register and eliminates all shrillness. I find that it can also vastly improve a mediocre instrument.
Ruben Greenberg -JL-Clarinettes
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-04-29 23:07
David: Funny. I've also got a Ridenour C clarinet and this is where it has made the biggest difference for me. I put one end of the blades on the heel of the reed; the other on the barrel. Then again, the mouthpiece-barrel relationship might make a difference. Just to make sure it wasn't just a placebo effect, I asked my musical partners if they could hear a difference and they said they could.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-04-30 09:10
David: The only problem is that the blades slide off the heel of the reed sometimes. It takes some fiddling with and experimentation (I use a Lomax leather-cloth ligature). Let me know what you think once you've tried. Ideally there would be, or will be, a lefreQue ligature with the blades incorporated. That would save time and inconvenience.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2014-04-30 18:12
I looked through the info on the web site. I think what they are saying is that the little metal bridges overcome the damping effects of cork tenons through the body of the instrument. I wonder if this does not expect more of the material transmitting the sound than the shape of the bore. There are Utube videos that seem to show a difference with and without the sound bridge, but for the clarinet version I could not hear much change. If this was such a big deal why would all of us not be playing on one piece instruments?
Interesting, though, and I would like to hear more about it.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: BenjaminP
Date: 2014-04-30 18:27
I use both the solid silver lefreques and brass lefreques every time I put my saxophone together.
Great difference with slurring awkward intervals. I do notice a very small difference in response generally, though slurring intervals is the main improvement.
I recommend them to everyone, especially on saxophone and flute. Just pick up the brass set, they are quite cheap!
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Author: ruben
Date: 2014-04-30 23:09
John: It would be a vast improvement if all of us were playing on one piece instruments, but this isn't possible because: a) the instrument would warp and the bore would take on a banana shape (this is what has happened to a 19th century instrument that I have) b) for reasons of intonation, we have to pull out and push in and not just at the barrel. From a purely acoustic point, of view, a one-piece clarinet would be better. Ideally, the clarinet would have no tone-holes either!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: derek_b
Date: 2014-05-01 03:04
My mediocre results were vastly improved since I stopped using conventional clarinet cork grease and started using this when assembling my clarinet:
best for clarinet cork
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2014-05-01 19:58
derek_b - my gen'l store does not carry that cork grease product. So sad.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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