 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2014-07-17 18:51
Having just finished a week playing with a throwback band using an antique Albert system clarinet, I am contemplating jungle rot of my left thumb due to condensation constantly emanating from the naked LH thumb hole. (Upside is that there is no problem with water collecting in side Bb or C# keys.) This being my first exposure to the Albert system, my question is are there clarinets in this fingering system that have a chimney for the LH thumb hole to divert this stream, or is there some other way to prevent having a constantly wet left thumb?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-07-18 03:08
German and Oehler system clarinets also have a plain thumb hole (no thumb ring) but have a metal thumb tube fitted for this very reason which is filed flush with the joint surface on the outside following the radius of the joint, so there's no reason why someone can't make and fit one on your clarinet.
The internal diameter of the thumb tube may have to be up to 1mm larger than the original thumb hole to bring the open G up to pitch due to the extra length of the tube compared to the wall thickness of the joints - best to make it from thick gauge metal so it can be opened up to bring it up to pitch once fitted.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: ned
Date: 2014-07-18 04:24
Larry B...I play a simple system and SOMETIMES get this problem, but not always. I'm not sure why this is so. In any event I have been considering having a sleeve inserted in the thumb hole as per the suggestion by Chris P.
Chris...would most (hopefully all) clarinet technicians be aware of the information contained in your 2nd paragraph?
Tks,
JK
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-07-18 10:24
Whenever I've fitted a chimney to the LH3 tonehole drilling it out to the same diameter as the original, the D and A were incredibly flat even though the chimney was around 1mm above the joint surface at the most, so I've had to open up the tonehole by around 1mm larger than the original to bring the D/A up to pitch.
The only thing I can think of that can be causing the flatness is the top of the tonehole is now level all the way around instead of being curved and having the sides lower than the centre line.
With the thumb tube, the extension is inside the bore which is also increasing its length so that may flatten the open G on simple/Albert systems if the same diameter hole is used in conjunction with a thumb tube, so check this to be sure.
At some point I want to fit tonehole bushes to my basset horn as the thumb toneholes and the throat Bb tonehole are notoriously bad for water collecting and pouring out from them as they're on the back of the instrument - a bit of an oversight on Buffet's part there.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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