 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2015-05-23 13:18
I have acquired a superb Boosey % Hawkes Symphony 1010 Bb clarinet serial number 5683XX that without a doubt is the best all around clarinet that I have ever played. It has the Acton vent. The flexibility is remarkable as i can bend a full note, and the sweetness of the tone coupled with the power of the big bore is simply a marvel. I am using a Peter Eaton Elite mouthpiece that was tailored for this particular instrument by Mr. Eaton along with a Legere Signature Series 2 1/2 strength reed. Any comments are welcomed.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-05-23 13:49
The serial number is from 1983, so it's a fairly late one. I had one from around 1982 very briefly - I didn't get much of a chance to play it as I let someone borrow it one day for a show and they promptly bought it off me pretty much there and then. I had rebuilt it and cork padded it down to the Acton vent (which is a very handy gadget to have) and leather pads for the largest pads.
My main gripes with these clarinets being they glue the pads (Gordon Beeson leather pads) in with Evo-Stik so they can't be adjusted should they need to be, the long rod screws are only the full width at the ends and narrow along most of their lengths and not always concentric with them (and the threads can be eccentric to the rod screws too), that dreadful sliding linkage for the F#/C# link to the F/C key and the adjusting screw tips aren't rounded off. Oh yeah - they drill the flat spring screw hole all the way through the throat A key arm and it's right under the adjusting screw tip.
But apart from that, they are nice clarinets. Some people have some tuning and intonation issues with them, but it's a case of understanding what problems there are and also how to effectively deal with them.
With the Acton vent, as that makes B/F# a fully vented note, it also allows you to play altissimo D#/Eb with the oxx|oxo (Ab/Eb) fingering which is flat on clarinets without it fitted on account of RH2 being closed. The Acton vent compensates for the closure of RH2 so there are effectively no immediate toneholes closed below the RH ring key vent (C/G tonehole) so B/F# issues from the B/F# tonehole (RH1) and the venting isn't diminished by having RH2 closing the tonehole immediately below the tonehole B/F# issues from. Reform Boehms often have this feature for the same reason to 'unfork' a forked fingering.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-05-23 14:29
I have a pair from the same era. I was not so lucky with the Bb. The intonation is pretty much irreconcilable amongst the lowest chalumeau notes though I played it for about three years. I even got good enough to straighten out the axles of the "long" keys if they get bent (no pivots on this horn).
They are still in my closet and I look at them every once in a while.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2015-05-23 15:25
I completely overhauled the instrument with cork pads on the entire upper joint except for the 2 open keys which are Ferrees white bassoon leather pads along with the entire lower joint. The intonation is spot on which I believe is due to the custom fitted Eaton Elite mouthpiece. No issues with this superb clarinet at all.
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Author: ebonite
Date: 2015-05-23 20:44
The 1010s varied a lot from one instrument to the next, like many other models of clarinet. The good ones were really good, but the bad ones could be pretty awful. It sounds like Clarineteer got a good one.
I had always used 1010s, but a few years ago I switched to French polycylindrical instruments (I now use a Leblanc Opus set). But sometimes I get out my 1010s, and I notice some advantages and disadvantages of both types. For example, with the 1010s, I don't feel any extra resistance moving from throat A to the B above, nor when I move from high clarion C to the D above. Also, playing in the altissimo is easier (for me) on 1010s than on French instruments. You don't need to vent any of the notes, and also it's very easy to play G using the same fingering as high clarion B, and F-sharp using the same fingering as clarion Bb. Those notes just pop out. And as Chris P said, the acton vent makes it easier to play Eb. This all makes it easy to play music that uses the altissimo a lot, like solo clarinet parts in concert bands. On the other hand, the intonation is easier to keep under control on the French instruments. The 1010s had a tendency for short twelfths around low A to clarion E, up to about low C to clarion G. The low register in that range can be quite sharp at quiet dynamics, and sometimes the twelfth above can be a bit flat as well.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-05-23 22:43
Similarly with large bore Selmers, you don't need to open the Ab/Eb key for the altissimo D or Eb - maybe for the high E as well.
There's a video on YouTube of the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing 'March to the Scaffold' where Gino Cioffi plays the altissimo D at the end (3:24 in the following link) without using the Ab/Eb key (on his '40s Selmer) and that has generated some comments either on there or maybe on here that he doesn't use the Ab/Eb key for altissimo D - probably as he didn't need to. Jack Brymer mentions in his book, "On some instruments the normal fingering includes [the Ab/Eb key]. This is a nuisance and should not be."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNSeBwy4qGw
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Jeroen
Date: 2015-05-26 12:49
Congratulations! I too own a nice pair of 1010s with excellent intonation. There has been done some rework on intonation however.
I like the sound of the 1010 but have some troubles in finding a good setup for it. My best mpc is a Peter Eaton but finding a good matching reed is not that easy.
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2015-05-26 21:01
I play 1010s - rather earlier than those mentioned here as they do not have the Acton vent (I have previously posted on this board to find out approximate dates) and I use a Michael Lomax mouthpiece (made wide bore, did not need boring out), Vandoren traditonal no. 3 reeds and a BG Super Revelation ligature which I find quite comfortable and effective.
Obviously, as ever, you would probably want to try changing one variable at a time and what works for one person may not work for another but just a suggestion.
Happy tinkering!
Vanessa.
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Author: RAL
Date: 2015-05-27 01:09
Is there any way of knowing what model of Boosey & Hawkes based in the serial number? I just won an auction for a B&H (still do not have it...), but I do have the serial number (2412XX).
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-05-27 02:47
That's from around 1965 but could be any one of their clarinets of that time:
Regent - plastic body, nickel plated keys
Edgware - wooden body, nickel plated keys
Emperor - wooden body, silver plated keys
Imperial 926 - wooden body, silver plated keys, flat socket rings
Symphony 1010 - wooden body, silver plated keys, flat socket rings, large bore, bell rim has rounded inside edge and different bell lengths for Bb and A clarinets
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-05-27 03:09
For most years of existence B&H issued their serial numbers sequentially from a single list used by all woodwind (except flutes which had a separate list).
So there is no way of identifying from just the number whether you have a clarinet or an oboe or bassoon and whether it is a student, intermediate or professional model.
Of course there were far more clarinets made than oboes and bassoons, and far more student than professional instruments so statistically a number is most likely to belong to a student or intermediate clarinet but that's just statistics!
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Author: Hurstfarm
Date: 2015-05-28 02:07
I had a pair of late, Acton vented 1010s from new, which were in front line service from my school years until I bought a pair of their direct descendents, Peter Eaton Elites, a few years back. I opted to sell the A clarinet through a dealer who sent it to a customer in Australia, and have regretted it ever since - partly for sentimental reasons, but also because it was a great instrument. I'd endorse the comments about ease of altissimo playing. I've been playing the Ireland Fantasy Sonata recently, and the 1010 seems to make for a more relaxed approach to those high passages - and somewhat authentic as its dedicatee, Frederick Thurston was a 1010 player.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-05-28 22:39
I have felt listening the Thurston that his tone is quite different from most post war 1010 players. In fact in the Frank duo for 2 clarinets he recorded with Ralph Clarke who played on 926s that their sounds were virtually the same.
Of course Thurston played on pre-war 1010s and I am told used a very close lay mouthpiece which probably contributed to his very straight focussed sound.
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