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Re: Mystery clarinet

Author: fskelley
Date: 2016-02-12 02:00

A couple of days later, my newly serviced Arioso developed a problem which I at first attributed to the reeds I'm still evaluating and adjusting- instability in upper clarion and general playing difficulty in upper chalumeau. It got worse and worse, forked Bb5 [Bb5]

just about wouldn't play, and forked Eb4 [Eb4]

sounded terrible. But pretty quickly I diagnosed that the LH ring key pad was not fully closing through the bridge action. (I am a very careful clarinet assembler and player. No way I caused this, other than by normal play.) I was able to correct with a couple of layers of tape on the lower bridge face, whatever you call it. And the Arioso was back in business. A couple of things here. 1) Just because a horn is newly serviced doesn't mean it's perfect. Just because it was good yesterday doesn't mean it's good today. We all have to be diligent to catch problems, and able to correct easy things (or have a good tech at our beck and call). 2) As others have mentioned here, the bridge and ring keys are a big deal, perhaps nearly as important as the crows foot.

So then I checked the bridge action on the Lyrique 2nd. What do you know, THAT one didn't close very well either- wasn't terrible, but it needed help. Perhaps that's why I wasn't liking the feel of that horn. Now it's playing quite nicely. I plan to continue alternating frequently between Arioso and L2, and either I will become completely comfortable with L2 as a backup when needed, or I'll prove I need to upgrade it. Any answer is an answer.

The mystery (Helmke?) clarinet's bridge and ring keys were fine, I'd already worked with them as I got this horn playable. I compared pad and key heights to my Arioso and added cork and bent a couple of keys, several were way off. And that markedly improved the tuning of a range of notes. Overall it is pretty nice. But it is not an Arioso or a Lyrique. Here's a sample from yesterday- I'm able to lip into tune mostly, but it's more work than with the other 2 clarinets. http://www.FLmemories.com/C/MDemo160211.mp3- or if you prefer it "dry"- http://www.FLmemories.com/C/MDemo160211b.mp3. I added more padding to the cheap case it came in, and I will put it back up on eBxx- I will not feel bad for whoever buys it. (Edited to add- not selling for now- saving for a rainy day or strange photo shoot.) And I learned a few things.

This perhaps belongs in a new thread, but I also got some gages and did a few bore measurements of all 3 horns. And learned nothing conclusive, seems they are all very similar. Arioso (claimed to be = Lyrique 576BC) top of top section 14.80 mm, bottom of top 14.53, Lyrique 2nd 14.79-14.85, Mystery (Helmke?) 14.77-14.75. I have 3 barrels that came with Arioso or Lyrique 2nd- 64mm "A" 14.75-14.81, 64mm "B" 14.71-14.73, 65mm 14.76-14.79. The barrel with the mystery clarinet is 62mm 14.83-14.92. I am not confident enough in these measurements to be sure what is supposed to be cylindrical and what is deliberately tapered, except for the Arioso top section. Maybe I will explore further, and/or some of you can explain some of this where I can understand it.

Stan in Orlando

EWI 4000S with modifications

Post Edited (2016-02-14 01:15)

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Mystery clarinet new

fskelley

2016-01-10 17:24