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Re: Aftermarket Barrels: Impressions, Experiences, and Opinions

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-04-22 00:10

Silversorcerer wrote:

> Here's what I mean: "All very focused". Focused has a meaning
> with optics. It's in focus or not. In sound I think the meaning
> of focused is subjective. Descriptions that have no objective
> definition don't communicate much.

No, but that's what was asked for.
>
> "Rounder, more mellow ..." All the barrels that are machined
> correctly are round, so if one is rounder is that just a higher
> precision? No, it's a subjective impression using a word that
> best describes a physical object rather than a sound. A round
> sound versus what? A focused sound? I've never heard a round
> sound or a focused one.

They are meaningless words without agreed on points of reference. But if someone asks - and asks again - for impressions, that's what will come out.

The bottom line is, the only way to evaluate equipment is to try it. As soon as you ask other people to express comparisons, you immediately invite a deluge of responses that are objectively meaningless.

To get back to the original request, with all respect:

The basic function of the barrel is to provide a way to attach the mouthpiece to the instrument while reducing overall length in the case and at the same time, provide some (limited) degree of tuning flexibility. If it weren't for the desire for a shorter case profile, the top of the clarinet could just as well be made in one piece with a socket for the mouthpiece (probably with better results). Players shopping for replacement barrels need to make their own judgments based on how various barrels interact with the rest of their clarinet systems and their individual tastes in sound. The only words available to describe acoustic qualities are the ones we borrow from the visual vocabulary - "dark", "bright", "round","focused", "liquid", "opaque", "transparent" - and there is little to no agreement among musicians about what those words really mean. We use them somewhat carelessly in casual conversation, but if we're trying to communicate formal, really meaningful evaluations or descriptions of the acoustic qualities of equipment, we most of the time find ourselves on a dead end street with no useful way out.

If the words I used meant anything to you (as they certainly do to me, or I wouldn't have used them), then I may have told you something useful about those particular barrels (or not, if our understandings aren't the same). If the words mean nothing to you, as they apparently don't to Silversorcerer, then the conversation has simply gone the way most conversations comparing equipment tend to go.

Order a couple of the more popular barrels from someplace with a return policy and try them yourself. But keep in mind that barrels make only subtle differences in the playability of a clarinet. You won't get all that much bang for your buck no matter what barrel you choose. If you want a dramatic difference, think more about mouthpieces or even reeds.

Karl

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