 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dclarineta
Date: 2017-12-24 22:01
For anyone who is searching for a “perfect” clarinet barrel, I suggest contacting Les Nicholas (www. lesnicholas.com) who specializes in custom barrels made specifically for your horns. It makes little sense to try to ferret out the best barrel by trial and error when there is a more scientific solution. In addition to his skills as a superb technician in repairing and fixing all aspects of the clarinet, his custom barrels make intonation and sound issues for each specific instrument truly peerless. He is also a wealth of information!
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-12-24 22:45
Do you have to send him your instrument? Or does he only make his barrels for the specific brand and model you play?
Karl
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Author: A Brady
Date: 2017-12-24 23:00
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=329457&t=327957
AB
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Author: Dclarineta
Date: 2017-12-25 00:29
Karl,
Les will make a barrel specifically for your instrument, so getting your clarinet to him is best (he recently refurbished mine so it was easier). He may have other solutions or things to offer if you send him the specifics of your clarinet, but getting the best barrel assumes he has the instrument. He is incredibly obsessive compulsive about everything he does!
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Author: donald
Date: 2017-12-25 17:01
The service Les offers where he makes a barrel based on measurements of your mouthpiece and clarinet bore is really very good- when he did this for me in 2008 the intonation was significantly improved (most notably, sharpness in the B+A below middle C was corrected without flattening F#/F/E in the upper register).
The only real disadvantage I've found is that this barrel works at its BEST with the mouthpiece it's designed to work with- so if you change mouthpiece there's no guarantee that it will still play with as good intonation.
Mine works amazingly with the Backun/Zinner that it was intended for, but no better than the stock barrel, or most of my others- including Behn and Chadash, with the mouthpiece I currently use.
In fact, I only played that Backun for a year after getting the Les Nicholas barrel, but in the years since have used it [THE BARREL] with a number of other mouthpieces with what I consider good results. I'm not Ricardo by any means, but I don't think this barrel/mouthpiece combination can be blamed for my shortcomings....
That said- the improvement to the intonation was remarkable, and I've been meaning for ages to get him to make one that suits my current mouthpiece.
dn
- when teaching I play Legere 3.25 sop sax signature reeds and tend to use a Muncy plastic barrel as this barrel offers just a little more resistance (the 3.25 is just a tad too light)
- when gigging I play the Les Nicholas barrel (which is a bit more free blowing) with cane reeds if I don't think the Legere will be sufficient (it doesn't work as well in some acoustics, and if playing 2nd sometimes I need a slightly different sound and more leeway to push the pitch UP if necessary).
- In the summer I use a Brad Behn rubber barrel on my A clarinet, this thing sounds AWESOME but I find on my B flat clarinet the throat B flat is a little low in pitch, so only use it on my A clarinet.
Post Edited (2018-01-03 01:30)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2017-12-27 08:04
Does he consider the moutpiece you use and they way you voice the throat tones and the upper register? Sounds like he has supper powers because everyone voices differently. I don't mean to be suggesting he's not a master at what he does but I've played and taught for many years and I know that one person can voice throat tones flat while an other sharp with the same equipment. No two people will play the same set up and play every note on the scale the same.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: donald
Date: 2017-12-27 13:09
Yes and you can play out of tune on a clarinet that has perfect tuning characteristics (I know this from my own disappointing experience). But the fact remains that the less "variation" you encounter from the instrument (ie the less you have to adjust from note to note) the easier the task (playing in tune) will be.
Most players who play will lower throat tones (relative to the rest of the scale) already allow for this by using a shorter barrel- and would order one from Les in the lengths that their experience has taught them they need.
Yes, they may not find the new barrel works, but if their tone production is so unfocussed that their throat tones are flat they will likely encounter this with many of the barrels they play.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2017-12-27 18:12
Donald, I won't go into details with you but what you said is not necessarily true that someone playing the throat tones flat needs a shorter barrel. I can tell you from my own playing experience that simply is not true for everyone. My point is not to tell you, your friend or anyone else that he doesn't make very high quality barrels. My advise is, and has always been with anything clarinet wise, to try before you buy and to make comparisons. I've had many students that have become pros and I myself a long pro career and that is my advise to everyone. No one but the players knows, or can tell, what works best for them, especially using tuners to check. Once again, the mouthpiece, the reed, the voicing, the clarinet bore all make a difference. So the barrel has to complement all of those elements. Have a good day.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: donald
Date: 2018-01-03 01:43
Just to make this clear- Les Nicholas is not my "friend". I have never met him, and my only communication has been in relation to having him make 2 barrels for me in 2008. These barrels significantly improved the overall scale (and narrowed the 12ths in more than one place, and actually made little difference in the throat tones oddly enough) of the clarinets they were designed for (after measuring the bore) when used with the mouthpiece that they were intended for.
That's all.
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