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Re: The Golden Age of Bass Clarinet

Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2018-04-02 18:03

I had a student many years ago that plays in a third tier orchestra that was taking occasional lessons with me. One day he showed up with his neck gold plated. I told him it was pretty but couldn't notice a difference in his tone which we were working on to make fuller. I thought the mouthpiece made much more difference. Of course only hearing him now and then, it was difficult to make a comparison. Some years later I changed mouthpieces and wanted my high register to be a bit warmer so I thought about why some flute players have gold plated, or gold, flutes so I asked my repairman about it. Keep in mind gold was much cheaper in the late 90s so I had my neck and bell double 22K gold plated. First they strip it and coat it with silver so the gold will adher to it. He sent it to the same place that did it with flutes in Texas some place. Back then, with shipping, insurance, plating and fees it was about $800, probably 1/4 or less what it would cost today. Now it may be my imagination but I thought it made a slight difference, hard to tell until I tried it with another students neck like mine to compare. But in any case, i received more compliments on how it looked than ever before on the way I played. So I guess it was worth it. :-)

ESP eddiesclarinet.com

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