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 Tonehole undercuts
Author: shmuelyosef 
Date:   2018-06-13 02:01

I've become curious about tonehole undercutting and how it came into practice. I have long played straightbore clarinets (Selmer CT and Series 9) with no undercutting, and find that I can play them with good intonation (although they are not perfect if I just blow them "dumb loud" as is the norm for testing). This summer I have been buying a number of Vito clarinets to overhaul and supply a middle school program in a poor part of my region, and have noted that the V40 instruments have tonehole undercutting (on six holes), but seem to be otherwise identical to the 7214 instruments (the 7212s have some differences).

It seems like small changes in the tonehole placement can have similar effect but costs in tooling. Mouthpieces seem to also change intonation, particularly in the upper chalumeau. The intonation is changed on the V40, but still doesn't play perfect with all mouthpieces...

While I agree there are some clarinets that have poor intonation (some early Leblancs come to mind, as well as the myriad CSOs from developing economies), but most mainstream clarinets can be played in tune. As a saxophone player as my 'first' woodwind, I'm used to even the best instruments requiring accommodation.

I was struck by THIS ARTICLE ON UNDERCUTTING and the introductory discussion:

Quote:

Traditionally woodwind makers use holes with undercuts for many reasons. First of all, when the instrument is crafted, it iseasier to round the hole inner edge than change its place to correct the tuning. In the case of the development of a numericaloptimization heuristic, known analytical model don’t take into account undercutting in holes, so that they often simply consider adual cylinder connection. For this specific geometry a turbulent flow layer effect has already a prominent dissipative action, evenfor a low excitation pressure equivalent to a piano musical dynamics.


Any thoughts on this? I'm liking the V40s and was thinking about investing in undercut tools, as I'm a reasonably proficient machinist. (until I discovered the >$350 price of undercut toolsets).



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 Topics Author  Date
 Tonehole undercuts  new
shmuelyosef 2018-06-13 02:01 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Caroline Smale 2018-06-13 04:17 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Bob Bernardo 2018-06-13 13:30 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
kdk 2018-06-13 20:58 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Bob Bernardo 2018-06-20 09:51 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Morrigan 2018-06-22 10:58 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
nellsonic 2018-06-22 11:12 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Kalashnikirby 2018-06-22 20:07 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Johan H Nilsson 2018-06-23 02:52 
 Re: Tonehole undercuts  new
Bob Bernardo 2018-06-23 06:56 


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