The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: moisture between barrel and top joint

Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2019-03-17 03:47

Gaps and steps aren't inherently bad...most barrels (particularly aftermarket) have purposeful steps and tapers. The steps add a reflection point in the tube that helps 'lock' (term used loosely) the modes to a particular length (from the step to the end of the clarinet, for example). A gap does the same thing but it is variable because the width of a gap is less controlled than the location of a diameter step.

Sometimes a gap works really well, and sometimes (particularly at the middle joint) it causes some problems. Most of the engineered steps (i.e. with Moennig tapers and the whole community of similar approaches) are at the Barrel--UJ (Upper Joint) connection which is where the tuning is usually done and so it is somewhat compatible. A reasonable tradition in selection is to have the mouthpiece bore a little larger or equal to the top bore of the barrel (not smaller!) and then use a barrel that is smaller bore at the bottom than the bore at the top of the UJ.

Most mouthpiece fall in a narrow range of output bores, which are generally larger than most modern clarinet designs, but larger bore vintage (and modern) clarinets can often be matched in bore to the barrel to positive effect.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics