 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-05 16:47
Does anyone know of a source of a replacement neck - new or used doesn't matter - for an old Leblanc bass (no C extension). I bought the instrument used in the early 1970s, but it was well-worn then.
Karl
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-06 17:36
Do Vito necks have the window cut out for the upper register vent? I wouldn't have thought Vitos had double register mechanisms.
Karl
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2019-04-06 18:38
>> I wouldn't have thought Vitos had double register mechanisms. <<
Neither do most Leblancs (with the exception of one model). Is yours that specific model?
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-06 18:55
Must be. It has a double register vent.
Karl
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2019-04-07 10:15
From vague memory...
Some Leblancs had the register vent on the neck socket while Vitos had it just below. I don't remember ever seeing a Vito with the vent through the socket (were there any?), but there were wood Leblancs with the vent under the socket too.
So not all Leblanc necks would fit if it's the different version.
Just to make sure, yours definitely has the vent on the socket itself and not just below (it is usually still a metal part, just not through the tenon itself)?
Is it really double vent i.e. the bottom one is not only for throat Bb? That would make it (if I remember) the 400 model (4xx series).
Here is one with the vent just below the tenon:
Here is one with the vent on the socket itself:
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2019-04-07 14:29
Contact Larry Frank of Frank Woodwinds. He is a specialist when it comes to sax necks.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-07 18:35
Attachment: Leblanc neck.JPG (54k)
clarnibass wrote:
> Just to make sure, yours definitely has the vent on the socket
> itself and not just below (it is usually still a metal part,
> just not through the tenon itself)?
Vent is on the socket, not the metal collar under it.
>
> Is it really double vent i.e. the bottom one is not only for
> throat Bb? That would make it (if I remember) the 400 model
> (4xx series).
>
Yes, double vent - opens with RH D key and is used for B4 - D#5 as well as Bb4.
I'm going to try to attach a photo - but my luck hasn't been good with attachments, so it may not work...
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-07 19:08
Clarineteer wrote:
> Contact Larry Frank of Frank Woodwinds. He is a specialist when
> it comes to sax necks.
Done that! He says flatly that they don't exist and suggested contacting Steven Fox. Here's my real problem, which, honestly, isn't all that important:
When I was much younger I wanted the mouthpiece angle to be more like a soprano clarinet - more vertical than the original angle of the neck of my Leblanc, which was pretty much straight out. So I asked my repair guy, Mike Hammer, to reshape the neck, which he did very successfully. The moputhpiece sits at about a 45 degree angle to the clarinet's body.
As I've gotten older, the reach to the bottom RH keys, especially F/C and E/B, has become more and more uncomfortable. My fingers don't stretch at age 72 as easily as they did when I was 30 or 40.
I recently played on an old Selmer bass (probably nearly as old as my Leblanc) and found that because its almost straight neck angle actually lowers the mouthpiece, it let me put the instrument a little higher on the floor peg. The inch or so difference that I could raise the clarinet actually (to my surprise) made those two low RH keys easier for me to get to. If I raise mine to a height that's comfortable for my right hand, the tip of the mouthpiece is at about the tip of my nose or a little higher.
I should have known better than to change the existing neck 30 years ago. I should have kept the original intact and had a new one made. I don't want to have Mike try to undo the change - I don't know for sure if it will help and I don't want to risk destroying the neck in the attempt.
It may be, if a Vito neck has the same (or nearly the same) dimensions as the neck I have, that the window for the vent could be cut out of it, which should be much less involved and expensive than having a whole new neck configured.
Thanks, everyone.
Karl
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Author: Mojo
Date: 2019-04-08 17:46
You could consider getting the keys extended. Epoxy putty works well and can be removed later with a bit of effort.
MojoMP.com
Mojo Mouthpiece Work LLC
MojoMouthpieceWork@yahoo.com
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-08 18:33
That's another alternative. I'm not sure which would be the least involved. Changing the neck (keeping my original one as it is now) would be the easiest to reverse if I found the result not to be as helpful as I would hope for, and key extensions would remain a possibility.
My hesitation about adding epoxy extensions to the keys is that if they don't turn out to solve the problem, getting the stuff off may be more work than the experiment is worth (and almost certainly more work than to put them on). I'm also not sure how to shape or position the extensions so they wouldn't hamper movement between RH E/B and G#/D# (as in a quick B-C#-D# sequence, which I now tend to play with a L-L slide from B to C# when I can). I wonder if there's a material - something workable like cork but more rigid, that could be mounted under the spatulas with something less permanent like shellac or contact cement to experiment with.
Karl
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2019-04-08 20:23
The problem with putting anything under the spatulas is there are crow's feet under the lower RH pinky keys and the extension (crow's leg) is attached to the pinky keys above. You might be getting into an adjustment nightmare.
HRL
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-08 21:51
Hank Lehrer wrote:
> The problem with putting anything under the spatulas is there
> are crow's feet under the lower RH pinky keys .... You might be
> getting into an adjustment nightmare.
Well, yes. The extensions would need to mount in a position where they wouldn't be over the crow's foot. Understand, though, that that sort of gerry-rigged approach would only be to test the usefulness of extending the keys - a sort of proof-of-concept. If it turned out that it improved things, I imagine a true extension (made of epoxy putty as Mojo suggested), would be attached to the end of the key itself, not underneath.
Karl
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Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2019-04-10 13:48
There's also cheap necks available on aliexpress. Not sure about their quality, but at 50$, there isn't too much you can do wrong. They do seem to share the exact same dimensions with my 430S bass neck, which has worn down a bit and tends to rotate a bit. Perhaps I'm going to buy one.
Best regards
Christian
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