Author: seabreeze
Date: 2019-07-31 17:23
Ideas on how to shape a clarinet barrel tend to get recycled from generation to generation. The hourglass or "pinched middle" shape is no exception. I've seen one or two old metal clarinets that had (metal) barrels of roughly the same shape as the one Byron is playing in the photo, but more often they had a narrow metal sleeve that only widened as it accommodated the mouthpiece tenon. It is hard to tell exactly how far back pinched middle barrels go, but there are some even before the time of Charles Bay. If this is the Charles Bay reiteration of that idea, then we need to point out production on this model ceased some time ago, and I doubt that it caught on or sold very well when it was being produced. From time to time one of these Bay models turns up on the usual internet auction sites, but I don't see players scrambling to buy them now either.
It would appear that the thickness of the barrel walls, in addition to the material and shape, play some role in the response and sound it promotes. If more material were added to the exterior profile, it would have some (probably unwanted) effect on the sonic results.
Players interested today in trying hourglass barrels can look at the special models produced by Brad Behn and Ryan Periera (his are 3D printed from wood), both of whom maintain active web sites.
Post Edited (2019-07-31 19:13)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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