 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken Rasmussen
Date: 2001-07-07 19:11
I had the Eb/Ab, E/B, & C#/F# keys lengthened to make them easier to reach with my left little finger. It took two tries. I had originally slipped plastic tubes over the ends of 3 keys, and trimmed them to length. I asked the repair man to extend the keys to the same length as the plastic tubes. He cut the 3 keys in half and silver soldered in sections of nickel silver--the same stuff as the original material--into the split sections. The problem with my idea was that the ends orf the keys were a very different shape from the ends of the plastic tubes. When I tried the instrument out the Eb/Ab key was OK, maybe a bit long, but OK. Unfortunately the E/B key was too short. It was hard to reach because the Eb/Ab key was in the way. I filed a bit off the end of the Eb/Ab key and repolished the end, which helped, but it wasn't as good as I wanted. The C#/F# key was too low and too short for my taste. I took it back to the repair man, and we bent the C#/F# key higher and straightened the end, which fixed that one, and added 3/16" more to the E/B key. Now its almost perfect, the imperfections being that the joints in the keys show slightly, and the left little finger can get trapped beneath the C#/F# key if it is fingering C/F when the right little finger moves onto the r.h. C#/F# key. I've been playing the horn for a few days now, and haven't trapped my finger yet, so it is not a big problem.
The work isn't jewelry quality, though it is mechanically all one could ask. I suppose I could get a jeweler--a good one-- to try for a better result, but it is probably better to forget it, and play the instrument. I'm often too much the perfectionist, and the horn looks damn good now. You have to look for the joints in the keys to see them. They're nicely polished, and the color is constant throughout the joint.
It would have been possible to take the teardrops off of the ends of the keys and move them for a very clean looking joint, but I couldn't have gotten as much extension as I needed. The reason that extending the keys to the length of the plastic tubes didn't work was that the plastic tubes were a very different shape than the ends of the keys, so even though the length was the same, it didn't give the same feel beneath the fingers. I'm glad I did the modification. It is hard to believe they don't come this way. I think almost anyone would like it better. I also had the thumb rest raised an inch. It is a very comfortable horn to play now. I'm even getting used to the straight-into-my-face mouthpiece. I don't think I'll need to re-angle the neck.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-07-08 18:06
Your "re-engineering" of your bass is very similar to my experience, my left Ab/Eb lever [Selmer 31-33], even with a plastic tubing elongation is still difficult for my somewhat small hands. I have traded several basses and saxes, trying to find the better-for-me insts, have had modest success. My newly-borrowed tenor sax doesn't "feel" as good as our son's Mark 6, may need to recall!!, or buy, $'s. Wish you well re: modifications, will be interested in the posts here. Don
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