 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jeremyreeds
Date: 2021-04-01 22:22
Hello everyone,
I am not a clarinet player, I play the oboe, and repair instruments as a hobby.
I have heard many times about this problem, stuffy Bb in clarinets ; there
seems to be a general consensus that it is related to the register key / tube / hole, as I can determine when listening to an expert in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdNboB1P4aE
In that video I can see that apparently there is a whole range of different
size / shapes of register tubes that may be used in order to improve the Bb colour/sound in the clarinet. Another approach / development of that idea may be seen in the following videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mYaXC2Z26w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-DMQ6tJ7aM
In order to understand what is said in those two videos, you must understand Spanish but I am sure that if you do not know any Spanish you could still understand much of what is being tried to communicate, just by watching. In order to better understand I should tell you that at some point he (the technician) is using the tip of an oboe reed brass tube (staple) as the lining to the new vent hole ; he also mentions to open the vent hole at an angle (inclined) ; and he provides some measurements from the top of each key to the joint where both keys are soldered :
Register key to joint = 2.4 cm (24 mm) .
Auxiliary key to joint = 2.0 cm (20 mm).
At some point he (the technician) also mentions the possibility of having this extra key independent of the register key (I think some clarinets have it) but it would require to have to place two post for such key.
I hope you guys have fun if you adventure to implement this procedure (in some old instrument) ; please keep it simple, do not act as an oboe player. If you were an oboe player the question would be : is the tip of the staple (oboe reed tube) round or oval ? Did he use a Pisoni or Glotin or Loree or Chiarugi or Stevens staple, and what number? In other words do not open a can of worms. At the end it makes no difference, you can only blow so much air (per second) , though a 3 / 3.5 mm whole, no matter how hard you blow.
Best regards,
JeremÃas Gramcko
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-04-02 21:21
Hi Jeremias:
Thanks for the above.
FWIW, I find in such situations it useful to turn on the video's closed captioning, AND have that captioning translated to English.
That said, I am a big fan of use of the second from top right hand side key, along with the throat A4 key to voice Bb4.
In my case the nicer voicing Bb4 of this fingering is a bit sharp, but nothing that covering some holes with my left hand, and maybe slighty less snugging of the mouthpiece can't address.
Clearly, this is only for sustaining Bb4's...the fingering being too hard to achieve for short durations Bb4's that quickly transition to other notes/fingerings....
but such short duration Bb4's often require less compensation for their sound quality in the first place.
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Author: ACCA
Date: 2021-04-03 11:31
Hi Jeremy
welcome to the world of clarinet playing
A stuffy Bb, when played with the A key plus register key, is an issue on almost all standard clarinets- and all clarinets I have had the opportunity to blow.
Most players mitigate this by playing this note with the a key plus 2nd-from top RH trill key- although this is difficult to do in fast passages (and unnecessary) it gives a much clearer Bb.
Over the years of the clarinet's development, various mechanisms have been devised to eliminate this issue, perhaps most famously the Stubbins mechanism, but none of them have gone mainstream- whether for patent issues, difficulty of manufacturing, or the lack of acceptance from the clarinet community. Schwenke und Seggelke are one of the few manufacturers who will produce a clarinet with such a mechanism as a factory option- and their pricing is out of reach for most of us mere mortals. It's conceivable that a good tech might be able to add such a mechanism as an aftermarket modification- although I have never seen this successfully done in practice.
Most of us just practice the alternative fingering, and live with the slightly lower quality note when the alternative fingering isn't practical.
Good luck and best wishes!
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Author: ACCA
Date: 2021-04-03 13:21
I was going to add, that with the Selmer 10G that I play, the tech helped this issue somewhat by reaming the speaker tube out into more of an hourglass shape (curved though not angular) and the cork octave pad is shaped like a half sphere or rounded cone rather than flat like most pads. This did make a noticeable improvement.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2021-04-03 17:58
I've been able to improve Bb4 considerably on several clarinets by replacing the register pad with a shaped cork pad in the form of a truncated cone, plus some experimentation with the venting of the Bb, A and register keys. It won't completely fix the problem but it can bring it to a manageable level.
Tony F.
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Author: Burt
Date: 2021-04-04 00:47
I've found that adding the left middle finger and ring finger to cover those holes helps. Another alternative is to use the entire right hand, with the pinky on the F/C key. Neither is as good as the fingering ACCA described, but often one of these fingering can be easily achieved.
Burt
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2021-04-06 08:15
>> At the end it makes no difference, you can only blow so much air (per second) , though a 3 / 3.5 mm whole, no matter how hard you blow. <<
A 3.0mm vs. 3.5mm hole can make a huge difference. You can see an example of interchangeable size holes I've made for bass clarinet here https://www.clarnitai.com/buffetbassregvent
Holes were between 2.5mm and 4.5mm. Even a 0.2mm difference can feel very significant. Smaller differences less significant but noticeable.
In the videos, does he mentions the exact measurements of things that matter (as opposed to where the solder joint is)? Or the specific differences that this would make? I've found that a difference in register tube size, location, etc. will make very specific differences, depending on the notes, dynamics, etc.
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