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Re: Who currently makes plateau clarinets?

Author: Chris P
Date: 2022-09-15 02:25

I've only ever serviced and overhauled them, but never have done a conversion from ring keys to plateaux keywork.

If I was to, I'd most likely aim to keep the existing tonehole chimney heights as tall as possible for the main action by bevelling the tops to form crowns like all the other countersunk toneholes to seat the pads against as that shouldn't impact on the tuning.

Shortening the tonehole chimneys will sharpen things and then they'd need to be filled in along with other work done to retune things. That can always be experimented by using a donor clarinet (an old plastic or wood student model bought for next to nothing) to see how much impact shortening the chimneys has on the tuning and intonation.

Then the keywork can be made to sit at a good height above the chimneys to give good venting as well as keeping the pad cups fairly shallow and the pads relatively thin so they're not making the instrument feel too fat under the fingers, although that extra height will keep the hands and fingers held more open which could be beneficial, just like adding a thick piece of cork or similar immediately below the thumbrest to effectively make the joint diameter feel much larger to make the right hand and fingers more open and relaxed.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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