 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2002-02-14 23:28
Hello All,
There is a Selmer Series 9 on ebay with a hole drilled in the bell. The seller says this means it was professionally tuned to get the lowest note to play higher.
Is anyone familiar with this practice?
I have never heard of it before. I'm not quite ready to start drilling on a Selmer Paris.
John
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-02-14 23:31
Selmer Series 9 were (still are) wonderful clarinets - I'd be wanting to look at it before I purchased it. I, personally, would neverbuy a clarinet without trying it out first.
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Author: Joe O'Kelly
Date: 2002-02-14 23:40
I actually have seen a new model clarinet (can't remember the name offhand but is a good company) which does have a small hole in the bell. This is simalar to the Bb resonance hole found on oboes.
A "professional tuneup" in ebay language, however, probabbly means a tinkerer with a drill in his garadge.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-02-15 02:27
I've seen this a time or two quite a few light years ago, John. It was sometimes done to (older?) soprano saxes too and, for whatever reason, has never been adequately explained to me. I don't understand why an instrument would come off the production line needing that drastic an alteration. That could and should be corrected before ever going into production.
A Selmer 9 with a hole drilled in the bell looks mighty odd to me.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-02-15 03:00
(Just an 'afterthought')...
It *might* be an attempt to correct the poor intonation of a mismatch of upper and lower sections. Different production 'runs' sometimes differ slightly in their measurements - just enough to throw the intonation off a bit. Probably most pronounced at the lowest note, longest tube measure, being more flat than the rest with less (noticeable) differences.
That doesn't explain about the saxes though :
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-02-15 15:39
Tuned Clarinet?
I've never come across one!
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Author: Corey
Date: 2002-02-15 20:56
Patricola makes their clarinets with low E resonance holes.
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Author: Ralph
Date: 2002-02-16 14:54
I also read this ad and wondered what was going on. The low e on a Bb clarinet (at least on my Series 9*) is generally flat. This appears to be someone's experiment to try to improve the flatness of this note. The question is what does it do to other notes, if anything. If someone bought this instrument they might plan to have the hole filled.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-02-16 16:11
My thinking is that if the bell is correct for the instrument, you needn't do anything to it. The 'flatness' of a woodwind instrument should be corrected by the maker during the development stages, before the instrument goes into production.
Someone's experiment might be warranted if, at a later time, a mismatched bell had to be used. I might understand it then. Of course, we don't know the history of this particular clarinet. If somewhere along its historical timeline something was done to make that kind of correction, then the hole should be left where it is.
I also don't intend to buy this clarinet. There is no way to easily know, without playing it, whether the two section (upper joint, lower joint) are a match (original) or not. The hole causes me a bit of suspicion that it's a 'put together' instrument and one piece has Selmer's name on it.
I could be all wet (it's happened before and all Series 9s' E and Bb do play flat and a hole is necessary. It wouldn't have any effect on other notes because it's below them.
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Author: Jan
Date: 2002-02-16 17:10
Well, my series 9 plays sharp on those two notes (or rather, I play those two notes sharp on my series 9) relative to other notes on the instrument.
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Author: Eddie
Date: 2002-02-16 18:45
I recently had my Yamaha A clarinet worked by Tom Ridenour. My clarion B was very stuffy, so Tom reamed the bell to clear up the sound. He then drilled a hole in the bell to bring the pitch back up.
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Author: Hans
Date: 2002-02-16 19:52
A resonance hole for the low e was a common practice on Fritz Wurlitzer soprano clarinets in the period 1935-1976. He drilles this hole in the bell or in the case of Bassetthorn on the end of the lower part. Also the bass clarinet has a resonance hole on the metal bell.
Mu Fritz Wurlitzer Reform-Boehm and Schmidt-Kolbe system clarinets has such holes as also the e-flat, bassetthorn and bass clarinet. In combination with the bore it gives indeed a very good low e.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-02-17 00:00
Sounds very convenient to me. With that hole in the bell, you could have a piece of coathanger wire mounted on your music stand and just hang the clarinet from it when you have to double, or during a break, or whenever. I think I'll go right now and start drilling holes in all my clarinet bells. Let's see, about 5 mm ought to be just fine....
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-02-19 09:47
i thought the Bell hole usually was designed to be open for low E (to raise the pitch) and have aclosed key for the middle space B (to, relatively, lower the pitch). This can be operated by the right thumb (i have seen this fitted to a clarinet by US "customizers" and German makers) or it can be automatic, activated by the register key (i believe i saw that on Alessandro Carbonares Selmer clarinet, but have also seen it in photographs).
I understood that the extra resonance hole on a..... was it Patricola?... clarinet was actually, wait for it....
..... an UNCOVERED low E flat hole.... ie, the low E flat tone hole of a full boehm clarinet, without a key to cover it. The advantage of this being that the middle space B and the low E would both now have more resonance as there was now "bore below the note", if that makes sense. It would theoretically make B sound more similar to the C just above it. I'm not sure, but i thought it was a hole in an extra length of bore, rather than a bell hole.
I have never played this instrument- have only seen it, but it sounds like a good idea anyway. The former (extra bell hole with manual or automatic key) i have both seen and played and can comment favourably on.
see you later
nzdonald
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