 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Simon
Date: 2002-10-29 00:42
bob49t wrote:
:Then I suggest you venture into :-
www.tonkooiman.com
or just type in your search engine.
They have two products which might help you. I have a "Maestro" for each of my heavy Eaton clarinets."
Bob ,
I my self had a look at the web and I am impresed. I have question though , do these fit on the original thumb rest or do they require drilling new holes etc? This has got me interested and I am thinking of buying one my self.
Many thanks
Simon
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2002-10-29 05:36
Simon,
The Kooiman has a baseplate of its own, therefore you need to discard the original rest.
The baseplate was designed to accommodate the "normal" thumbrest holes, but I'm not sure the "normal" thumbrest exists now, as not every manufacturer goes for the once standard pad.
Depending on the clarinet and therefore the style of thumbrest, you may need to have small holes drilled to house the Kooiman. Good instructions are given but if you're not confident see a competent instrument technician. I did it myself, but Peter Eaton gave me a template to facilitate this easily. The base plate screws onto the lower joint, and the Kooiman slips over the baseplate - the Maestro has "sprung ball" attachments so you can easily flit between Bb and A clars, if you have another baseplate on the second clar. In reality though,
1)in an orchestral situation we often don't have time to swap m/p's and thumbrests as well.
2) the spacing of keys for the A clar dictates a slightly different set up of the Kooiman for hand position.
So - I pushed the boat out and purchased one for each instrument and adjusted them accordingly.
Watch it though - fairly expensive. I feel they have been worth every penny to allow me to play in a pain free state - (RSI)
They simply slip off the baseplates to pack clarinets away and the baseplates hug the instrument shape so no adjustment to the case is required.
The less expensive version - "Etude" is fairly adjustable but not in every direction like the "Maestro". I'm sure the "Etude" is an excellent product also.
BTW, I don't have shares in Kooiman, I'm just a pleased customer -there are other systems out there.
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Author: TDC
Date: 2002-10-29 15:19
I wrote to this bulletin board asking about thumb discomfort. I even had muscle spasms after playing a while.
Best and cheapest solution was a short piece of soft plastic tubing stretched over the Buffet thumbrest. I wasn't sure of the size, so I bought an inch of two sizes at the local hardware store. 35 cents!
I stretched it up over the thumbrest, and cut it off with a scissors(a little on the long side). Works great! Second-best part was the price. First-best part is, I no longer have pain. I'm surprised to find myself playing for hours without thinking about my thumb.
It is a simple, reversible solution to what can be a complicated problem--drilling holes in your clarinet and the like.
TDC
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-10-29 18:29
Putting a pad on the existing thumbrest, insitu, does nothing to alleviate the wrist flexion that causes most of us trouble.
It's the opposition of your index finger and thumb that makes most of the difference in the TK design (and I'm a confirmed user).
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2002-10-30 12:59
Since this is obviously a persistent problem, why don't the clarinet manufacturers provide some solution to this, perhaps including with the new instrument an adjustable thumb rest, or some other option to remedy the problem? It appears that the engineers could use some imagination to get ahead of the pack instead of this "one size fits all" way of thinking.
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Author: msroboto
Date: 2002-10-31 02:13
The Buffet R-13 and I think E-11 models do come with an adjustable thumbrest. Probably E-13 models too. I'm not sure about the other manufacturer's.
My problem with mine is that at it's highest adjustment it was still too low for me.
There have been suggestions to turn the adjustable thumbrest over. I tried that and though the location was better I didn't have the stability with the tiny bit of thumbrest I had available.
I use the Ton Kooiman Etude and this has helped me tremendously. I was in lot's of pain.
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2002-10-31 05:16
Brenda
I said in my other post "The future of the thumbrest" that the current manufacturer's thumb rests are unacceptable and something must be done.
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