 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bbrandha
Date: 2016-03-18 02:53
I don't have t back yet, but here it is on the Facebook page of the man who fixed it.
https://www.facebook.com/The-Vintage-Clarinet-Doctor-102505343124256/?fref=nf
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2016-03-18 04:38
I played a McIntyre clarinet back in the late 1960s when I was a HS band director in Northern OH. The instrument belonged to a new student in the school whose father had just been transferred (with a whole lot of other GM management employees) to Ohio from CT.
As you can imagine, I had never even seen much less heard of this fingering system. It did not take too long to get the hang of how things were done but as I recall, I could not see any real advantage to the concept. Interesting idea, however.
HRL
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-03-18 16:04
I met McIntyre at the MENC in 1961, where my high school orchestra played. (By the way, I also met Reginald Kell.) McIntyre had just introduced his instrument and was very enthusiastic about it. The mechanism was ingenious and rational, with a perfect throat Bb. However, it was complex and would be unfamiliar to any repair shop. Also, it prevented the use of the left-hand fingers for resonance fingerings. Finally, it required significant changes in fingering. I played it and liked the idea, but it seemed no better than the Selmer I was playing at the time.
The early 60s was a period of innovation in clarinet mechanism. The Stubbins key, the Selmer Omega mechanism and the Mazzeo system all came out around that time, they were simpler than the McIntyre system, and, most important, they worked with the standard fingerings.
I've seen only a couple of McIntyre clarinets over the years, so it was obviously an idea that never gained traction, no matter how brilliant it was in theory.
Please give us a report on how your instrument plays and how long it takes you to get used to the fingering.
Ken Shaw
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Author: ned
Date: 2016-03-19 03:04
How many keys does this instrument have? I think I counted 13 (including an unseen register key).
With all this keywork, it looks like it could be quite weighty - how does it compare to a standard Boehm, or - for my benefit - a 13 key Albert system?
Looks good though, I must say.
chrs
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Author: bbrandha
Date: 2016-04-09 08:12
It is a bit heavier than my other clarinets. I just got it back and played it for about 10 minutes. So far, I can get the "odd" fingerings ok, if slowly. What is getting messed up is the "normal" fingerings. Forgetting to put my thumb back on and forgetting open G, of all things. It feels like when I moved to Hungary and started forgetting English words. I will sort it out another time. I doubt I will ever play it enough to get fluent in McIntyre. Right now, my new Selmer Paris K and I are becoming friends.
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Author: Rmelk
Date: 2024-08-27 21:04
Hello, I'm new here, so bear with , please. I learned on a Mcintyre, and played his system from 1963-1975, when I purchased a Buffet and retaught myself!
I am currently clearing my loft space and found my old Mcintyre. I brought it down to give it a blow (just out of curiosity), and none of my 4 mpcs will fit into the barrel! I finally taped the piece on with duct tape just to try out the horn .. .not a very satisfactory set up.
Did Tommy make these to fit his own specific mpc? Or has the barrel aperture somehow shrunk? Seems really odd!
Any suggestions?
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Author: Ed
Date: 2024-08-28 04:41
I would guess that it shrunk. I don't recall ever hearing about special McIntyre mouthpieces for it. How small does it seem to be, a mm or so?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-08-28 16:18
The barrel socket could just be a slightly narrower diameter than normal (as not all barrels, sockets and mouthpiece tenons were standardised), but just narrow enough by a fraction of millimetres to prevent some mouthpieces fitting. I've had similar things with older Selmer clarinets and others where some mouthpieces are a very tight fit in the barrel socket and some others where they were a really loose fit.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: cearnsh
Date: 2024-09-04 15:04
I have a McIntyre Bb and it also has a slightly narrower barrel socket than normal. Fortunately I found a B45 mouthpiece in my collection which would just fit without modification, but it does seem that the narrow socket is a 'feature' of these instruments.
They are definitely challenging for repairers, particularly getting the venting height correct on the throat notes. In the end I had to make a deal with my repairer - if he got it working properly I had to learn to play it and perform on it, which I duly did. Unfortunately it's not a particularly good clarinet, at least with my setup. It may be better with a different mouthpiece, but with the narrow socket that's pretty much impossible to experiment with.
I also have McIntyre alto and bass instruments (not currently in playable order unfortunately). I've never seen any reference to these instruments but they do exist - if anyone has any information about them please let me know.
Chris
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The Clarinet Pages
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