 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: fredlegman
Date: 2005-09-08 20:41
I have played sax for a few years and am looking to double on clarinet. I am having a trial of a B&H emperor clarinet right now. I have been looking at a couple of threads on this site and read that you should be wary of models after 1975. How can I test to see whether it's a good or bad example? I have read that the intonation is not very good, or rather difficult to control. I don't know much about clarinets, how would I test it?
The current owner is looking for £250 ($460), is this a realistic price? I have looked around on some sites that list emperors for around this figure.
thanks
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-09-08 21:28
£250 - that's not a bad price, but is this Emperor in good condition?
Get someone that plays, preferrably a clarinet specialist that you know to try it to see what they think.
There was an Imperial 926 (the next model up from the Emperor) getting passed around several people I know that all found the open G and some other notes stuffy, but none of them were willing to take the risk of paying out to have it adjusted, serviced or even fully overhauled just in case it wasn't any better. I reckon it would be much better with some work done to it as it still had the original pads which were all stained, and the main action was under vented.
Let us know the serial number, or do a search here to find it's age:
http://www.buffet-crampon.com/SerialNumber2_Strings.asp
A new wooden clarinet of that quality is around the £1000 mark (Yamaha 650, Buffet E13, Leblanc Sonata etc.), so it's probably worth buying and either getting it serviced or fully overhauled, depending on how much you want to spend.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2005-09-08 21:40)
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-09-08 22:06
Moderate undercutting of the toneholes on any B&H clarinet will do wonders for eliminating stuffy notes and goes a long way to correcting intonation problems too. A good tech should be able to do this for a reasonable cost.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-09-08 22:31
Which holes do you undercut, or do you undercut all of them?
I might try this on my Marlborough when I eventually put it all back together - looking at the nickel plating it seems only four keys need doing - not the whole set and pillars as I was originally going to do.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2005-09-09 02:22
David, I think you are being too modest. I know a lot of good technicians, but not many are willing to undercut toneholes. I'd advise sending it to David if you want that done - he has the B&H experience to do it right.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-09-09 02:29
Why thank you, Fred! You are too kind (and nobody has ever accused me of being modest!). To answer Chris' question, I undercut (repeat, moderately) every tonehole, and give a little bevel/radius to the top (exit) of each tonehole too (which also helps the pads seat better, especially if there were any little chips or dings in the seating surface rims). By the way, I always use tan leather pads on every size clarinet --- whether this is relevant or not, I can't say. I've found the same treatment beneficial on other brands ("marques", sorry Chris!) of clarinets which had straight toneholes, e.g. earlier Selmers.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-09-09 09:20
HAHAHA! What does 'marques' mean? Only joking, I'm not that posh - I just call them 'other makes'.
I've got the use of two types of undercutters - one type with a straight taper and the other semi-circular to give a hollowed out undercut.
And a set of spherical reamers to tidy up the bed places, finishing off the crown with a disc of 1200 grit - if they're really bad then I'd fill the chips and re-cut them, or bush with ebonite if they're split.
I use brown or sometimes the white Glotin leather pads as my pad of choice as they're firm, next to cork pads.
Incidentally, I spoke to the seller of the previously mentioned Imperial 926 (from 1980 #50xxxx) - and it turns out the throat G tonehole and several others were all crudded up on closer inspection, so no wonder the throat notes were stuffy!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2005-09-09 14:37)
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