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 Which barrel?!
Author: voggorb 
Date:   2007-02-12 20:37

Hi. My setup is as follows:

Buffet RC
Standard barrel
Grabner K14
vandoren leather lig
V12 3 1/2

I have been getting great results with my new K14 mouthpiece. It has a wonderful tone, which is much more stable than that of my previous mp. But the pitch is quite off (regardless of which mp I use). The 12:s from the low tones (E to B, F to C) are very large, so when the low F ie is in tune, the C is way sharp. The 12:s from low C and up, are instead a bit small (don't have the clarinet here atm, so might be remembering this incorrectly). And from the altissimo E and up, the tones get very sharp, which I am not sure if my embouchure is the problem, or the clarinet...

Either way, I always have to pull out the barrel to make the B and C (mostly these tones) above staff sound somewhat in tune. With all the different kinds of good barrels there are available, is there a certain barrel I should be aiming at considering my equipment? Or does it not matter whether I choose a grabner barrel, chadash, moenning, etc? Of coarse I should try as many as possible, but my local store does not have that many different barrels for me to try, so if you for example "know" the grabner barrel is especially good for my K14 mp, I might ask Grabner to send me one for trial.


Thx

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: bufclar 
Date:   2007-02-12 23:58

I would try a moening barrel or a chadash. They are both designed to address the tuning problem you are having. I will also say that my experience with Grabner mouthpieces are beautiful sound, strange intonation quirks. Nothing is perfect and we have to always work at intonation but I felt it was just to hard to control the Grabner. It took a lot of work and in the end, the sound of the mouthpiece was not worth the intonation issues.

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: JJAlbrecht 
Date:   2007-02-13 00:08

Since you already have one of Walter's mouthpieces, why not send him an email at http://www.clarinetxpress.com and ask him what he feels would be a good match for your mouthpiece and clarinet?

He is usually very quick to reply and quite helpfiul.

Jeff

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2007-02-13 16:42

I use the Grabner K14 as well and use a Backun traditional cocobolo barrel.

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: kenb 
Date:   2007-02-13 18:43

Just how far "out" (in cents) are your 12ths etc? Your "quite off" and "very large" could still be falling within the range of what is acceptable considering the tuning scheme of the Buffet RC. (The low F - clarion C is an infamously wide 12th in the Buffet tuning scheme, with the F left flat to favour a relatively in tune C.)
Anyway, before you start looking at new barrels, it would be a good idea to have your instrument and set-up evaluated by your teacher, another competent player or a good technician.

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2007-02-13 19:00

kenb has a great suggestion. I agree your instrument needs to be adjusted before you buy anything additional.

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: voggorb 
Date:   2007-02-13 19:20

Kenb,

Low F - clarion C is about 20-25 cents off, and the 12ths in upper joint varies between 5 and 15 cents off. I discussed it with my teacher today, who agreed, but he was not very surprised. He himself plays a Buffet Festival along with a B40, and he also has some intonation problems, and is trying out different barrels. What's a little strange is that he said the chadash barrel he tried did'nt make any large improvements (except for tonal quality), and that it made his low B and A very sharp (or was it flat..?).

Thx for all the fast replies. I'm glad you're not complaining about me starting an "already answered" thread :)

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: genieman123 
Date:   2007-02-16 02:25

I think you should definitely get a Backun barrel. They're the top of the line and they really help out your tone, making it more steady and mellow.

Andrew

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: classicalguss 
Date:   2007-03-16 21:22

I second the comment on the Bacun barrel. It was an amazing upgrade for me on my r13's. Great intonation and balance through all registers.
And no, I don't have anything to do with the company, just a satisfied customer.



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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: Iceland clarinet 
Date:   2007-03-16 22:44

I play Festival clarinets and I have no problem playing in tune with Grabner mouthpieces at 442 eather his kaspar or SW1-personal which is a 440 mouthpieces. The only problem is that the SW1 is about 5 cent flat when playing with 650mm barell when the clarinet is ice-cold but after about 3 minutes it's ok. When I use his kaspar mouthpieces I even need to pull my 660mm barell about 2mm otherwise the throat tones(g and a) and high g,a,b are too sharp. But then high c and f 1 octav lower are a little bit flat but nothing that I can change with my embouchure. I think it has something to do with the register key on the Festival is about 2mm higher than on the R-13. I played prior to my Festival on a R-13-prestige and then my pitch was 442 with 650mm barell and 442 mouthpiece but ont the Festival I need to use 660mm barell on a 442 mouthpiece to tune at 442. The main problem here in Iceland is that the R-13 is very popular instrument but it comes very often to the music store which sells them with 660mm barell and thats a big problem. I think that instrument of R-13 quality and above should come with 2 barells. Don't u agree ? It's so common in my concert wind band where most people play eather on R-13 E-13 or E-11 that they are too flat compared to the rest of the band. So we often just use 441 pitch and then I have to pull out my 660 barell by 3 or even 4 mm.

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 Re: Which barrel?!
Author: Bob C 
Date:   2007-03-16 23:01

Phil Muncy of Muncy Winds has developed a new a barrell for Buffet. I tried three and they were all very nice. They were very consistent resistance wise from the bottom of the horn to the altissimo. I thought the throat tones were improved intonation wise on my R-13. It's in the same style as the Moenning. You might consider trying these as well. Bob C.

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