 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Malcolm Martland
Date: 2009-08-03 16:17
I recently sprained my left little finger (not clarinet playing) and subsequently found a few problems using the left pinkie key for F3/C5. I was reasonably OK with the other LH pinkie keys - just this one was awkward. I got to wondering about the key design - why the left E3 and F#3 spatula keys operate with a direct lever action whereas the LH F key pivots on a long rod and is much weaker to operate than the others - especially as when it is depressed it moves away at an angle and the finger is prone to slip off - hence the coss hatching on the old B&H models? Elastoplast (applied to the key!) is also effective at reducing finger slip. A simple lever key would be much more mechanically effective and direct to operate. Has anyone ever tried a simple lever mechanism for this key on the Boehm system clarinet? Looking at my clarinet I could see there might be a spatial issue with crowding - but surely not that difficult to overcome?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-08-03 16:43
The LH F/C key has never been a good design due to the space restrictions, so it always operates a very short underlever to operate a short overlever - both of which are very near the fulcrum.
Add to that poor design in the form of too much of a gap and poor geometry and the LH lever will have a lot of lost motion or will feel heavy or spongy in use. Worse still if the silencing material used is soft (ie. cork).
Ideally the foot of the LH F/C lever should be much longer than it already is, though the contact point against the underside of the RH F/C key should remain nearer the fulcrum of this key than the LH F/C key to keep the action snappy.
What is getting in the way are the LH E/B and F#/C# levers, the Ab/Eb tonehole and the pillars for the RH E/B and F#/C# keys - moving the pillar for these keys over to the right (as you're looking down the clarinet) will make the RH touchpieces too short, so they may feel too heavy (like the RH low D key on Selmer basses). The toneholes could be repositioned further round the joint so venting isn't compromised, but that can cause problems with water collecting in the toneholes.
The other way to improve the LH F/C lever is do what Buffet do on their basset horns - have the LH F/C lever turned into a long lever key (like a see-saw) and mounted in the same manner as the other LH levers so it moves in the same plane as them.
(off topic, but what do you make of the Keilwerth Eb clarinet? Is there any hope for it?)
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2009-08-05 11:55)
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2009-08-03 19:48
Further to post of Chris above, filling the gap btween the two pivoted links on the key arm and key itself with a metal shim and leaving just about .010" to fit a teflon shim does wonders in improving the "snappiness" of the LH F/C key action.
A knowledgeable tech can futher tweak the arrangement by choosing exactly where to place the shim to increase the "gearing" by moving the relative fulcrum positions.
Just why the manufacturers can't do this themselves defeats me. I've even had to do this on a handmade german Segalke & Scwhenke (don't bank on the spelling!) costing about £5000 !!
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Author: Malcolm Martland
Date: 2009-08-05 11:46
Thanks Chris - the see-saw action is the modification I was thinking of - would be great if this was adopted for future clarinet design.
The squeaky little Keilwerth eefer is a challenge - tried a modern mouthpiece that levelled the tuning out a bit but made the whole instrument flat by nearly a semitone. Maybe a candidate for a lamp!
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