Author: bph
Date: 2012-09-23 16:40
Hi Joshua,
I rarely visit this site, so my apologies for the delayed response.
I just noticed your question about the Bass and Contra-Bass clarinet bells and extensions that you saw in a photo on the internet.
These are made by my colleague and friend Alan Andrews, a clarinetist and instrument-maker from London. These are not for show: Alan is an expert in the acoustic and mechanical design of the low clarinets and has re-designed and customized his Bass Clarinets, Contra-Alto clarinets, Contra-bass clarinets, and basett-horns to function more efficiently and to correct their inconsistencies of resonance, response, and intonation. He has also modified my own instruments and those of several colleagues of mine with great results.
Modifications of this type are very complex and can only be correctly completed by a craftsman who has a very deep understanding of the acoustics and design of the low clarinets. For example, on Alan's Contra-Alto and Contra-Bass clarinets he re-located several of the tone-holes in order to correct the intonation, resonance and response of the throat tones. This required fabrication of extended tubing, tone-holes, and keywork at the upper end of the instrument. Modification of this type and on this scale is a massive task and there are very few craftsmen qualified to undertake it.
The lower wooden portion of Alan's Selmer Contra-Bass clarinet that you see in the photo is not a giant bell; this instrument required several of the lower tone-holes to be re-located to correct resonance and pitch. To do this he had to create an extension of the lower tenon to make room for the re-located tone-holes and the additional resonation holes.
Why was this done?
The corporate manufacturers of woodwind instruments manufacture instruments at a high volume using an assembly-line process. Because of their high costs of doing business there is simply no time or profit incentive to invest a great deal of time in making extensive improvements in their lines of auxiliary instruments.
For example, the basic design and tone-hole placement of Selmer Contra-Bass clarinets has not significantly changed since the late 1960's. This is in spite of the advances in our knowledge of clarinet acoustics and technological abilities.
I have colleagues who own Selmer contras from the late 1960's and from the very late 1990's; the design of both instruments is virtually identical in regards to their fundamental acoustic layout, and both instruments have the same intonation, response, and resonation inconsistencies and problems.
While this situation is unfortunate for the contemporary purchaser of these instruments i can also understand the manufacturer's reluctance to spend the money and time on R & D and to also have to re-tool their production lines in order to make significant changes to instruments that admittedly do not account for the majority percentage of their sales.
This leaves the ball in the court of the players and craftsmen. If a musician is extremely serious about having an instrument that can do all that he or she envisions then many innovations will be left to artisans and players. Craftsmen like Benedikt Eppelsheim and Alan Andrews are good examples of this; in addition to his work as an instrument-maker Alan is also a very busy performer.
By the way, for several years i have played on a African Blackwood bell and U-bend that Alan made for me. If you are interested, i have written a bit about it on an older thread from this board ("wooden bass clrinet bells") and i can email you some photos if you'd like.
- bohdan hilash
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