 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john4256
Date: 2013-09-21 15:13
I have just purchased a new, cheap C Clarinet. Playing it into a tuner it appears to be playing flat. I have used the shorter of the two barrels but it still plays flat.
Is there anything I can do to sharpen it, short of returning it to the shop?
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Author: William
Date: 2013-09-21 15:17
Get in touch with Walter Grabner for one of his dedicated C clarinet mouthpieces. The length of your Bb piece may be the problem, although I play very well in tune with my Chicago Kaspar on my Buffet E11 C clarinet. FWIW, I use a Chadash barrel which I had shortened a bit.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2013-09-21 16:13
Is it flat over the entire compass of the instrument or are you only checking a tuning note (and, if so, what note are you using?)?
If the whole instrument is generally flat, you can either have a custom barrel made or have a repair tech shorten one of the ones you have. The problem is specific to certain notes or a certain portion of the register, then whether or not it can be fixed easily depends on the exact problem.
Karl
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-09-21 16:17
About a year back I did the same. Mine was a semi-tone flat. I ended up shortening the shortest barrel by about 2mm. There were still a few notes that were borderline flat, and I was able to bring these in with a bit of careful undercutting. This brought it into tune, but with no wriggle-room for tuning, so I turned a smidgen off the mouthpiece. Now it plays in tune and sounds pretty good.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2013-09-21 19:02
http://www.johnpacker.co.uk/Catalogue/Woodwind/Clarinet/Harmony-Clarinets/C-Clarinet/Student/JP124-Clarinet-C-Full-System-Ebonite-Black-101959#.Uj3sIftwb6U
It's a shame their own brand instruments have such oversized logos on them.
And funny that C clarinets are considered 'harmony clarinets' when they're the only ones which play at concert pitch (or not in this case)!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2013-09-21 19:04)
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Author: john4256
Date: 2013-09-21 19:28
I know Chris it looks so out of place!! I rang them this afternoon and I am taking it back to them and they will either rectify it or change it. They were very good and said that a new one would be sent after it had been thoroughly checked for tuning. They play really well and are frree blowiing. I only need it because I have been asked to look after a small group of pre grade 3 flautists. As I don't play the flute I though this would be a suitable way of being able to play with them. The price of £200 seemed reasonable.
Once i have a good one in my hands I will wear of that daft logo lol
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-09-21 21:32
It sounds pretty awful in the demo.
When you take it back, ask to play one of the pro models for comparison.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2013-09-21 22:41
There area a lot of C clarinets floating around that tune poorly. Manufacturers contract out to designers, who may have had specific mouthpiece parameters in mind, which specifics are then lost by the manufacturers.
It is a CSO if it will not play in tune.
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Author: The_Clarinetist
Date: 2013-09-22 15:41
So it plays flat, but how is its "internal" intonation and does the altissimo require different fingerings?
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Author: The_Clarinetist
Date: 2013-09-24 18:03
Unfortunately the cost would be more than five times higher.
Anyway, I hope they come up with a solution for you John.
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Author: john4256
Date: 2013-09-24 18:22
I did! I took it back and tried a better mouthpiece - albeit a Yamaha 5C.. et voila it plays in tune!! I also bought a BAM Bass Clarinet to lowC case from them. That is awesome - great case. Mind you it took nearly 2 months to come from Thailland but a 20% teacher discount tempered my patience.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2013-09-24 18:31
Before that did you use the mouthpiece that came with it? Sorry if you mentioned it and I missed it. Those mouthpiece that come with chinese clarinets are pretty random and can be terrible.
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Author: john4256
Date: 2013-09-24 18:40
Yes it was an unbranded one. Totally useless. The Yamahas are very good and not expensive. I only needed the instrument to be able to play the same music as a small flute group I look after occasionally.
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Author: john4256
Date: 2013-09-24 18:50
No I just tried their suggestion of a Yamaha 5C - it worked fine, was free blowing and, more importantly, in tune and cheap lol. I just bought it and ran!!
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Author: TJTG
Date: 2013-09-24 19:55
When I purchased my Ridenour C clarinet it played at first in tune on my Hawkins R, and then i switched to a Vandoren for my regular A and Bb setup. Then I went back to the C with the vandoren mouthpiece. The C suddenly played very flat, almost impossible to move. Now I use the vandoren for my A and Bb, and Hawkins for the C. They're different setups, but in the end they play very well on their respective instruments.
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2013-09-25 00:23
I use Tom Ridenour's Eroica MP & 46mm barrel on his RCP-570C. It plays nicely in tune at A440.
If I use a Vandoren MP (B45 or B45dot) I find that I have to use the 44mm barrel that I got TR to send me as an extra. These two Vandoren MP are not the 13 series but the ones that are suppose to play at A442.
The C Clarinet came with two barrels first up. (46mm / 48mm)
It is a real pleasure to play.
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