 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: kthln.hnsn
Date: 2015-06-12 23:48
Just a venting session about my poor clarinet to people who will understand a bit better than my non-musical husband About 2 years ago I bought a supposed R-13 stencil Bb on "that one website" from the 50s for about $400, which whether or not it was a stencil didn't really matter, it made for interesting conversation and it sounded superb. I had it fixed up real nice for another $300 after I found a good shop to give it a good going over. It played amazingly well for the next two years I played it. A couple months ago it got a crack in it where one had previously been pinned by the register key. Fine, fine, I went and got it fixed, $200 later it was as good as new. The tech did a fabulous job, better than what I've seen on others. It was fairly dry in my apartment so I made sure to keep the humidity in check from then on. Which brings us to now. It cracked again. This time not only in the same spot it did before but also in the front as well by the A/Bb keys (a little bit of air actually was escaping through the crack...) Yikes. I think it's time to call it quits on this clarinet.. Any of you have something similar happen to your star clarinet? I feel I nearly just withdrew the $500 in repair costs from my bank account and handed it to my repair tech without asking to do anything (obviously he had no control over it cracking, but I'm sure he at least got a couple nice meals out of the deal My standmate upon seeing the cracks looked sad and merely replied "At least it'll make for a beautiful lamp".. After this I finally convinced myself to at least try out a hard rubber clarinet just to see if they're as great as I keep hearing (hey, no cracking right?)
Post Edited (2015-06-12 23:50)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tony F
Date: 2015-06-13 01:51
While I'm in agreement with you concerning hard rubber clarinets, I wouldn't give up on your R13 lookalike. I've seen instruments cracked far beyond what you describe that have come back from the dead. If it were mine I'd try carbon fibre banding before I gave up on it. The money spent so far you could regard as the cost of a lesson that you didn't need and didn't want.![[huh]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie11.gif)
Tony F.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: maxopf
Date: 2015-06-13 03:04
My Bb clarinet has 3 cracks in it. None of them went through to the bore, so my repair tech just filled them with superglue, and the instrument still plays fine. I would give it another chance.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mcrill
Date: 2015-06-13 03:23
Whatever you do with your current clarinet it sounds like without some serious changes it's likely to keep cracking, amd a good hard rubber clarinet a la Ridenour will not crack, though it may or may not be to your liking otherwise. It wouldn't hurt to give one a try, though.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-06-13 03:29
I've got an R13 full Boehm that's split right through to the bore front and back, but it's previously been pinned and I also fitted four carbon fibre bands to it so it's not likely to split in half anytime soon. It plays as well as any R13 I suppose (smaller tone than my Selmers) and isn't leaking.
Cracks aren't the end of the world - just an inconvenience.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ursa
Date: 2015-06-13 07:01
If contemplating a Ridenour due to cracking concerns, you might want to audition a Backun Alpha as well. I own both a Ridenour 576BC and an Alpha--both are excellent; the Alpha is far more R13-like than the 576BC.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-06-15 16:20
I've made the same choice as Silversorcerer. On a limited budget as an amateur, I can buy used, older models of what were top-end professional clarinets in their day. I figure if they were going to crack, they'd have done it by now. My clarinets, all made in the 1970s and earlier, feel heavy to me, compared with the new ones I've tried out at ClarinetFest and elsewhere. I think the old wood was denser to begin with (grown more slowly) and after harvesting, the manufacturers aged it more slowly.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: kthln.hnsn
Date: 2015-06-16 03:23
I've decided I'm going to get my clarinet fixed up again, probably banded as one of the previous owners appears to have had it crack in the same spot years ago. I'm still going to try a rubber clarinet though, I think it would be a good investment to have both a nice wood clarinet and also a rubber one for the different types of gigs I play and the very different atmospheric conditions they bring. I've decided on a Ridenour 576BC, I really like the thought of ordering straight from the clarinet maker versus ordering from some website and not exactly knowing where it came from. It'll be nice to have that "new instrument feel" (I wonder if they sell an air freshener with that scent?)
Silversorcerer and Leleia, I LOVE older instruments. In fact the only instrument I bought brand new sits in its case in the closet (a Buffet). My flute, oboe, sax, violin, and my two main clarinets are not newer than the 80s, I believe the newest of them is the sax from the info I've gleaned from it. There's nothing like the feel of a vintage instrument!
One of my students was highly embarrassed about her clarinet because it had been a hand me down from her mom and was very beat up, she complained it didn't play as well as her peers because theirs were brand new and hers had worn keys. I told her it didn't matter what it looked like as long as it played well. I took hers and played a bit of the third movement of the Mozart Concerto on it and she quickly agreed that the looks had nothing to do with how it played. I think it also encouraged her to practice a bit harder
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
