Author: Chris P
Date: 2016-05-30 04:05
The upper speaker vent (on the crook) isn't ideally placed for the notes E to G# as they ideally need another vent placed in between the two.
But for simplicity and maybe that old chestnut called tradition, Boehm system basses still use just two fully automatic speaker vents instead of what the German makers have already been doing for some time by fitting three fully automatic speaker vents (operated with a single thumb touch) to help these mid-upper register notes speak easier and cleaner.
On Buffet, Selmer and Yamaha pro level basses, the speaker mechanism will perform the same function in having the lower vent open for throat Bb to upper register Eb, then the lower vent closes and the upper vent opens when RH3 is released for the notes E to high C.
But on full Oehler system basses, the lower vent (just as on Boehm system basses) is open from throat Bb to upper register Eb. Then releasing RH3 allows the lower vent to close and the middle vent to open for the notes E-G#. And then when LH3 is released, the middle vent closes and the top vent opens for the notes A to high C.
And they've been doing that for many decades.
So with this age of cross pollination when German ideas are increasingly being added to Boehm system clarinets (but not vice versa so it seems), why can't makers of Boehm system basses at least adopt the triple speaker vent mechanism which could save a lot of anguish on the players' part.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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