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Contra Alto Clarinet high notes

Author: goldstdn
Date: 2016-09-30 01:01

Hi guys,

Sax player for 15 years, switched over to bass clarinet two years ago for something different in concert band.

Anyways, I just picked up a vintage 70's Bundy Contra Alto clarinet. The horn responds great--all the way up to A#5. Anytime I'd try to play B5 or C5, I'd have to really concentrate on my airstream to get it to speak. I certainly didn't want to start any passages on B5 with the horn! I played around with a few different reeds (tried bari sax and real contra reeds) and ligatures and still couldn't get B5 and beyond to be consistent.

I started looking at the horn and noticed a bunch of leaky pads and the lower register key was opening just slightly on the high notes. Knowing that fixing a double register key mech is out of my league, I sent it off to a repairman, who replaced 14 pads + fixed my leaky lower register key.

Now the horn responds even better, but B5 and beyond are still troublesome. At least now I can play some altissimo fingerings, but again I am compensating in my airstream to get the high notes out.

Any suggestions for how I can fix these high notes? I don't see any other obvious leaks on the horn, am using a bundy contra mouthpiece with a rovner ligature and 3 1/2 Rico contra alto reeds. I don't have any issues playing to G6 on my cheap vito bass clarinet...

Thanks in advance!

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