Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-06-24 19:36
Two things:
If it passed the suction test it's likely to pass the pressure test--but it's worth a try.
Put on a pair of summer shorts--I assure you, there's method to my seeming madness here.
Assemble the upper and lower joints, maybe the barrel too, heck, even the mouthpiece, but no reed.
Leave the bell off.
Dig the open end of the lower joint into an exposed thigh/calf (i.e. skin--to prevent air from escaping, while blowing into the mouthpiece, fully covering its window. Does the clarinet resist you (a good thing)? Do you hear hissing?
(You can do this test sans mouthpiece and barrel, but I'm testing the corks between the joints too.)
Sometimes a spring that keeps a pad closed isn't strong enough. This wouldn't come up on a suction test, but might rear its ugly head in a blow test.
==
Second topic..pad height. Are certain notes stuffy or all notes? Stuffy to your ears, or stuffy as in resistant to air flow?
(Of course the same mouthpiece reed setup blows better on another clarinet, correct?)
Yes, pad height can at times help a note to speak better...classic example the C#/G# lever at the bottom of the upper joint affected with the left pinky. (A key that many, like Selmer, believe belongs lower down the instrument, like at the intersection of the upper and lower joints.)
But this is not to say, to quote the classic prescription metaphor, if 1 pill is prescribed, two pulls will work twice as fast.
To point, there are limits to how high a pad should come off its tone hole. Too high can throw off a player's expectation of its fingering and make play more finger work and harder.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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