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Re: Ringed barrel vs no rings

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-09-30 05:00

Dan Shusta wrote:

> Per Wesley Rice on the page entitled: "Why Replace your Stock
> Clarinet Barrel?" Wesley states that "... replacing your
> clarinet barrel with an aftermarket one can greatly improve the
> playability of your instrument." Wesley continues with "Even if
> the stock barrel is brand new and not "blown-out", there are
> many things that will be lacking because of its inferior
> design"...

This is a salesman selling his wares, which he is justified in doing. But it doesn't give his words here the status of Holy Scripture. There may well be reasons for a player to replace an original barrel with an aftermarket one - or not. For Rice (or anyone) to suggest that all stock barrels are by their nature poorly designed is silly if not pernicious. Some stock barrels are well-integrated parts of the instrument they come with and some are not.

You buy an aftermarket barrel if it seems to improve the instrument's playability. The only way to find out is to try different barrels. I have drawer full of them and keep coming back to the original barrels that came with my instruments. If you get better results without rings, go for it. If you like the result with rings, you probably have a better supported socket that will, as he says, be less likely to crack.

There's someone buying each variant or there would be no profit in making them. I happen to agree with Paul, though, that the differences, other than a barrel's effect on intonation, are generally not great enough for a listener to notice.

Karl

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