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Re: Intonation on a B&H Edgware : what's possible?

Author: Chris P
Date: 2020-08-11 03:56

What length is the barrel you're using and what are the first two numbers of the serial number?

67mm is the standard length barrel for the narrower bore B&H clarinets (Regent through to Imperial 926) and anything shorter can make the throat notes painfully sharp.

The barrels marked 'Short' on the back are 62mm which is too short for many players and obviously will need to be pulled out a considerable amount to make the instrument play in tune with itself given that certain notes are meant to be flat (such as the low E and F which are meant to be flat).

Any modern mouthpiece designed for French clarinets can be used on Edgwares, Emperors and Imperial 926 (as well as the plastic Regents) as they have the narrower bore compared to the 1010.

You shouldn't have to pull out the middle tenon on them and on some where the same with tenon slot was used, that will make the joints wobble around like anything as the tenon shoulder is non-existent on them.

I only recently serviced a set of 1978 Emperors (essentially Edgwares but with silver plated keys) and both Bb and A had a long (67mm) and short (62mm) barrels. The same barrels can be used on both Bb and A which makes switching between them easier, but they could've at least supplied barrels of a couple of in-between lengths other than two 67mm and two 62mm to offer the player more options other than being flat or with a short barrel pulled out to the point of it wobbling. They did make barrels of in-between lengths, but they tuned best with the 67mm barrel pulled out by around 1-2mm once warmed up.

My first clarinet was a 1965 Series 2-20 and the barrel on that was 65mm which was too short for me when I used Vandoren mouthpieces - I switched to a set of late Selmer Balanced Tone Bb and early Centered Tone A clarinets after I had my B&H stolen when I was at college in the '80s.

I've more recently been using Legere Signature European reeds (3.25) and they have made the throat notes flat compared to cane reeds and using a slightly shorter 66mm barrel on my Selmers (now CT and Series 9) has helped bring them up to pitch, but the throat notes on Edgware and similar B&H clarinets are on the sharp side with the stock barrels pushed all the way in.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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