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Re: Sham products?

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2020-12-01 23:48

If we wanted to harshly apply strict logic and courtroom level proof, then virtually every advertiser's claims for their clarinet-related product would have to be thrown out of court as a sham. Ads don't describe so much as lure or attract attention. Everybody promises better intonation, smoother intervals, wider dynamic control, better blend, support of a more personal sound, or whatever will drawn attention to the product. It's then left up to the player to decide the attributes of the product for themselves.

There are reasons beyond advertising hype that many professionals have chosen certain equipment, for example clarinet barrels made by Moening, or Chadash, or Marc Jacobi, or Backun, or the Icon Buffet models. Few players would find the sound or response of a typical Backun "fat-boy" barrel to be exactly the same as that of a Chadash or an Icon gold. The differences are hard to put into words, which at best are only metaphors for sound, but most players would find that Backun to be less vibrant and less narrowly focused than the Chadash or Icon. The Backun would mirror the overall tendencies of Backun clarinets and the Chadash and Icon would mirror the the tendencies of the classic Buffet R13. Some players would prefer what the Backun offers, some would go for the Chadash or Icon and others would like neither. I believe these differences would show up on an oscilloscope but they would still be quite subtle and more apparent to the player than to listeners. Of course there are innumerable barrels on the market and many of them probably don't add anything of value to performance.

Recently Brad Behn released two different adjustable swivel-type barrels. He experimented with an all rubber one and a rubber one with a metal turning plate. He decided to offer both to give players a choice. The all rubber one seems to have a warmer more intimate sound and the partly metallic one is more powerful and assertive. Is this difference purely imaginary? A player could try both and come to their own conclusions. But I doubt either barrel could be described as a "sham."

Post Edited (2020-12-02 04:37)

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