 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: HP
Date: 2025-05-30 03:08
Do you think it would be possible to mod my Selmer CT Bb clarinet so it has covered tone holes? And how much do you think this modification would cost?
I love the sound of this clarinet, but since I have rather skinny fingers it squeaks quite often when one of the tone holes is not fully covered.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-05-30 03:21
It will be an expensive job due to the amount of keywork that will need to be made, as well as adding extra pillars and reshaping the chimneys to form bedplaces on them and countersinking the LH3 tonehole, plus some modifications to other keys to raise their touchpiece heights for much easier reach.
If you're only leaking off LH3 and RH3, you can have fingerplates fitted to just those toneholes as that will be far less costly than converting the main action to fully covered/plateaux action. And with CTs, those two toneholes are far larger in diameter than you'll find on many other clarinets which only exacerbates the issue.
Not that long ago I found an old Sterling (made by Selmer) plateaux action clarinet which I rebuilt and was snapped up immediately by a lady with arthritis who was struggling playing her early CT (which she also bought off me around 15 years back). While the older Sterling didn't have the same sound as her CT, she found it far easier from the outset and hasn't had any grief since then.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: dora88flora
Date: 2025-05-30 10:36
Modifying your Selmer CT Bb clarinet to have covered tone holes is technically possible but would be a significant and expensive undertaking, likely costing several hundred to over a thousand US dollars due to custom keywork fabrication and extensive labor by a skilled luthier. While it could cat language translator address your squeaking issue from skinny fingers, it's crucial to weigh the cost against the instrument's value and potential acoustic impact. A more practical first step is consulting a reputable woodwind repair specialist for a precise assessment and quote, and consider if a new instrument designed with covered tone holes might be a more economical alternative.
Post Edited (2025-05-31 14:09)
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Author: m1964
Date: 2025-05-30 23:22
I see plateau clarinets popping up on eBay once in a while. Most were student-level models like Normandy or Malern. Today, I see there a Vito plastic plateau and a Normandy 10 for a (crazy to me) price of $2000!
Uebel makes a very nice plateau clarinet (on expensive side) and RZ makes a student-level plateau.
My understanding is that CT and Series 9 had large tone holes, and later Selmers had smaller ones. Of course, there are other makers.
I would contact a reputable clarinet shop with wide makers selection. The owner most likely would be able to give you a good advice.
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-05-31 03:58
I have a friend for many years I met thru clarinet playing.
Unfortunately, over the years, arthritis has bent her fingers such that it is an ever more difficult process for her to cover the tone holes of her non-plateau R13 such that we've discussed "plateuing" the instrument with Denmark's Lohff & Pfeiffer, who has a boutique business effecting such changes.
You might find this thread below interesting as it features a top line new Plateau clarinet being played, including with glissando formed via embouchure, rather the pulling away fingers from open tone holes, as is commonly done on non-plateau clarinets to achieve this effect.
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=504122&t=504114
All this said, I'm curious just how much your thin fingers truly represent a congenital or developed impediment to play, like my friend's arthritis, and how much of this (and I don't know, I'm asking, so I don't mean to be offensive) plateau interest represents an easier route to achievement than practice.
You may very well have completely anthropomorphic reasons to desire this type of instrument, and again, I do not mean to offend.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2025-05-31 18:53
In the UK Hanson make plateau clarinets intended for both the student-level player and the professional or advanced player. A friend who suffers from arthritis that was affecting her ability to play bought one a year ago. I've examined and played it and I'm impressed with the quality of the instrument. You can get a new one for less than some of the wildly optimistic prices quoted on EBay and it will be a better instrument. They're also, in my experience, good people to deal with.
Tony F.
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Author: m1964
Date: 2025-06-01 02:22
Hi Tony F.,
In your opinion, how that model (I assume it was a T6 or T5) compared to Buffet models (or Selmer) ?
How was tuning?
Thanks
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Author: smokindok
Date: 2025-06-01 04:48
SecondTry wrote:
>
> You may very well have completely anthropomorphic reasons to
> desire this type of instrument, and again, I do not mean to
> offend.
My imagination is having fun coming up with “anthropomorphic reasons to desire this type of instrument.” (Much more entertaining than any anatomic reasons.)
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-01 06:12
smokindok wrote:
> SecondTry wrote:
> >
> > You may very well have completely anthropomorphic reasons to
> > desire this type of instrument, and again, I do not mean to
> > offend.
>
> My imagination is having fun coming up with “anthropomorphic
> reasons to desire this type of instrument.” (Much more
> entertaining than any anatomic reasons.)
>
Anthropomorphic measurements are used to assess the human body's size, proportions, and composition, that when they differ too far from what is considered in the statistically normal range, may become anatomical reasons.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2025-06-01 11:18
Author: m1964
Date: 2025-06-01 02:22
Hi Tony F.,
In your opinion, how that model (I assume it was a T6 or T5) compared to Buffet models (or Selmer) ?
How was tuning?
Thanks
Hi, Tuning wasn't bad. It's difficult to compare it with Buffet because of the somewhat patchy quality of what they are producing today. I can only say that it didn't tune quite as well as my R13, but it was better than that of a bandmate friend. One thing that it didn't have, at least with the mouthpiece/reed combination I was using, was the distinct Buffet "Ping", but that could be down to me. Keywork appeared to be quite robust and well-made.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-06-01 17:12
I'd have probably used the word 'ergonomic' as it has fewer syllables than anthropomorphic, or just 'fits your hands better'.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-01 21:17
Chris P wrote:
> I'd have probably used the word 'ergonomic' as it has fewer
> syllables than anthropomorphic, or just 'fits your hands
> better'.
>
There was a reason, albeit somewhat pendantic, that I chose the use of the word anthropomorphic...
...not nearly as pedantic I think as your critique or smokindoc's amusement with it, but I digress:
Ergonomic feel comes as a product of anthropomorphic measurements, which can vary widely in people, particularly ones with anomalous measurements, such as those with [disproportionate] dwarfism, or arthritis, such that some of the instruments considered most ergonomic with open tone holes, for example, can sometime not fit as well for these people as, say, less well ergonomically designed plateau instruments.
Ergonomic feel, anatomical reasons: these things are derived or concluded by taking anthropomorphic measurements. The are the byproducts of making such calculations.
Gee, maybe we could stay on point here and either come up with solutions for the OP or get to the heart of whether his interest in plateau instruments is born more of noteworthy difference in his finger structure that makes open tone hole clarinets reasonably too difficult for him to play, or simple desire to pursue an easy course of play.
If the latter, while entirely his right, I'd argue that if you are going to play the clarinet, and don't have special needs (which indeed the OP may have) that you better get use to practice rather than gear being the path to better play, or select another instrument.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-06-01 21:43
If they're having trouble with their fingers leaking from certain tonehole chimneys, then hardly any other ring key clarinets will be the answer as finger spacing of the main action is going to be near on identical.
While narrow bore clarinets may have smaller diameter toneholes, maybe they don't like how they play compared to a Selmer CT - I definitely prefer how CTs play compared to Buffets and that's not just the tone, but how restrictive Buffets feel for me as well as how flat they are up top by comparison (plus many CT fingerings are flat as a pancake on Buffets).
Why buy a clarinet you don't like and live with it when you always have the option to modify an existing one? The modifications can either be a full on plateaux rebuild or adding fingerplates to the troublesome toneholes.
I've also made a raised bush for RH3 which is soldered to the top of the ring key and the underside is recessed to take a cork or foam gasket to seal against the top of the tonehole chimney which has helped a couple of players locate the RH3 tonehole much easier and the tuning of A/E isn't affected by it.
If clarinets were fitted with an A/E vent as standard that fully vents A/E, then the RH3 (A/E) tonehole won't need to be as large as it is in relation to the RH 1 and 2 toneholes - same with LH3 having a ring key and fitted with a D/A vent for a fully vented D/A (as you'd see on reform Boehms) as that too reduces the diameter of the LH3 (D/A) tonehole.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: m1964
Date: 2025-06-02 00:05
Tony F, wrote:
"...Tuning wasn't bad. It's difficult to compare it with Buffet because of the somewhat patchy quality of what they are producing today. I can only say that it didn't tune quite as well as my R13, but it was better than that of a bandmate friend. One thing that it didn't have, at least with the mouthpiece/reed combination I was using, was the distinct Buffet "Ping", but that could be down to me. Keywork appeared to be quite robust and well-made."
Thank you- maybe Hansen's sound/tone concept is closer to Selmer's.
Do you know if it was a T5 or T6?
Thanks
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-02 19:49
Lohff & Pfeiffer's (L&F) website was down when I posted above about them, so I didn't include a link.
It's, as of this writing, up and running and I link below the webpage on their site that details their plateauing process, which includes, for the OPs sake, Selmer models.
I know somebody who did this (on a Buffet) for age related reasons. The modifications took months and the instrument, upon shipping back to the States (L&F is in Denmark) took quite some time to go thru customs, but YMMV. The player was, in the end, very pleased with the work.
Additionally, L&F, since then I believe, has established a US presence in Maryland, but I'm not sure if such presence now allows these instrument modifications to occur domestically.
I'm a huge supporter of such work where players truly have physical attributes, congenital or age related that make their playing their loved open tone hole instrument near impossible, allowing them to extend the life of their play, or even buying such an instrument new, as detailed in the link I provided in prior posts. I'm even ok with the hobbyist that uses a plateau clarinet because it's just easier.
But as mentioned, such instruments or work don't get my vote for those players seeking to advance their skills, simply seeking shortcuts to play over practice, otherwise anatomically capable of covering tone holes. Good shortcuts are rare in the clarinet world and those seeking them are likely to become frustrated.
https://www.clarinet.dk/content/show_content.php?id=101&cont=us&lang=en&instr=cla
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