Click to join Woodwind Forum Group
Please see our pages on serial numbers (clarinet, saxohone), transposing, scales, key signatures and other nice information pages.
Also see our page on Mouthpiece Refacing page on information about mouthpiece refacing.
|
Click to join Woodwind Forum Group |
|
Commonly asked questions
Good Clarinet Music to Learn
New England Conservatory
http://www.newenglandconservatory.ed...html#saxophone
Northwestern University
http://www.music.northwestern.edu/ad...html#saxophone
Eastman School of Music
http://www.esm.rochester.edu/apply/a....php#woodwinds and scroll down until
you see Saxophone.
Mozart Concerto, K. 622
Weber Concerto No. 1
Weber Concerto No. 2
Debussy First Rhapsody
A 20th-century unaccompanied solo, such as:
All three of the following orchestral selections:
20th-century unaccompanied solo in its entirety, such as:
six of the following orchestral selections:
Undergraduate: Be prepared to play two of the following, or comparable works. At least one movement of one work should be performed from memory (if possible):
Graduate: Be prepared to play two pieces, one of which should be performed from memory (if possible):
In addition, be prepared to play three orchestral excerpts from The Orchestral Saxophonist, vol. 1 (pub. Roncorp). Suggested excerpts:
We will take trades on a variety of items, such as instruments, mouthpieces and repair work. We will not take anything in a trade though as we have to have certain equipment which can be resold. We also will not necessarily trade for anything in the list as demand may limit items. The list is not all inclusive so please ask.
Clarinets:
certain Clarinet Mouthpieces
Most Buffet Clarinet
Any vintage Evette & Schaeffer Master Models or Evette Master Models
Most professional Leblanc
Most professional Selmer Paris clarinets
Noblet 45
Noblet 40 (old oval emblem)
Selmer USA Soloist
Saxophones:
Professional Buffet Saxophones (any vintage)
Professional Selmer Paris Saxophones (any vintage)
1980s
Selmer USA "Omega" saxophones
various vintage soprano saxophones
Yamaha, Yanagisawa, Keilwerth, Martin and various other saxophones
various Saxophone Mouthpieces
ClarinetPerfection.com work descriptions
A complete disassembly is when all the keys are removed from the clarinet. This allows proper investigation, cleaning and oiling of all the pivot screws; hinge rods; hinge screws; and posts. Dependent upon the desired work this may or may not include the removal of joint, bell rings and posts.
Body & tonehole Check & cleaning
After a complete disassembly the "Body and Tonehole Check and Cleaning" is a process in which each tonehole is checked for proper cut and form (any burrs inside or out, are removed). This check is intially done under magnification so nothing is missed. If there are any chips or other inconsistencies then the customer is notified. The Cleaning process is simply when all toneholes are cleared of any debris. Each tonehole is also oiled and checked.
This process also allows for proper oiling - a 3 to 5 day process.
Body Oiling is a 3- 5 day process (sometimes 7 day) in which after the Body & tonehole check & cleaning we start oiling the body to make sure it is properly stabilized. This is done with certain natural and/or synthetic materials. The oil we normally use provide the best tone (highest requested material from pro players). We do not soak the clarinet pieces in this oil but rather apply it by hand and review the clarinet over time (see Soaking a Clarinet in Oil)
Key Swedging is a method to reduce play on keys. Whether the play is side to side or on the screws or rods. This is done through a variety of methods. In the end you can be sure that your clarinet will feel as good as new in your hands.
During this process keywork is reviewed for quieting. This may be done through a variety of methods including teflon inserts, key corks or felts or proper keywork fitting.
ClarinetPerfection.com offers a 1 Year warranty on several of our services. The warranty covers any work done on an instrument which may fail. This excludes any problems which arise from misuse such as dropping, dents, dings, or general misuse by the instrument owner. All shipping charges to use are paid by the by instrument owner. We will pay for shipping back to the customer. Warranty item approvals are at sole descretion of ClarinetPerfection.com technicians.
| GENERAL QUESTIONS | ||
| What is Refurbishing | New versus Used instruments & eBay | What is an Overhaul |
Not all clarinets were manufactuered with end caps. When I see a nice vintage clarinet with an end cap it usually means it was damaged and thus fixed up.
You simply have to know which clarinets were made with end caps and which ones weren't. But (not to generalize too much but I am) vintage professional clarinets did not have end caps. the only brand I know off the top of my head that consistently did it was Selmer USA and the Signet line, and the Leblanc LL and various others. But buyer beware..
FACTORY ENDCAPS
Leblanc Dynamic H has a tenon cap created for strength but also allows the wood to continue through.
The Leblanc LL has a tenon cap that covers the end of the wood
Selmer Centered Tone has a cap that extends the wood.
Selmer Centered Tone articulated has a upper end lower joint metal tenon to accept the upper joint. This allows a G# to be in the middle of the tenon.
FIXED TENONS
These two examples are corrections to a tenon. The upper joint one shows that it was hand made to cover the tenon. The unfortunate part about this is that the metal protrudes into the airstream by about 1-2 mm.
This lower tenon was hand made to fix a chip in the tenon. No other reason could be found. But the chip could have been fixed by other means today. I assume it was fixed ages ago. This from a 1930s Selmer clarinet so who knows when the repair was made.
Below shows a thick endcap but also a surface crimp band to prevent cracking. There is two method for crimp banding, one is on the surface the other is flush - when, using a lathe, a trench is cut for the "surface" band to be laid into and thus before actually flush. But that is used with bands that are flat, unlike the one pictured which is actually a larger sculpted tenon ring..
Sleeves
Sleeves are inserts over an existing part of a tenon. The first set of
pictures shows a before and after of the side view of a Tenon. The second
picture shows the sleeve from the end part, notice the different color of the
outer sleeve which is plastic and not wood. The wood is allowed to
continue to the lower joint. The sleeve adds strength (being plastic) to
the joint.
New versus Used instruments & eBay
Musical Instruments today are built in many countries: China, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, and France to name a few. Their quality varies dependent upon the age of the instrument and the manufacturer. Depending upon what make and model of horn you buy you may have to have it fixed or it may not play very well.
Many online sources such as eBay provide a good resource for a buyer to pick up good (or not so good) musical instruments for much less than they can from dealers or other online stores. But buyers also run the risk of getting a horn that is in dire need of various repair(s). We offer a service where you can know that the horn you are getting will work correctly right out of the case. Most eBay horns require additional repairs which may amount to hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars. This easily negates the original intent of a cheap instrument. Instruments that are not 100% easily playable are not good for beginners simply because it discourages the beginner because the instrument could making learning the basics very difficult.
On the plus side, used horns have depreciated already. A new horn can depreciated without even using it hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Saxophones and clarinets are not cheap instruments when purchased brand new at a reliable local music store. Just like cars as soon as you drive away with it it's value drops significantly. Buying a used horn you have the ability of not losing as much money and you can see if the aspiring musician even likes that particular instrument.
An overhaul is a process where an instrument (sax or clarinet) gets completely taken apart. Cleaned inside and out (then oiled if wood). Replacement (if necessary) of springs, corks and felts. Tone hole leveling (saxophones); minor dent removal (saxophones); repadded; oiled and regulated.
The sound of your horn may change when it is overhauled. At least, most people have mentioned that the horn gets a "turbo boost", where as when they were playing over slight leaks or something now suddenly the horn is much more louder. Air control becomes more of a factor in playing. Playing dynamics should also be improved.
Refurbishing is a process where we restore an instrument which may not be 100% functional to a functional state. This may include repairing or replacing springs, replacing pads, cork and felt installation, cup leveling, tone hole leveling, dent removal and a variety of other routines which may be needed. Additional items may include creating/replacing drill rod (the long metal pieces which keys pivot on); straightening and flattening out key cups to the toneholes to make sure there is an optimal fit; soldering broken posts
Does an instruments tone change when it is cleaned
If the inside and outside of a horn is dirty, then when it is cleaned its tone may change. If there is heavy debris on the outside this could be not allowing the clarinet to pay as freely as possible (though this may have minimal if no impact). If there is debris inside the clarinet, depending on the nature and quantity, certain harmonics of the horn could be absorbed by the debris and make the horn play darker; stuffier; more resistance than normal.
A cleaned horn may provide a brighter tone and faster response - it just all depends
Does the instruments tone change when new pads are installed? different types of pads?
We use only the highest quality double skin, white leather and cork pads available. We believe that they make a difference in the tone that you will get from your newly redone clarinet.
New pads may make the clarinet sound different. After all, they could be cut, etc and allowing a leak, which affects the tone. For example: I recently purchased, for myself, a vintage Leblanc Classic II (Symphonie era) clarinet. This was purchased from a customer who was slimming down his collection. This clarinet had recently gone through an overhaul, new pads, cleaned up, etc. After a few tweaks the instrument played very nicely. The tone could be explained as very clear, focused and woody though lacking a fullness and body to the tone. I also heard a very slight buzz. Buzz usually comes from the pads so I decided to pull out the Lucien Deluxe pads (which they were clearly identified on the backside) and replace with leather. I swapped just the top. After doing the top and a quick play, it was evident that the tone was much more full, colorful - a BIG difference (I had also properly oiled the body using my 3-5 day body treatment). Interesting item though, I had only done the top. So the top notes were quite different tonal-wise than the lower notes. The lower part quickly went through the same treatment as the upper part. So, yes, from my perspective the make of the pad and setup makes a world of a difference.
When and how often should pads be replaced?
There are other questions that need to be answered before you should consider replacing your pads.
First, if there a leak we need to be able to recognize a leak, such as:
You also may consider to get new pads if the existing ones are not drying out properly.
| CLARINET QUESTIONS | ||
| Silver vs Nickel Silver | Clarinet pads - cork vs Leather vs skin | Clarinet Bore Sizes |
Difference from Silver and Nickel Silver
It's very hard to describe the differences between Silver and Nickel Silver in words. Nickel Silver has a "yellowish" tint to it and Silver has a certain brilliance to its shine. It's easy to compare with two instruments next to each other. But it's hard to photograph. Click on each picture below for a larger view. The Noblet is Nickel Silver and the LeBlanc is silverplated.
All other things being equal, the bore size can have an impact on how the clarinet generally sounds to the players. Theoretically, a larger bore would give a fuller, darker tone. A smaller bore would give a less spread more centered tone. So, theoretically, a larger bore is better for jazz and a smaller bore better for symphonic band. Of course, mouthpieces would play a roll into this too and personal preferences. Please submit any clarinet bore (or other) information you have to Steve
Clarinet pads - cork vs Leather vs skin
Fish skin versus leather versus cork Which is best ?
First, we stock only the best fish double skin pads - Ferree Dejur pads.
These pads are much higher quality, tighter and firmer than even their normal
double bladder pads. I believe these are as good as their premium clarinet
leather pads. Though the leather pads are more durable. Leather pads are
more difficult to install and regulate. Cork pads offer the least
"vibrations" and offer the "smoothest" tone, though are the most difficult to
install and regulate and are also the noisiest pads. Cork pads may not
last the longest overall. As soon as a cork pad cracks it should be
replaced. A crack is a leak especially if it extends past the tonehole
ridge.
.
ClarinetPerfection.com offers installation of Ferree
Dejur double skin pads, Ferree premium white leather pads or AAAA or better
premium cork pads as options.
Soaking a Clarinet in oil
Clarinets should never be "soaked" in oil. Oil should be applied in
multiple treatments inside and out if the wood seems dry. If the oil soaks in
quickly, then another layer should be applied, and so forth until the wood no
longer accepts the oil quickly. By soaking a clarinet body in oil you risk
it having too much oil (saturated) which can cause cracking down the road;
additionally al the excess oil in the body will leech out over time. This can cause alot of problems.
 |
In this example, a Leblanc clarinet was overhauled with a 3 day almond oil soak (from a online tech). Not even 1 month later the owner sent it to me and I had to do a complete overhaul (overhauling this techs overhaul) due to this leeching plus poor quality pads and regulation. The leeching can be cleaned up by owners, except under the tenon rings, posts, etc - quite a messy and smelly problem. Click on the pic for a larger view. The green fungus was growing all over the place. |
Ferree DeJur clarinet pads
We believe that Ferree Tools, based out of Battle Creek, Michigan, carries some
of the highest quality clarinet pads available. The Dejur pads are made from
carefully chosen skins and felt. The pads have perfectly selected true
double skin, not just thick skins. Sides are beveled. We believe
these are the best skin pads for any clarinet. Ferrees has been in
business since 1946 and has been the leader in instrument repair tools and
supplies.
Ferree Premium Kid Leather saxophone pads
We believe that Ferrees Tools, based out of Battle Creek, Michigan, provides
some of the best and highest quality kid leather clarinet (and saxophone) pads. Each pad
size has its own special die for cutting and assembling. This does away
with the variation in thickness and diameter that most wholesalers must contend
with. When Ferree imports a pad they resize them to insure that the sizing
and quality is as close as possible to the ones they make. Ferree's is
also the largest distributor of saxophone pads in the US. Their pads are
made with 100% woven wool felt, covered with a high grade soft tan leather that
is specially selected.
So what exactly is a polycylindrical bore? You see this description on many instruments today. First we must know the history a little to understand the evolution of the clarinet and the polycyclindrical bore.
In the earlier 1900s French clarinets had a relatively large and cylindrical bore and cylindrical tone holes. Cylindrical meaning that they had the shape of a cylinder.
In the 1940s and 1950s a Buffet clarinet craftsman, Robert Carre, experimented with a clarinet bore that was smaller by thousandths of an inch. This smaller bore gave a more focused tone (and conversely a larger bore a more spread tone).
Further improvements were made when the bore was made gradually smaller from the top of the upper joint to slightly below the middle finger (upper joint). The taper then expanded from that point all the way to the end of the upper joint (the lower joint also had an expanding bore).
In order to create this design Robert Carre used a series of 3 cylindrical reamers (instead of tapered reamers). Initially the smallest is run complete thru to create the smallest bore. Then the second reamer is run from the top and the bottom just partially into each side. Then the last, largest reamer (only by a few thousandths of an inch) was run from the top and bottom (less distance than the second reamer). The bore differences are very tiny and are blended together thus making it difficult to easily see. This manufacturing technique produced the Buffet R-13 "polycylindrical" bore.
The two primary important parts of a clarinet mouthpiece are the chamber and the bore. The Chamber consists of the baffle and side walls. Each part of the mouhtpiece interior contributes to the tuning and tonal qualities.
BORE DESIGN
TUNING
TONE
CHAMBER AND THE TONAL QUALITY (COLOR)
I get questions from other people that have had their clarinets overhauled or
repaired from other repair people. Many of these issues are basically down
to inexperienced repair people. This could be a wide range, such as: a
shop who deals primarily in school instruments, a startup repair shop with low
experience, etc. It all comes down to how discriminating the repair person
is and how well a clarinet player they are.
All my repairs get an enoumous amount of play time (one reason I take so long to
turn-around a clarinet) and all items get tweaked to perfection. A repair person
who knows how to fix instruments but isn't a highly skilled player will rarely
be able to get an instrument up to professional quality playability.
Test your Clarinet for Leaks (a simple test)
[1] first a test:
take the barrel. put one end on your mouth and cover the bottom end. Provide some suction. If done properly you should be able to feel the suction and you should not be able to pull out any more air. This is what we are going to do to each piece.
[2] top piece
mouth over top. cover bottom. use LH (Left Hand) to cover holes.
provide some suction. If you cannot create a vaccuum or it's to light then there is a leak somewhere.
- lightly blow into the clarinet. find the air leak - a little breeze coming out of something.
[3] repeat it for the bottom section
[4] is the tenon cork a tight fit between the two. This is a possible leak area too which can be tested. I use those rubber plugs to put into the toneholes and end for this test. If you don't have any then if it is a tight fit then it should be able to hold a vacuum.
[5] Other areas of problems
use of Left hand pinky spatula key for E/B - it has to close the right side 2 pads.
then try the Right Hand E- B - notice how it interacts with the "crows foot" to close another pad.
and the RH E-B key and how it interacts with the Crows foot.
the above is the most complex of a clarinet.
[6] the link between the upper and lower stack. closing any ring on the lower stack also closes the upper stack Bb ring pad. If you close the RH key then push on the Bb, if it gives a bit then you will have to slightly bend (or if it has an adjuster - adjust it) the bridge connector down so that it contacts the lower body bridge faster.
Common Clarinet Issues - common mistakes and problems seen clarinets sent to us.
This can be an icky mess. A just overhauled and bought on eBay clarinet that was "soaked" for 3 days. Soaking a clarinet is not recommended. Proper techniques to bring a horn up to a good level of oiling is needed on old instruments. Soaking in Almond or Olive Oil and then add summer heat (shipping) can have some icky results when the natural oils start to get moldy. Think of all the oil under tenons, posts etc turning green and smelling as this one picture represents. The silver plated keywork was also scratched from machine buffing with rouge.
Most clarinets I've come across after overhauls have had spotty intonation. For example, the height of the G# key is usually allowed to open too much, thus making G# and Bb sharp. G# needs to only open a certain height for proper intonation. This and other key heights are important for the proper venting and tone of the clarinet. You cannot just test the clarinet against the tuner once and declare all is good. This is where the significant play testing comes into play to make sure the instrument is at it's optimum (customer mouthpiece and some test reeds should also be included)
A customer clarinet was overhauled (by some other tech) but the customer was not happy with the overall tone they were getting. The clarinet was sent to me and I play tested the instrument and noticed the same stuffiness in the Chalumeau Register. In short the problem ended up being the cork pad. The Tech may use key clamps or heavy pressure to set pads to eliminate leaks in their setup (noticeable in all the pads). In this instance the cork pad was cracked past the octave vent, this basically is a leak. In this picture the cracked pad is on the left; a cork pad on top, and a leather and double skin pad in clockwise order. The pad was replaced with a leather pad (and other tweaks) and the tone was beautiful after that.
Venting is basically determined by the height of the pads from the tone holes. Too little venting and and instrument may become flat and/or sound stuffy in certain ranges; too much in certain keys may make the instrument sharp. Stereotypically, proper venting should be around 3 to 3.5 mm for the upper rings and 2.5 to 3mm for the lower rings
Personally, I bought an overhauled Leblanc LL. I have been looking for a fine example for years. This was a very nice example and I am satisfied. But when I first received the instrument it played but it was not as fluid and as easy as it could be. This required some very minor tweaking to the RH spatula keys. These keys are probably the most difficult in a regular boehm clarinet (excluding articulated keywork partial and full boehm clarinets). The other problem I was having is that the very nice full kids leather pads were sticking. This was not due to the pads themselves but the fact that the technician had used key clamps to properly set the instrument - probably due to leaks from the pad install. This created very deep insets into the pads, which was creating the sticking. It is quite annoying when you try to regulate a clarinet and make it as quiet as possible to have this sticky sound all the time. So much for purchasing a completely overhauled clarinet.
Probably half of my current business is repadding/overhauling newly overhauled/repadded clarinets.
In observing clarinet players I have seen that many do not take in enough mouthpiece. This can greatly affect ones tone. The following is a quick guide of how much mouthpiece to take in and how to identify that "neutral zone" on any mouthpiece.
Neutral Zone - this is the location on the mouthpiece where the reed goes away from the mouthpiece. Each mouthpiece has a curve to it, which has to start somewhere. Anywhere before this Neutral Zone the player has to have a consistent embouchure to maintain stability. After this Zone the player can play without affecting the location the reed starts to vibrate.
If we think about that a little more, If you lower lip is 1/2 inch closer to the top than the neutral zone then the reed has 1/2 inch less vibrating body. Also, if one pinches then this pushes the reed closer to the tip, normally closer than intended and thus the tone may be weak and insufficient.
To identify the Neutral Zone first put the reed and ligature on. We recommend a "non-binding" ligature such as Rovners, or Vandoren Masters or Optima to allow the reed to vibrate freely in all registers.
Each mouthpiece below has a different location of the Neutral Zone
From left to right: vintage Woodwind K9, SML, vintage Selmer "table HS*", Selmer HS**, Selmer C85-115 with their tip opening length (length from tip to the table where the reed is flat - on a non-vibrating reed.
| Woodwind K9 | SML | Selmer Table HS* | HS** | C85 - 115 |
| 15.76 mm | 14.73 mm | 18.20 mm | 17.47 mm | 16.96 mm |
If we flipped the mpcs upside down the location of the paper (or in this case extremely thin teflon sheet) would be the ideal location for your lower lip, or slightly closer to the tip).
So how can intonation on clarinets be improved? First of all, professional clarinets are normally inspected tested at the factory for intonation (among other checklist items). They normally respond to a certain strength reed and a certain chambered mouthpiece. At ClarinetPerfection.com we have a selection of mouthpieces which we use to get the best tone and intonation from your clarinet. Unfortunately these are not for sale. If you include your mouthpiece then we will also test your mouthpiece against your clarinet.
But each clarinet has another variable, the player. I know my embouchure and I'm always very careful and attempt to make sure it is correct whether for a Classical/Orchestral player, a jazz player, student or a casual player.
First of all, the tuning schema of a clarinet is fairly compromised so pitch abberations can only be altered and not perfectly corrected. If the clarinets bore has been modified at all then the tone holes could be in a wrong location in relation to the bore size. Have you ever closely compared clarinets tonehole placement? They vary with clarinet model and maker. Generally speaking, small bore clarinets have toneholes which are wider apart, larger bores are closer together. Of course, the size of the tonehole can vary accordingly too it's all dependent upon what the manufacturer was attempting to 'create' tonal-wise.
But, all that variability aside, pitch can be greatly affected by how much venting a pad has (how close the pad is to the tonehole). As a simple test lightly press down on your thumb ring (not the hole) and it will lower the F# ring key. You will notice that you will go more flat the further you push it. If the pad is initially too close, then you will probably be flat playing a G, G# & A.
A high level technician can always correct major intonation issues. But keep in mind for example, some instruments may be sharp in an entire range, such as the lower clarion. A tuning ring can be added to the joint to lower the entire pitch in this range.
At ClarinetPerfection.com we attempt to bring an instrument, in it's "factory" mode to the best intonation possible. Our customer checklist (which we will send you upon confirmation of us receiving your clarinet) will help us understand the type of playing you do (orchestral, jazz, etc) and intonation quirks you have, keywork issues, etc. We will also speak with you before you send your instrument to understand what we have to accomplish and what you can expect.
[Clarinets] [Mouthpieces] [Repair] [Trial Policy] [Scales, etc.]