It's always interesting when something that obvious is not necessary noticed until it's said to one's face... Maybe simple, but it's one Hell of a good piece of advice/tip/secret...
MArketing this nice wood barrels make them so popular. Not just because they look nice some famous clarinetist make them so populat and now lots of players want them hoping that wooden barrells will make them sound better. Lots of times i saw cracked wood barrels and changing over the seasons ( We live in a 4 season climate so have cold,hot dry and humid weather) and causing troubles with the first joint of the instrument beeing loose or tght or with the mouthpiece. I think lots of Us making our choices not by meticoulous testing ,comparing products and rational decisions ....just delude ourselves fooled by Our eyes and smart marketing strategies and decide fooled by emotions
I don't think it can be said better. thanks for that. There are those who hype their product, making false claims, and getting some famous player who has a lot less character than talent, with no compunction about making $$$ to help the hype an overpriced piece of eye candy. It's sad to see. I really hate seeing people lied to and their ignorance being taken advantage of. I try my best never to do it. I believe that's the best long term policy for both me and those who put their trust in me. Besidesl, I have to look at myself in the mirror each morning. And no amount of $$ is enough to pay for a bad conscience.
When you see loose rings and rings dropping off you can imagine what's going on with the bore dimensions. One HUGE advantage with playing a hard rubber product from the tip of the mouthpiece to the bell is year round you greet Dr. Jekyll each morning. He doesn't seem to transform into Mr. Hyde in winter. Consistency in performance requires consistency in your equipment day to day, season to season. Wood fails that standard.
The barrel-idea came from repairsmen tired of glueing cracked clarinet-bodies. Clarinets came in two pieces originally - but cracked barrel can be replaced quickly/cheaply
This is exactly why hard rubber is a better material for making clarinets. Trouble is...there is a lot of snobbery amongst clarinetists over gear and they are loathed to move over to hard rubber. I have both.
Exactly. Hard rubber clarinets are better in EVERY way: Logistically (they don't crack and remain stable dimensionally), they're more consistent, they tune better, they sound as good if not better, their response is more even, the tone is more live and resonance without being bright, and the upper clarion and third register is more beautiful---and this kills the snobs, they're less expensive--by a LOT!
For a novice player, or for professionals dealing with really extreme circumstances, by all means go for maximum consistency first. However, nearly all professionals will still choose to use a wooden barrel most of the time, even the few who play a synthetic clarinet.
Now that you say that, it seems obvious! We have our very inconsistent reeds, wooden, and the Germans using wooden mouthpieces were taking the reed's inconsistency problem and extending it into their mpcs. Then, as you move down the clarinet, wooden barrel, etc adds to the inconsistency. Hard rubber mouthpiece = some stability, so extend that to the entire clarinet. That's why many wooden barrels have rubber linings.
How about a crystal mouthpiece matching up with a hard rubber barrel as opposed to matching with a wooden clarinet? the clarinet is a hard rubber clarinet.
Good question. I've not had the opportunity to test stability, but I don't think there's any doubt the hard rubber sleeve dimensions would be more stable.
The rectangular bore acts as a low pass filter, reducing the higher frequencies. This is normally regarded as "pleasant" to most clarinetists, especially those obsessed with what they call a "dark" sound. I haven't tested them for tuning, but years ago I checked them out, and some might regard using them to be fine---but I found them to be seriously problematic. The cutoff frequency not only cut out the high frequencies, it also affected the "ring" in the sound, reducing resonance, and also (and here's my point) significantly reduced my ability to play softly and at softer dynamics. Playing a long diminuendo became hard work when you got softer than a mezzopiano. For the way I played (and still play) the limited ability to nuance the sound expressively, and the tendency toward monochromaticism caused me to decide its advantages cost too much sacrifice in other things that are equally important. Having said that if you only play MF to F such a barrel would be okay. Myself, I prefer being able to play the entire dynamic range.
Tnx. Maybe you should try to manufacture hard rubber reeds ! Hard rubber is springy and rigid (I dropped a mouth piece once, and boy did it bounce), wonder how it would work. Legère's synthetic "plastic" reeds are not as responsive as wood, because, in my opinion, its plastic is not has hard as cane wood, maybe hard rubber would be the solution. Has anyone ever tried ?
Lots of materials on the market remain untested and un-investigated. At this point I'm certain hard rubber is superior to wood clarinets. The secret to making better and better clarinets is not materials, but a combination of materials and design, and getting the objective, measurable aspects of the clarinet as perfect as possible. Subjectively, you're never going to please everyone. Especially, since playing on bad equipment has ruined so many (successful) players, that the defects in their tone production is so bad they can't recognize good, efficient playing equipment when someone hands it to them. Regarding reeds, Legere's early reeds were better. I think Guy listened to too many "experts"---and when I tested the result the reeds were much less vibrant, less consistent, and less responsive---on the dead side. But at the beginning IMO he had a great product, something I could have played and certainly something I would have recommended to younger players if they would be careful and not break the reed.
There are now also carbon fiber barrels which solve the stability issues completely with added benefits. Examples from CARBEC carbec.it/en/ and Carbonissimo www.carbonissimo.com/en/
