[Dixielandjazz] Tuning

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

The 10 G is a great instrument because of it's big bore.  I find that i 
have to use a short barrel with it.  I took one into the shop and had it 
shortened slightly shorter than  the length of my click barrel's 
smallest size.  This gives me a little wiggle room.

I have a metal clarinet which I used to use on parades.  I played with a 
Shrine drum and bugle corps for awhile and at the end of the parades 
they would stand around and entertain the crowds with some tunes.  I 
could then play the dixie clarinet things with the metal clarinet.  It 
isn't the best of instruments and most were poor but I did have one at a 
school that was a really good one.  So I guess they were pretty uneven 
in quality.
Larry Walton.
St. Louis

Russ Guarino wrote:
> BrainTrust:
>
> No one has yet brought this up, so maybe my experience may prove
> enlightening.
>
> My dad bought my first clarinet when I was age 12 and had no idea what he
> was doing.  He was attracted to a beautiful metal "Colonial Continental" in
> a brushed chrome finish barrel with bright chrome keys.
>
> All metal.
>
> Two years ago I had a Fourth of July gig in a local ocean community and we
> played in the evening with a cold heavy fog rolling in.
>
> I cannot remember why I did this, but I brought my regular wood Selmer, a
> Plastic horn of bastardized parts and my metal clarinet.
>
> Started with the Selmer wood clarinet & went out of tune big time within an
> hour.  I switch to the plastic clarinet but could not get it in tune at
> all.  I dug out the metal clarinet and Voile!! it played perfectly and did
> not stray from where I started.  The leader was a piano guy and could not
> figure out what I was doing.
>
> A year later I was talking with a pro sax player who lived nearby and he
> told me about a real good clarinet player that played in his neighborhood a
> year ago on the Fourth of July. He had set up a chair outdoors and listened
> in.  Whatdoya know, folks.  he was talking about me and my metal unit.
>
> I have since read that metal is a good material for a clarinet, but plastic
> is easier to manufacture and metal when out of fashion years ago. Thus
> plastic is used for low cost, student, horns. Why we still use wood for the
> premium clarinets, I don't know.  All I know is I have a good one in the
> Selmer 10G.
>
> Russ Guarino
> Metal clarinet maven.
>
> PS:  I live near the ocean and experience a lot of water in the horn and in
> certain openings, the mid A key [ in the break ] and the the side D# & F#
> keys. I watched Jim Cullins' clarinet guy, on stage in Monterey last May,
> pull off his mouthpiece and swab his Selmer 10G while the band played & then
> reassembled and continued. He was having the same water problem and had no
> choice but to clear the horn.
>
> Rag
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dixielandjazz mailing list
> Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
> http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz
>
>