It appears to be an accepted fact that the the Moennig, and lesser reverse tapers found in modern clarinet barrels serve to improve tonal focus and intonation in the throat and altissimo registers. So, what's happening with the bass clarinet in that regard then? Anyone seen a reverse-tapered bass clarinet neck? It would be .5mm to .75mm over the length of the neck, I'm guessing.
Bass Clarinet Neck Taper
- Thread starter MartinMods
- Start date
Without measuring, I'd say the average bass neck is about 200 mm (uncurled) long. Plusminus. It is the equivalent to a soprano's very short mouthpiece plus an overly long barrel plus a good part of the upper joint till the register vent. For the same effect as in a soprano, I'd expect the taper of a BC neck/barrel to be half or a third as steep (ie same .5 to .75mm over a length of 130..180mm) to be of the same effect. Or would it have to be twice or three times as steep? Why not, indeed.
To be honest, a bit of lip pinching might achieve more, comparably. But I am a n00b with potatoes between my ears, but I say a fine (as in "matching the instrument's inner geometry") mouthpiece might achieve more.