Selmer full Boehm A

[Steve]

...
One supporting evidence that I've come across about variation in barrel length would be Yamaha made short barrels for CSG series by lengthening the top joint, which was done without impacting the throat tonehole placements. Shouldn't the impact on the overall acoustic be negligible if the tonehole positions remain the same?

The acoustical problem with pulling out the barrel is related to the gap left between the barrel socket walls and the tenon walls. In a "perfect" setup the bore is unaltered when the barrel is fully pushed in. When you pull it out the gap there is enormous per perspective. The further you pull it out the larger the "square crevass" that is created which surrounds the entire bore.

This crevass is what affects the throat notes so much. The throat toneholes are the closest extensively used notes. Plus the throat tones are not perfect to begin with due to design. A FullBoehm Bb sounds alot different than a throat note Bb.

With the CSG design that gap made by pulling out the barrel is pushed further away from the throat notes thus affecting them less.

Of course the best solution is to have various barrels of various lengths to prevent having to create that gap.

 

[SOTSDO]

A full Boehm Bb sounds a lot different than a throat note Bb.

As far as I and others can tell, it doesn't on any of my three wood and one metal full Boehm instruments. (I've never gone so far as to record the tones and compare them blind, mind you.)

A solution for the gap problem (if it is a problem) is to place rings in the socket so as to fill the bore lacuna. (Note use of fancy word for "donut shaped void in socket".) I used them for years, but they never made any audible difference as far as I or others could tell. I finally lost the last one that I had, so I do without.

 

[Steve]

true, when properly vented the throat Bb is pretty good.
and it is much closer to the ears than a long Bb on a FB.

I've never recorded the difference from a long Bb to a throat Bb as I've never been one much for recording and playback because it is only good as the recording device, the technique & environment that it was recording and the playback equipment and the ear of the person listening.

My laptop speakers are a far cry from my higher end stereo which has 6 speakers from a mini super ceramic tweeter to a 16 inch bass. Rhapsodie in Blue (and many other concertos, symphonies, etc) sounds like two different pieces on the two - the really pianissimo spots are lost on the laptop but are clear even on low volume settings on the stereo.

 

[SOTSDO]

I make no comparison between the "long Bb" (with the low Eb key and the register key) and the throat Bb at all - I seldom (more like virtually never) use the Bb derived from the low Eb key because the tonal quality is so substandard (just as it is on every bass clarinet where the note is voiced through the bell.

(To me, the "long Bb" indicates the old R|•|•oo|•oo fingering, but I can see why you could apply it to this instance as well. However, most clarinet players aren't going to realize this fingering without a lot of explanation from those who own a full Boehm (or a bass clarinet).)

It seems to me that it would be as easy as the proverbial pie to add a second, non-automatic thumb operated key to open the second trill key from the top to give a properly voiced Bb. But, there's that "complexity" that clarinet players are so afraid of. Mazzeo did it right, but at the cost of messing with the fingering patterns for everything else. Why not just an easy way of opening that trill key?

I generally play every Bb over the break that persists for a half note or a passing quarter note by using the A and the second trill key, but I would welcome such an additional thumb key to make it more facile.