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Yamaha Bass Clarinet Problems on High F#, G, G#

jbtsax

Distinguished Member
Distinguished Member
I recently tried to help a customer who brought in a Yamaha wooden bass clarinet on which all of the notes played easily and clearly except 3rd octave F#, G, and G#. These notes were incredibly stuffy and sometimes didn't speak at all unless approached going up a scale.

I couldn't find any leaks or insufficient key openings, and the neck was airtight as well. My question is: did I miss something, or is this a problem inherent with this make and model of bass clarinet?

John
 
Is it a register vent on horn body horn, or register vent on the neck?

If I was having problems with the horn, I would check vent clearance first off.

Make sure that the lower or on-body vent is closed completely by having someone play it while pressing the key cup while playing the horn with notes above G. Then, check the clearance on the upper vent by working it by hand while someone plays the horn with notes above G.

The automatic register key system(s) are pretty clever, except when they get out of whack. At that point, without a competent technician at hand, you are wishing that you had the old manual register keys (which always work, and are not interlinked in any way).
 
Hmm... what model is it exactly? You say it's wood but maybe Yamaha had a wood model that was different from what they have now. When I tried both their plastic student model and their low C professional wood model the entire range played great and nothing was stuffy like what you describe.

But I don't know if you missed something or maybe there is some problem on that specific one for some reason. Have you checked the register key opens enough, and that the register tube isn't blocked?
 
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