Since 1996 I’ve been supporting this website and my cataloging endeavor.
For clarinets that I come across I attempt to take a deep dive engineering aspect of it. For instance I’ll measure and review the following information:
- Upper joint entry bore (top part of joint)
- Upper joint exit bore (lower part of top joint)
- Measure the distance of each upper joint tonehole from the top of the clarinet (minus barrel and tenon).
- Measure the diameter of the outer and mid section of each tonehole to determine if it is cylindrical, hourglass, or tapered. Sometimes I’ll try to measure the lowest part of the tonehole too.
- Measure the diameter of the bore at various locations. This is best to be done with a gun bore gauge as you can push it through the entire bore and get a good readout of the bore through the entire instrument. I do not own one but have borrowed one. I wouldn’t mine owning one so I can use it on every instrument I come across.
I’ve also have done other experiments:
- Determine how cracks form and disappear.
- Tested various methods of fixing cracks in order to prevent them from opening up later.
- Testing tonehole air penetration of tonehole chimneys, which is prevalent on older clarinets.
- Tested a few methods of oiling a clarinet
- Found methods for home cleaning and polishing of clarinets and their keys.
- Blueprinted various mouthpieces
- and much more
For Mouthpieces I have measured many areas of the mouthpiece. I have yet to release my chart of those mouthpieces.
I’ve tried to put much of it on the website. My old website actually ran out of space and would have cost a good amount more to upgrade it to support continued images, information, etc.
Of course, no one gets paid to do all this measuring and testing. It doesn’t facilitate payback of any type, and only extends having an instrument if it isn’t mine. I’ve tested loaners, instruments that I’ve bought just to measure them, plus general instruments that I’ve repaired in the past.
I plan on putting much more clarinet information on the website and also all the saxophone stuff that I have. i also have to work a bit to make it a tad more easily to navigate.
Also on the main page I’ll list out video’s that I’ll be doing on specific items or items in general. I did do 2 videos on vintage reeds. I’ll have to put links to those on the website.
In regards to donations I now take donations to help support this website and future information. A few dollars here or there allows me to pay for web related or acquiring specific items. Any amount is welcomed.