One of the most popular ways to enhance your clarinet is to select alternative barrels and bells. This is a great way to change your tone and response without changing and getting used to a new mouthpiece.
There is a wide choice of styles, weights, materials, bore sizes... here is how to choose the barrel and bell to improve the tone and playing style of your instrument.
Bore design
Traditional barrels: an even taper from the mouthpiece to the top joint of the clarinet. Available for large (English) and medium (French) bore instruments. Even tone response and tuning suitable all round playing.
Wall design, profile and mass
Standard weight barrel even tone and response throughout the registers. Traditional outside wall shape to match most popular clarinet brands; Buffet, Yamaha, Leblanc, Hanson. Available with shaped, rounded and flat reinforcement rings. A good all round choice to suit every player and style.
The lightweight barrel offers a sweet, balanced tone with excellent focus and projection. Very resonant. The elegant flowing design of the outer profile perfectly complement your instrument and the barrels refined character.
Heavy wall barrels provide more power and projection. The choice for principal players and featured soloists; better focus and response, more power, better projection when compared with standard weight barrels. Notes speak more readily with practically no inertia loss through the wall of the instrument.
Fitting
Most instruments use a standard fit but the actual feel when fitting your barrel will vary instrument to instrument and again as the cork on your clarinet compresses to match the barrel.
Length
Most clarinets use a 66 or 65 mm barrel, but this varies by manufacturer. Choose a 65 or 66mm barrel for standard tuning.
Choose a shorter barrel to assist sharpening an instrument. Especially useful for those who play in halls which might be cold at the beginning of a rehearsal and for entering an exam room with little time for warm up.
If you naturally play bright (sharp) choose a longer barrel to lower the pitch.
Woods and Advanced Materials
Grenadilla the traditional wood for clarinets. Naturally deep dark brown with excellent grain. Focused sound with excellent projection.
Rosewood is a beautiful reddish brown in appearance with excellent exquiste graining. Rosewood ffers a subtle softer tone.
Reinforced Grenadilla African blackwood, fibre and resin composite. Totally stable and guaranteed against cracking or splitting for life even in ‘difficult’ climatic conditions.
Ebonite made from natural rubber Ebonite is considered to have excellent tonal properties and is used by all the best mouthpiece makers for their top model professional models.