Achilles 3201 Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I would welcome advice as to what to do with a useless Clarinet stop on a small Victorian organ ( 2M+P - 13 stops ). It is so uneven in tone and unreliable that I rarely use it. Do we send it away to be put back into good order ? Who would you recommend ( East Anglia preferably ). Could we have it modified to be more useful ? How about a small mixture - T.C. - reused pipes ? Many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Cooke Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Achilles 3201 said: I would welcome advice as to what to do with a useless Clarinet stop on a small Victorian organ ( 2M+P - 13 stops ). It is so uneven in tone and unreliable that I rarely use it. Do we send it away to be put back into good order ? Who would you recommend ( East Anglia preferably ). Could we have it modified to be more useful ? How about a small mixture - T.C. - reused pipes ? Many thanks. Such moves are frequently frowned upon in the organ world these days. Difficult to know what might be best without knowing more about the instrument's provenance, builder, current condition and stop list etc. Money and funding aside, suppose the Clarinet was actually very beautiful in tone etc right across its range, could you see yourself valuing it and using it? If so, then it could be best to get advice along those lines. There may be better second hand Clarinets around that can be swapped in. In considering popping a mixture in instead, assuming such a things can be made to work physically on the soundboard, again, without knowing the existing stop list it's impossible but I'd be wondering if there was already a mixture on the other manual - the swell, presumably - and if the great is up to 2ft at present and if that 2ft is up to the mark, as it were, and just right in terms of brightness. Your mixture could then be a nice Sesquialtera (12.17) which would have a nice reedy quality to it, but would almost certainly stay in tune better than any reed stop. If not, perhaps you need a nice new 2ft (principal tone) and a new Clarinet. But, back to where we started, you need to know first of all whether you should be preserving the organ because of its provenance etc, and your organ builder and diocesan organs advisor should be able to assist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidh Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 On 12/01/2022 at 14:26, Martin Cooke said: Your mixture could then be a nice Sesquialtera (12.17) which would have a nice reedy quality to it, but would almost certainly stay in tune better than any reed stop. Well, the paradox is that the reed should keep its pitch better than any flue stop when the temperature changes, but the Sesquialtera would drift in the same way as the other flues, so should be in more agreement with them, and 'in tune' in that sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P DeVile Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 If the organ has not been changed tonally, the Clarinet should be kept and restored. A competent reed voicer will be able to make it stable and milky as clarinets should be. PM me if you would like recommendations.... Reeds keep their pitch(ish) but the flues go with the flow temperature and pitchwise which is why at the moment with the weather as it is, it would be best to avoid any reeds at all! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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