Hello,

I recently bought a new E11 with a Vandoren B45 mouthpiece. Apparently the mouthpiece is tuned to 442Hz - WHY?? Everyone I know plays 440Hz. Now I suppose that this can be tuned easily by pulling the barrel out a bit, but the clarinet itself seems to be quite sharp as well, so my A comes out at about 444Hz, and I find I have to pull out the barrel quite a bit - 3-4 mm or so - to get in tune with my friends.

I have seen that I can get tuning barrels - I`ve seen Buffet makes them in different lengths for the R13 - Can they be used on an E11? Also I`ve seen aluminium ones advertised - are they any good?

Also I`ve seen that Vandoren make the B45 ina special 13 model, tuned to 440Hz. What should I do - get a new mouthpiece, a longer barrel, or both? If I need a barrel, should it be made of would or metal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have the exact same set-up as you (Until I find that damn barrel... please, if you have any idea, post on my thread somewhere in this forum) and I find that I am generally in tune... Then agian, it depends on the embrouchuer very much as well...

I have never heard of a B45 being tuned to 442Hz. Mine seems perfectly fine. Perhaps yours is though... but I have no idea why.

I do, however, think your clarinet is more of the culprit for being out of tune since I have heard horror stories about E11s being sharp (I believe it has something to do with the tuning in Europe being slightly sharper than ours). I think that you should buy a longer barrel. Take your clarinet to a shop and try out a bunch of barrels until you find one you like best.

Yeah I have the same thing, and usually buffets are sharp-so every set up has to be pulled out by a little. Its the buffets. Ive never really looked into getting new barrels...do they make a big difference. I would like maybe 1mm longer, that would prolly help out a little bit.

But im prolly goin to a vintage or prestige very soon!
Good Luck,
Hayley

For R13s the Chadash barrel by buffeet makes a big difference, as for tuning, by some tuning rings.

In response to the orginal question, you should sell the B45 and get a B40 i think you will find it easier to work with as far as consistancy goes (+its more reed friendly). Todd Levvy (principal clarinet of milwaukee symphony orchestra) gave me the same advice last year in an audition lol and its great advice

hope i helped

I use to have to use tuning rings to help with that problem. I finally decided the hell with it and went back to my old set up.