Comparison of some Moennig-style barrels

Here is information from Gentry Ragsdale-Szeto’s blog.

Her last name is pronounced zee-doh, and Gentry is a freelance clarinetist and woodwind teacher in the DFW metroplex.

Bb clarinet barrels:

Barrel 1: 60s Moennig Bb, top = 589, bottom = 578

Barrel 2: 60s Moennig Bb, top = 588, bottom = 579.5

Barrel 3: Modern Moennig-stamped from Buffet Bb, top = 591, bottom = 582

For fun: Barrel 4 reamed for Donald Montanaro, Bb, top = 585.5, bottom – 575 (pretty small!)

Comparison: a stock Bb barrel from the 60s measured top = 589, bottom = 582 (I have four more that are very similar…thanks eBay…)

A clarinet barrels:

Barrel 5: 60s Moennig A, top = 584.5 or 14.84mm, bottom = 577 or 14.66mm

Barrel 6: 80s/90s Moennig A , top = 584, bottom = 578

Barrel 7: Taplin Moennig-cut A from 2016, top = 584.5, bottom = 582 (I currently use this)

Barrel 8: 2016 Moennig A, top = 586.5, bottom = 582 (much larger than previous models)

Stock…I don’t have one. I’d be curious to know the measurements of a 60s stock Buffet A barrel.

As you can see, the trend over the years has been “bigger is better” as far as bores go. As we get more volume, we then look for Mp/barrel setups to focus everything up, and around and around we go.

Fun note: barrel number five is my former teacher’s barrel that is absolutely phenomenal. Since he’ll never part with it, I am ordering an A barrel with those exact measurements and the same length for my 1963 A. I’m in love with Taplin and Weir’s European cut, (as well as their excellent customer service), so we will see how close I can get to the focused, dolce sound I’m looking for while updating the style to something unique.

Information from me, Phil, 4May2017:

The reverse taper of the Moennig barrel means that it is larger at the top than at the bottom. But Gentry seems to have missed something I just found on the Internet: Many Moennig style barrels have an hourglass shape with two reverse tapers. So a Moennig barrel may be narrower in the middle. To measure that, I would need to measure in five places. I am just doing three here.