Low Pitch 4743

Thanks to Therese K for letting me review this fine instrument!

Serial #4743 marked on the bell USN (US Navy)

Barrel: 67.4mm

Bore LH joint top: 14.7mm

Bore LH joint at bottom: 14.7mm

Evidently this clarinet was painted black some time in the past. Before Therese sent it to me she gave it to someone who sanded off the old finish revealing a reddish-brown wood. When I applied bore oil the wood darkened but is still beautiful. The logos are hard to read because of the sanding.

Intonation results taken when playing loud and not lipping. See how to interpret these results on the Model Comparison Page.

For this test, I pulled 0 at the barrel and 0 at the center tenon, and I used a 64.3 barrel.

Intonation summary: Fair. I had to use a shorter barrel to play with intonation this good. Smart playing and having the right barrel and mouthpiece would improve the intonation. It seems typical of these PM Albert System clarinets to have independent A and G# throat tone keys. The A key does not lift the G# key, but the A tone hole is much larger than a Boehm A tone hole. It seems that these clarinets were made to have beautiful free tone on the throat tones, but require the player to use resonance fingerings by default.

Key work quality: The chrome plated keys are a bit soft.

This clarinet is most appropriate for: PM and Albert System enthusiasts.

Condition issues noted: The wood came to me being all sanded off and having a very brown appearance. People call this rose wood, but it really is just a variety of African black wood. It turned out lovely when I applied oil.