Let me preface this by saying that the following question is driven by (mostly) idle curiosity. I am not seriously considering replacing the keys on my bass clarinet with stainless steel ones.
I have been fascinated by Jim Schmidt's saxophones with his linear fingering system for a while now. I don't see myself getting one, but I think they are beautiful to look at and I applaud him for building them. One of the things that I think is most attractive to me is the look of the stainless steel keywork. It seems like it can get away with some very slender arms connecting some of those touchpieces, particularly in the pinky clusters and the thumb key. I haven't played one of the saxophones, but I imagine that these little arms must be sufficiently stiff that the keys are reasonable to use without undue flex.
I recently had a modification done to my Selmer 33 bass clarinet so that I can operate the D, C# and C thumb keys (the only way to play those notes on this horn) without using any pinky keys.
While it technically works, I'm now asking the D key to close 5 pads when it was only designed to close one. The amount of flex in the key means that the note will sound, but it sounds much, much stronger if I hold down any of the pinky keys to help do some of the work. The problem gets more pronounced going to the C# and C. It's good enough without any pinky keys for a fast passage and it makes trills and tremolos possible where before they were not (or were practically unfeasible), but I still need to hold down a pinky key to get a tone that's as strong as the notes above it in a slower passage. It's still a huge improvement because I can use any/i] pinky key instead of needing to use the Eb, which unlocks a ton of fast scales and patterns down there, but it is a little frustrating to feel that flex.
We've built up the right hand thumb keys with plumber's epoxy to get a little more leverage and a little less flex (reinforcing the keys), which helped a lot, but I feel like quite a bit of force from my hand to the pad is still being lost to flex. In fairness, though, I've played newer bass clarinets that have a similar issue where the thumb key by itself will not give as strong a tone in the extension notes as when you add any pinky key.
So, finally getting to my point: would hypothetical stainless steel keywork for the thumb keys be able to be made stiffer than the "nickel alloy" keys to the point that it would alleviate this problem? This is assuming comparable dimensions, identical mechanism, etc.
Again, I'm not thinking very seriously about doing this. The cost of doing this would almost certainly be a non-starter for me, since I lack everything needed to do this (knowledge of keywork design, access to materials, access to fabrication facilities, knowledge of fabrication techniques, etc). Just wondering on a Sunday morning while I have my coffee. I'll probably live with it as-is, since it's such a massive improvement already.
I have been fascinated by Jim Schmidt's saxophones with his linear fingering system for a while now. I don't see myself getting one, but I think they are beautiful to look at and I applaud him for building them. One of the things that I think is most attractive to me is the look of the stainless steel keywork. It seems like it can get away with some very slender arms connecting some of those touchpieces, particularly in the pinky clusters and the thumb key. I haven't played one of the saxophones, but I imagine that these little arms must be sufficiently stiff that the keys are reasonable to use without undue flex.
I recently had a modification done to my Selmer 33 bass clarinet so that I can operate the D, C# and C thumb keys (the only way to play those notes on this horn) without using any pinky keys.
While it technically works, I'm now asking the D key to close 5 pads when it was only designed to close one. The amount of flex in the key means that the note will sound, but it sounds much, much stronger if I hold down any of the pinky keys to help do some of the work. The problem gets more pronounced going to the C# and C. It's good enough without any pinky keys for a fast passage and it makes trills and tremolos possible where before they were not (or were practically unfeasible), but I still need to hold down a pinky key to get a tone that's as strong as the notes above it in a slower passage. It's still a huge improvement because I can use any/i] pinky key instead of needing to use the Eb, which unlocks a ton of fast scales and patterns down there, but it is a little frustrating to feel that flex.
We've built up the right hand thumb keys with plumber's epoxy to get a little more leverage and a little less flex (reinforcing the keys), which helped a lot, but I feel like quite a bit of force from my hand to the pad is still being lost to flex. In fairness, though, I've played newer bass clarinets that have a similar issue where the thumb key by itself will not give as strong a tone in the extension notes as when you add any pinky key.
So, finally getting to my point: would hypothetical stainless steel keywork for the thumb keys be able to be made stiffer than the "nickel alloy" keys to the point that it would alleviate this problem? This is assuming comparable dimensions, identical mechanism, etc.
Again, I'm not thinking very seriously about doing this. The cost of doing this would almost certainly be a non-starter for me, since I lack everything needed to do this (knowledge of keywork design, access to materials, access to fabrication facilities, knowledge of fabrication techniques, etc). Just wondering on a Sunday morning while I have my coffee. I'll probably live with it as-is, since it's such a massive improvement already.
