Tweaks to making a Gunter Körber bass shawm playable
On acquisition about 40 years ago, this seemed to have the bones of a
usable instrument but a series of small and larger alterations were
made to improve its playability and practicality. These alterations
were spaced out cumulatively over around 30 years.
The instrument was purchased at auction lacking a crook. The first step
was to have an instrument-maker make a crook, with a guess made as to
the needed length. The crook obtained resulted in the instrument
playing quite sharp, so big reeds were made to pull the pitch down
somewhat. The lowest note C was a bit flat relative to the general
pitch so additional bell-hole drillings were tried to raise that note.
Some years later a "factory" crook was bought from Volker Kernbach in
Celle, which got the instrument closer to A=440. The curvature of this
factory crook was all wrong (for me) so it was filled with Woods metal
and bent to a more ergonomic curve.
There was one tenon for disassembly located above the fontanelle. This
still left the lower 2/3 of the instrument in one piece. A second tenon
was created below the fontanelle to allow breakdown into 3 parts
suitable for transport in a smaller custom case. 
The bell section exterior looked clumsy and was closer to conical than
to an exponential flare. The external profile of the bell was turned to
make it more exponential in profile. This also had the benefit of
making the instrument a fraction lighter in the hand. The crenellated
brass bell-band was of very flimsy stock so a more solid one was
fabricated. The long back keys for C and D had their touchpiece ends
set too low for a comfortable thumb position for the right hand. So the
pivot for those keys was moved up by 1 1/8". New extensions were then
made of brass so the 2 levers in the key mechanism met up. All key
axles were replaced with sturdier diameter brass.
Keypads had been glued onto the key-flaps. The glue was replaced by
stitching more like old instruments.
The 6th hole (A) seemed a bit high and the note b-flat (123 4.6) was
quite unstable. The 6th hole was plugged and redrilled with around a 30
degree angle towards the bottom. Likewise the 5th hole, so that b-flat
can be played using 123 4 (slightly high to suit meantone). The note
b-natural plays with 123 4..7 or even 123 45.7
Some fingerings for high notes.
Convention in this table: 123 4567EDC is all holes covered and the
lower of the 2 compound keys are pressed. A "." is used as a
place-holder for an open hole, or unpressed key.
| Note |
Fingering |
|
| e |
.23 ....... |
| g# |
123 45.7.DC |
| b |
123 45.7.D. |
| b (alternate) |
123 4.67.D. |
| c' |
123 4.67... |
Pirouettes for tenor shawms.
Modern makers, it seems, generally do not supply pirouettes on larger
shawms despite Praetorius clearly showing the tenor size (7-finger
sounding c) having one (along with the smaller sizes on the same page),
and the bass beside it not having one. Perhaps the confusion
surrounding tenors and the niccolo "oddity" pursuaded makers that the
tenor pirouette was an engraving error too. Here is a pirouette made
for a Cronin tenor. Note too, that the sharp shoulder at the instrument
top has been rounded a little and the crook has been bent more from the
supplied angle to allow a reed angle with the lips closer to 90o
Image
on left shows a Moulder tenor shawm fitted with a pirouette.