Talk:Oehler system

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I did what I could, but I don't know that much about the clarinet, much less one foriegn. Could a real clarinetist help us out on this? An image would be nice, too. MToolen 21:32, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Bass Clarinet with Albert System made by Oehler[edit]

I understand that there were only four or six of these clarinets made... is this true.

I have one that was purchased from a pawn shop in 1925 ... but the instrument is said to be much older. How can I find out more about it ? 198.45.18.28 18:55, 1 February 2007 (UTC) Gloria Gargiulo Monterey, California[reply]

831-393-7602

gloria_gargiulo@ctb.com

I would like to add to this discussion a point about Oehler and the spelling. The name Oehler has always been Oehler, and to my knowledge, never Ohler (O with an umlaut here). Since I am an Oehler and have records dating back many generations in Germany I am comfortable with the knowledge that it has always been Oehler. Although some folks, usually Americans, seem to think 'Oe' should read O umlaut, this is not the case here. The late Nick Shackleton, of Cambridge University, certainly had the largest private collection of clarinets in the world. The collection is now housed in the University of Edinborough. At one point he held three original Oehler clarinets, marked and spelled Oehler.

Donald L. Oehler Chapel Hill, NC 919 962-1042

The Term[edit]

The term Oehler System indeed is a bit confusing. I'm NOT an instument maker or historian, I just use to play a German model clarinet, but I'll try to explain:

Oskar Oehler's clarinet model was a 5-ring 22-key without low E-F correction. It featured a lot of intonation helpers, he obviously did not all introduce by himself, but he had them all together in one instrument:

Fork-Bb5-correction on the upper joint
Fork-F5/Bb3-correction on the lower joint
Register key operating the upper ring to enhance the open C#6
E-correction on the second ring
B4-C#5-trill mechanics on the lower joint
Additional levers for Eb5/Ab3, F5/Bb3 and C#4/G#5 (The latter is just an extention of the LH key to be used with the RH indicator finger, the others are LH5 levers that lift the RH keys)

(source: http://www.jbohalle.de/index.php?template=besetzung&id=4&PHPSESSID=d7f0c4307fd6912b60a8e3c9f31092b5)

The fork-F5/Bb3-correction on the lower joint does away with the RH middle finger tonehole and replaces it by a lever working on two side keys: the upper replacing the tonehole, the lower doing the correction. When it comes up to selling clarinets in Germany, solely this mechanism indicates the "Oehlersystem", however, they are generally fully equipped. A "Volloehler" (Full Oehler) features this and additionally a low E/F correction.

I did not find any free images of an Oehler Clarinet on the net, but there is this Site: http://www.cs.ru.nl/~bolke/DuitseKlar/oehlerlist.html, where one finds afine image of teh Oehler mechanism: http://www.cs.ru.nl/~bolke/DuitseKlar/klarpicts/klarimages/klargallery/OehlerAB3.jpg

Since this type of fork-F5/Bb3-correction is expensive and awkward to keep tight, most (in production number) German model clarinets retain the tonehole and feature only the lower correction key operated by a ring. These are not called Oehlers, but occasionally referred to as "non-Oehler". Your pic shows two of them.

The Oehler System is used in almost all high-end instruments in Germany, despite those of Schwenk & Seggelke. Also the "Vienna model", an extreme breed of the German model used in Austria, does not feature the Oehler System.

Many non-German authors call any modern German model clarinet an Oehler to distinct them from the Alberts. This is right to an extent, since you find many features of the original Oehler instrument on many modern German clarinets. On the other hand, the fingering of Alberts and Oehlers is all the same, so "German system" for both is also OK.

The Mueller system clarinet may be stated to be the ancestor of any modern clarinet, including the Boehm. The simple Albert is a Mueller with an automatised side key (B/F#-correction) and some ergonomic developments. "Full alberts" with 6 rings and 15/16/17 keys look much like modern German non-Oehlers. So I would state the Oehler as a development of the Albert.

Yours, Martin 212.82.253.31 (talk) 11:52, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]