Klarinet Archive - Posting 000196.txt from 1994/01

From: Cary Karp <nrm-karp@-----.SE>
Subj: Re: Does wood accomodate itself to a particular climate?
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 14:04:05 -0500

The moisture content of a piece of wood goes into equilibrium with the
moisture content of the air surrounding it. Our problem is the mechanical
stress which arises in the wood when its moisture content changes in
response to variations in atmospheric RH.

In a reasonably stable climate, the wood will get relatively little
motion as compared to what happens in a climate where atmospheric RH
varies wildly. If you live in an area where the latter conditions
pertain, and your clarinet has survived crack free, you have little to
worry about going to a more stable area -- assuming that its climate lies
within the range of what your instrument has demonstrated its ability to
withstand. If you live in a climatically undramatic area, your
instrument may have a rough time coping with an RH roller-coaster.

Four things should be noted:

1. Wood is largely unaffected by variations in temperature. The only
concern you need have for temperature changes is to the extent that they
effect changes in atmospheric RH.

2. The humidity shock to which a clarinet is subjected when blown into is of
substantial magnitude. These jobbies are built to take a healthy amount
of climatic abuse! (The entire discussion of the ability of a clarinet
to withstand RH variation relates directly to the reasons for
being cautious when "blowing in" a new instrument.)

3. The RH in an airplane cabin approaches 0%. The water vapor in
the air exhaled by the passengers provides virtually all the moisture to
be found in the cabin air. So -- if you're alone on a flight, especially
at high altitude and of some duration, your instrument will be put
through the wringer. If the cabin is full, RH will approach that found in
very dry indoor winter surroundings.

4. The physical response to exposure to extreme climatic conditions may
not be immediate and dramatic. An instrument which appears to have
survived this year's flight from Seattle to Sydney may end up cracking
next year as a result of a 10 minute car ride which it otherwise easily
might have survived.

Although properly designed climatically sound instrument cases large
enough for guitars reasonably ought to be expensive, it is not all that
difficult to roll your own clarinet sized equivalents.