Klarinet Archive - Posting 000138.txt from 1994/09

From: "Jay Heiser, Business Development" <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Other woods / (SA Rosewood is rare, Indian is not)
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 07:48:51 -0400

-->A book on wood said that Holly has been used a a substitute for ebony,
-->being of similar density and such. It just has the opposite color, stark
-->white (my clavichord has natural keys covered in holly), so it's often dyed.
-->
Grenadilla wood is different than ebony.

-->But why dye it? How about white clarinets?!
I agree. I believe that the grenadilla used for clarinets is dyed
to make it a more uniform black.

-->
-->Somebody in the Clarinet Journal has been advertising rosewood clarinets
-->- South American, as I recall. And somebody on this net spoke very
-->highly of his work. I've seen an E-flat contrabass (by another maker) in
-->rosewood and thought it was wonderful (played well, too).

South American rosewood is pretty hard to get. Brazil mills all of its
own wood and makes most of it into veneer. Small bits turn into
knife handles. Enough SA rosewood to make a bass clarinet would be very
expensive compared to Indian.

Indian rosewood is pretty easy to come by. Its grown on plantations
(I've been told that they alternate rows of tea & rosewood) and is
a renewable resource. It isn't as pretty, but mechanically it is comparable.
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