Klarinet Archive - Posting 000042.txt from 1994/10

From: Lorne G Buick - Music TA <lgbuick@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: Other woods
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 23:01:11 -0400

>
> 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).
>
>
I've been playing rosewood clarinets by Luis Rossi for about four years
now. They are superb instruments- I've found them easier to play in tune
than any other clarinets I've played, and I love the flexibility of tone
they have. It's a centered tone with lots of volume and colour, dark but
not lacking in brilliance, of course subject to mouthpiece choice and
playing style.
Actually my B flat, which I've had for two years, is made of cocobolo,
which I believe is a variety of rosewood grown in Argentina (others have
told me it isn't). Luis now uses inserts in all the toneholes on his
rosewood instruments- the wood is more porous than grenadilla, and this
eliminates any unevenness on the rim which would stop the pads from sealing.
The wood is a deep, rich red- brown colour with a very pronounced grain- I
get a lot of comments on it on tour! He also makes clarinets out of
grenadilla and two or three different varieties of rosewood, one of which
is very blond coloured- like boxwood.

If anyone's wondering how I got to know them, I was studying with Luis in
Chile in 1979-81, when he was experimenting with different kinds of wood
and design modifications- he had an old clarinet with most of the holes
filled in and re-drilled- a very scary-looking instrument!

   
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