Klarinet Archive - Posting 000497.txt from 1995/04

From: Thomas Labadorf <Labadorf@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Reasons, reasons, reasons
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 18:15:17 -0400

Sounds like a job for a full fledged scientist to work on. Perhaps one of
our clarinetist/chemist subscribers can start a scientific research project.
It is an important subject. We all want our clarinets to last forever (if
in fact they really do "blow out") since with the scarcity of grenadilla wood
in the world there may not be any new clarinets made of solid wood.

A better question from the originator of this string (I can't remember who
that was) might be: How do I go about preserving my instrument? We learn
from one posting that you can prolong the life of your reeds by putting them
in the freezer because it slows the streptal carcal bacteria damage. I can't
believe that doing nothing is the answer for preserving the clarinet since
natural materials are organic and, hence, subject to decomposition. Is
oiling the way to go? Constant humidity? temperature? Of course we don't
know, but someone can find out, right?

On April 25, Dan Leeson said:
---
It is one thing to suggest that bacteria in saliva might cause some change in
the clarinet, and quite another to establish as fact that such a change
defines the thing called blow out. We must have heard a dozen things that
may or may not occur when blow out strikes a clarinet. The least convincing
statement was "It doesn't feel the same." The more convincing statements
dealt with objective assessments of pitch changes. But there is no
uniformity of opinion as to what the problem is, to say nothing about what
may or may not be causing it.

We're not there folks. In fact, on this subject, we're not anywhere except
smoke and mirrors.
---

Tom L.