Klarinet Archive - Posting 000345.txt from 1995/12

From: Michael D Moors - Alpena <mdmoors@-----.US>
Subj: Re: Damp-it/Humidity/Wood/Oranges
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 11:59:08 -0500

Humidity... control or not to control... To oil or not to oil? Dampits?
Orange peels? Almond oil with Vitamin E added? Sponges kept slightly
(Slightly?) damp in the bell? Humistats?
Eye of Newt, ear of eel, tounge of bat, banshee squeal... who knows? Volumes
have been written about the subject, not quite as much as about the second
coming of our Lord, but close, and what has changed? As Sonny Bono once
observed, "The beat goes on!" and instruments still crack! As a famous
presidential candidate, Alfred E. Newman once said, "What, me worry!"......
Face it, you are going to buy a "Cracker" or NOT... thats it!
Any one who will tell you that if you purchase a new instrument and follow
XYZ proceedure that your instrument WILL POSITIVELY NOT CRACK.... please send
them my way so that I can find if they will put their $$$ where their mouth
is.
Not even "Lloyds of London" would touch that one. So.... what does all this
mean? It means this.... Enjoy practicing, oil your instrument if you want to,
keep orange, lemon, grapefruit etc. peels in your case, humistats, dampits,
what ever, but if Mr. Bb, Mr. A, Mr. Oboe or Mr. Big or Little wants to crack
just try to stop him.
On another subject..... Clarinet, Oboe, etc. warranties are simply put, 6
months of Hard Prayers on the part of manufacturers! New replacement
warranties do not exceed 6 months on any brand... After 6 months the
warranties are for up to one year of "Repair" which means "Pinning". (If I
have requests I will get into this treatise on another night.)
It seems a bad deal that a player will go to great lengths to select an
instrument for it's personal charateristics, sometimes traveling hundreds of
miles to do so and spending much valuable time only to have an instrument
crack within six months. What happens after 6 months when an instrument
cracks? The warranty says "6 months replacement" Right? Wrong! Replacement at
the factory of a NEW upper section only!
Experience tells me that any upper joint in the factory then has the keys
from the clarinet you selected transfered to it resulting in what is 99% of
the time a totally different instrument from the one you selected. Factory
technicians usually do not even change the pads, which do not just transfer
between parts and seal correctly... This is why I do not reccomend having
your instrument cork padded during the first 6 months. .. If the instrument
cracks and gets a new joint you may have to have the instrument completely
redone at your cost.

Forwarded to me from: Eric Satterlee
Meridian Winds