Klarinet Archive - Posting 000046.txt from 1996/09

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Rossi clarinets
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 02:26:06 -0400

My Rossi instruments are made out of blackwood and have the French bore.
And yes, I tried all the variations. The bore (French, English or
American) has a much bigger effect on the sound than the wood (as one would
expect).

In fact, I'm not even sure that one could tell the difference between the
sounds made by the different woods in a blind test. It felt to me as
though the less dense woods produced a slightly gentler sound (with
somewhat less energy in the high end of the spectrum).

The material out of which the instrument is made, whether it be plastic,
wood, metal or other, should not theoretically have much effect on the
sound which is determined by the vibrating air column. Any hard,
inflexible, material should produce the same effect.

That being said, it is also true, that different hard materials reflect
sound spectra very differently, or conversely they also absorb sound
spectra very differently. Therefore, there should be a very low order
effect on the sound by the type and density of material used to construct
the instrument. The denser materials should produce a very slightly
brighter, and more powerful sound.

That's why I chose the blackwood, because it is the densest and it seemed
to me to be the brightest and most powerful of the three (but as I said
before, all Rossis are easily noticeably darker than the Buffet R13). Of
course, the difference due to wood is very slight, and I'm not sure that I
could judge the difference in a blind test. Also, I could be hearing the
difference because I expect to hear it given the physical explanation
above.

No matter which you chose, in the end, I'm sure you will be happy.

----------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net

At 10:08 PM 9/9/96, Starr Wayne wrote:
>Dear Jonathan, Neil, Michael,
>
>Thank you for the Rossi clarinet information. I'm intoxicated with the
>thought of playing one.
>
>Regards,
>
>Starr
>
>P.S. What does the cocobolo wood look like. Jonathan-which bore do you
>play? Which wood do you play? Did you have the opportunity to try all
>three?