Klarinet Archive - Posting 000307.txt from 1997/05

From: deerich@-----.net
Subj: Re: Cracking Clarinets and Register Keys
Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 19:40:21 -0400

> 2: Can humidity changes really do this? We go from 80% in the summer to 20%
> in the fall here in NYC with no problems. Could this be an instrument in a
> parked car that is in the sun? (In TX this can get really HOT!).
>
> Jerry Korten
> NYC

There can indeed be more than one possible cause for cracking. In case
of my daughter's oboe, I know it was the humidity. Once we turn the
furnace on for the winter, the indoor humidity drops to 0%. I have a
hygrometer in the house and check it year round. Once this oboe
cracked, I checked the three clarinets that we have and found the wood
to be unusually dry. You can bet I immediately oiled them. I suppose
the oboe was more vulnerable since the wood is thinner than in a
clarinet.

While I NEVER leave any instrument in a vehicle (and I do not allow any
member of my family to do so), I know that some people have done so and
they always experience some type of problem. In the summer, pad glue
gets soft and the pads shift. Both summer and winter temperatures can
affect key adjustments and alignments as the metal expands and contracts
with the temperatures. And in some cases these temperature swings can
lead to cracking.

Like many things in life, there can be more than one cause for any given
problem.