Klarinet Archive - Posting 000267.txt from 1997/09

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: ending the GreenLine plastic/composite thread
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 15:51:25 -0400

On Sat, 6 Sep 1997, Roger Garrett wrote:

> baroque flutes)? I am also curious who did the listening - were they
> specialists on those instruments or laymen who work with plastics, woods,
> and metals? Is there a more recent study with more reliable, up-to-date
> measurement devices? What about any that are done with the composite
> plastics in question?

I have an all-plastic Loree oboe, and thus far no oboist has ever been
able to tell that it is plastic rather than wood. I have even had some
professional oboists play on it, and even after doing so, they have been
unable to identify it as plastic unless they happen to notice that it is a
little heavier than they are accustomed to.

Also, the best Fox oboes are plastic, and their plastic bassoons are every
bit the equal of their wooden ones, model for model. The only
disadvantage of plastic is that so many musicians are predjudiced against
it because there have been so many inferior instruments made from it.
But, the problem hasn't been in the material, but rather in the
manufacturing process.

Some are going to say, "But wood gives such a warm sound, and so much more
resonance." Unfortunately, there is not the slightest bit of actual
evidence that the material has anything to do with the qualities of the
sound.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu