Klarinet Archive - Posting 000215.txt from 1998/02

From: Jack Kissinger <kissingerjn@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Was it elitism...?
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 04:41:51 -0500

Even though this question was addressed to Dan, I will take it as
non-rhetorical and aimed at the list. (I would never presume to speak
for Dan. I value my dog too much! ;^) )

First of all Dan said "very fine clarinet." To me, this doesn't
necessarily mean "professional." A student instrument can be "very
fine" for what it attempts to do. Even if professionals never used
plastic clarinets, this would not invalidate Dan's comment in my
opinion. (But read on.)

While I don't know them by name, I have to assume that, at least some of
the musicians who have purchased "greenline" clarinets are
professionals. (Ah, since I started this message, Roger has checked in
with the name of one.) Now, as near as I can tell, greelines are not
molded plastic but rather are made from pressed composite blanks,
processed in much the same way as wooden clarinets so the same care and
craftsmanship go into them as any other professional clarinet. They
appear to be the first attempt at making a professional-quality plastic
clarinet and they seem to be a success. (Actually, Jack Linton once
told me that his company tried to introduce professional features into
plastic clarinets back in the 70's or thereabouts but had to give up
because they couldn't recover their cost. The clarinet industry has
spent so much effort in product differentiation and been so successful
that, in general, consumers are not willing to pay as much for plastic
as they do for wood. Since the wood in a wooden clarinet doesn't cost
much more than the plastic in a plastic one, economics dictate that a
manufacturer not lavish the effort necessary to produce a professional
clarinet on a product that won't sell for much more than $300. That's
probably why Buffet does not refer to greenlines as plastic and includes
grenadilla in the material.)

Not being an expert on the production of clarinets, I don't know this
for a fact, but I suspect that most plastic student clarinets are molded
plastic. Persuasive argument might convince me that the process of
forming the tube sets an upper bound on quality but it would have to
overcome the empirical evidence I have from my Yamaha recorders as well
as molded hard rubber professional mouthpieces. Even so, professionals
do and have used plastic instruments. Dan has given himself as an
example. Giora Feidman uses a transparent B12. Don McGinnis (I believe
it was he) made a recording a number of years ago playing a professional
wooden instrument on one side and a Bundy resonite on the other. Surely
there are others -- including professional clarinetists who keep a
plastic instrument handy to use outdoors in bad weather.

Warm regards,

Jack Kissinger
St. Louis

Neil Leupold wrote:
>
> Dan, how many professional clarinetists do you know of --
> not even personally -- who play on a plastic clarinet?
>
> Neil
>