Klarinet Archive - Posting 000774.txt from 1998/02

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: acoustics/rare woods/K.Harby
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 17:52:44 -0500

I gotta add my two cents to this.

James Galway is absolutely correct--design and workmanship are much more
responsible for the "quality" than the material. It is a travesty that
our beloved clarinets are still made out of an endangered
species--because it is incredibly unnecessary. Loree oboes have been
sold with plastic top joints for years (for more money than the wood
ones), and many top orchestral players use them. There is simply no
difference in the sound--the only problem is that Buffet/Selmer/Leblanc
et. al. refuse to make an artist-quality instrument out of the better
material.

Most of the perceived "quality" in the clarinet world is not much more
than marketing hype anyway. It simply does not cost three times as much
as much to make a Leblanc Opus as a Normandy--the reason it costs more
is simply because we fools will pay it. The truth is that Leblanc
intentionally makes the interior dimensions of the "intermediate"
instrument inferior so that people will pay the higher price for the
premium instrument. There is no reason why Leblanc can't set their
machines a smidge different so that the cheaper horn (or even the
plastic Vito) has the proper dimensions and scale.

I remember getting my first Buffet R-13 in the mail right after my 16th
birthday. Opening the box, I produced "the sweetest clarinet ever made"
(said so in the case)--I was in heaven. My father, an aerospace
manufacturing engineer (literally a rocket scientist) rushed over to see
what wonderful piece of machinery his $325 had bought. (Obviously, this
was a while ago.)

After examining it closely, he made a disturbing pronouncement. "This
thing," he stated solemnly, "is a piece of crap." He was astonished
that the metal moving parts rubbed against each other with no sort of
wear-resistant bearing at all. Even worse, the various parts we held
together by friction--little cork wedges! Finally, the workmanship
tolerances were far worse than that you would find in most other
manufacturing processes (look at a revolver or the inside of an engine
some time). Market forces dictate this (it's not that the makers are
evil)--there just isn't enough of a market to justify the proper
reengineering of the instrument.

Bottom line--if Buffet made a quality plastic clarinet, I'd be first in
line. My next horn might just be a Greenline, altho I would prefer the
lighter plastic to what is essentially the world's most expensive
particle board. They won't make a "quality" plastic horn, however, as
long as it is not as profitable for them to do so.

----Original Message Follows----
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 10:39:06 -0500
From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subject: acoustics/rare woods/K.Harby
Cc: Ellen Macdonald <ellen@-----.COM>

I hope FLUTE list member Ellen Macdonald doesn't mind my forwarding her
message to the KLARINET list, but I agree with her assessment that the
referenced _Scientific American_ article is "too interesting to miss."
(And, Ellen, the flutists' "unending debate on differences in materials"
has been equally, if not more, intense among clarinetists.)

The article, by flutist Karla Harby, supports much of the scientific
evidence that we've been reading on KLARINET for the past several years
and
even discusses Buffet's Greenline clarinet.

--Mitch Bassman

>Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 08:20:47 -0600
>Reply-To: Ellen Macdonald <ellen@-----.COM>
>Sender: Flute Playing and Related Issues <FLUTE@-----.EDU>
>From: Ellen Macdonald <ellen@-----.COM>
>Subject: acoustics/rare woods/K.Harby
>To: FLUTE@-----.EDU
>
>There is a short article by (former?) list member Karla Harby in the
March,
>1998 Scientific American. It may be found in the print edition and
online at
>
> http://www.sciam.com/1998/0398issue/0398scicit3.html
>
>The title is "Unsound Reasoning: Are wind musicians loving tropical
wood to
>death?" The article is very well written and provocative, indicating
>extensive research. She mentions Robin Jakeways, another list member.
>
>I was hesitant to tell you all about this article because of the danger
of
>starting another unending debate on differences in materials :-), but
it is
>too interesting to miss.
>
>Ellen Macdonald
>ellen@-----.com

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