Klarinet Archive - Posting 001599.txt from 1998/04

From: Mark Charette <charette@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: [klarinet] Wood vs. Plastic vs. Metal
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 09:04:16 -0400

Kenneth Wolman wrote:
> I can't say for sure what the differences are (to me they are intangibles
> but real all the same), but this weekend I discovered there really do seem
> to be some. I played my girlfriend's son's entry-level Vito. Sorry,
> LeBlanc, 't'ain't the same thing as a Concerto, an old Auguste Buffet, or a
> Selmer Center Tone. Not even close. It did not SOUND like wood: I don't
> know how else to say that. There was resonance, I suppose, but the tones
> the horn produced had a whole different depth to them: as in,
> shallower-sounding. The plastic instrument was not appreciably easier to
> play than my Selmer, and the tone was not as focused.

The differences are somewhere near $1500.00 worth of
manufacturing care, besides material. We hope.

The material cost is a small percentage of the
overall cost of the more expensive instrument.

If the Vito had the same care taken in manufacturing, who
knows what it would sound like? I know what I _think_ it
would, sound like, but I don't have the money and Leblanc
doesn't have the tooling to do the experiment (tooling for
plastic is different than tooling for wood).
--
Mark Charette, Webmaster - http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet
Business: charette@-----.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
"There is only physics involved in playing a clarinet poorly.
There is no physics involved in playing a clarinet well.
That is performed by magic." - Fizzisist, on the Clarinet BB

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org
For other problems, e-mail: klarinet-owner@-----.org

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org