Klarinet Archive - Posting 000532.txt from 1998/09

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Breaking in my R-13
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 19:26:41 -0400

There have been two different threads going on under this subject heading.
The original one had to do with the advice to gradually increase the playing
time on a new instrument instead of slam-banging it with full use the first
day out of its plastic bags. The reasons, whatever they are, whether
witchcraft or science, had to do with crack prevention in new instruments.
The second thread is concerned with the relative goodness/badness of
shove-its vs swabs and whether the use or non-use of either (in any woodwind
of any age) contributed to pad destruction or cracking.

An instrument that has not cracked near the beginning of its life (many say
the first year or full cycle of seasonal changes) will, in my experience,
usually not crack ever unless you go after it with a sledge hammer (as I've
been occasionally tempted to do following some concerts I've played).

That yours have survived so long under such duress is not at all surprising
once they got past their first year or so. The issue is perhaps whether
those weak spots are more prone to crack when the instrument is new. If
there are no "inherent defects" in the pieces of wood that are the clarinets
and oboes you bought, maybe it didn't matter what you did. I also have one
that is as old as yours and doesn't even get the annual cleaning and key
oiling yours does. I'm not certain it would crack if I froze it and pumped
air heated over a water boiler through it. But it's _old_. Then the question
originally was whether babying it a little at the beginning may prevent a
piece of wood that IS slightly flawed from splitting before the heavy
stresses of early expansion and contraction have lessened (if in fact they
_do_ lessen as the instrument "ages" - that seems to be the whole crux of
the question). You'll never know if you simply lucked out with some
excellent pieces of lumber. And the player who buys an instrument today or
tomorrow has no way to know whether there are potential weaknesses in the
wood he is purchasing until after the crack occurs (if it does). Whether
science or witchcraft, a break-in period doesn't seem like a very expensive
insurance policy against the possibility of damage.

Karl Krelove

-----Original Message-----
From: Buckman, Nancy <nebuckman@-----.us>
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 1998 11:57 AM
Subject: [kl] Re: Breaking in my R-13

>Don't leave a wet swab in the case, don't put a shove-it in your horn,
>but it's OK to use Damp-its and put orange or lemon peels in the case.
>C'mon people - none of this makes sense. Trees live in the forest where
>it is wet and dry and hot and cold. When they die and fall down, the
>soft porous ones rot and those that contain a lot of sap and oil lay
>there for years and some even last for centuries as they become
>petrified. The dense sappiness of grenadilla is what makes it ideal for
>woodwinds and you either get a piece with no inherent defects and it
>doesn't crack or you get a piece that is weak in some area and thus,
>splits.
>
>I have five wooden Buffets of varying quality and the only one that
>shows any sign of weakness is my E-fer, which has a few checks in the
>bore that have never amounted to anything. I also have a Loree oboe and
>a Gordet oboe and neither of them have given me a minute's problem. I
>run a swab through them after playing, when and if, I take them apart to
>put them in their cases. They have never been oiled. I play them in ice
>cold orchestra pits and then go to warm green rooms. They get stored in
>my car trunk when it is sweltering outside or freezing cold and stay
>there until I am ready to play a gig. The oldest of these horns is 40
>years and the newest one I have had for 20 years. I eat and drink when
>I play them. They are padded in cork and the only time they have had
>new pads put on them is when the cork pads were applied. Some of these
>pads are thirty-five years old and still functioning fine. The only
>maintenance that I perform on these instruments is to dismantle them
>twice a year and wash them in warm soapy water and then dry them well
>and use a little key oil as I re-assemble them. They continue to serve
>me well.
>
>So, as you can see, I don't put much stock in all this babying and
>oiling stuff. I don't beat my sticks to death, but I don't go to any
>great lengths to take special care of them either.
>
>Nancy
>
>Nancy Buckman
>Anne Arundel Community College
>Arnold, MD USA
>nebuckman@-----.us
>
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