Klarinet Archive - Posting 000741.txt from 1998/09

From: "Tim Roberts" <timr@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Grow grenadilla? (Was Re: [kl] Reed Cane in MD)
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 16:38:33 -0400

On Sat, 19 Sep 1998 09:12:31 -0400, Stan Elias wrote:
>> Can you grow grenadilla wood too?
>
>There's a thought. Can grenadilla be grown commercially, perhaps turned
>into a cash crop for countries with the right growing conditions? Obviously
>a long-term proposition, might it be possible with the help of a relatively
>stable government?

A third-world country with a stable government? That's an oxymoron, isn't it?

Someone else on the list said it takes 50 to 60 years to produce a profitable
grenadilla crop from scratch. I suspect the number of third-world governments
which have not changed substantially (often with significant bloodshed) since
before World War II number in the zeros.

It seems to me that the real answer is to eliminate the unjustified prejudice
against plastic, thus encouraging manufacturers to produce plastic horns with
the same care and precision applied to wood instruments. Of course, this is a
nearly unsolveable problem: manufacturers have no incentive to produce a
plastic clarinet worth $2,000 until players are willing to pay for them, and
players won't be willing to pay $2,000 for a plastic horn until manufacturers
produce one which is demonstrably worth it.

--
- Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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