Klarinet Archive - Posting 000758.txt from 1998/09

From: "Dee Hays" <deerich@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Grow grenadilla? (Was Re: [kl] Reed Cane in MD)
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 19:35:49 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Fay (LCA) <kevinfay@-----.com>
Date: Monday, September 21, 1998 6:13 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] Grow grenadilla? (Was Re: [kl] Reed Cane in MD)

>...The Greenline is made of very expensive plywood--wood bits floating in
>polymer.

No the Greenline is NOT a form of plywood. Plywood is built up of layers of
thin wood that are glued together. Special glues are used but they are not
epoxies or resins. The sheets are laid up in such a fashion that the grain
on any two adjacent sheets is at 90 degrees to each other. This lamination
with the grain at right angles between panels is quite strong. One might
consider the Greenline material very loosely related to chip board or
particle board where large chunks are basically glued together in a random
arrangement but I would still consider that stretching the analogy. The
composite material from which a Greenline is not at all similar in nature to
plywood. Resins and epoxies are totally different from glues and sawdust is
totally different from sheets with grain (and knots) intact.

Years ago, the maker of Pan American clarinets actually did make plywood
billets and then make student grade clarients out of them. Unfortunately,
they had a problem with the clarinets de-laminating and with cracking (which
the plywood construction was supposed to prevent), so they gained a bad
reputation and they were discontinued. It was a good idea but they didn't
make sure that the process was adequate and under control.

Dee Hays
Canton, SD

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