Klarinet Archive - Posting 000614.txt from 1999/05

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] re: blow out
Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 16:02:26 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.69
> Subj: [kl] re: blow out

> Dan Lesson wrote:
> David -- what do you mean by the clarinet being "blown out," how
> do you conclude that this one suffers under the malady, and what
> evidence do you have that clarinets as a class will eventually
> all suffer this fatal end?
> This is a loaded question.
>
> Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> leeson@-----.edu
>
> ------------------------
>
> Of course it's a loaded question - that's why we love ya Dan! I refer you
> to your article in the OCR http://www.sneezy.org/OCR/articles/leeson2.html
> "for the both barrels coming at me for that". My point is this: Does the
> Bore change over time? Dan is a firm believer that it does not. At least
> his perspective I respect, as he is not trying to sell Clarinets - used or
> new. How bout the opinions of Jim Pyne, and Clark Fobes,and David Hite
> (guys with the measuring tools) - does the bore change over time??
> The Clarinet I referred to is either 1. made badly, 2. leaks, 3. blown
> out It's either 1, or 3 - I don't know.
> (ps. I was wearing my flame suit)
>
> David Blumberg
> playit@-----.com
> http://www.mytempo.com
> ---------------------------------------------------

David, the issue is not bore dimensions. Those are suspected elements
which may or may not cause a problem that may or may not exist. The
issues are:

1. What is blow out?

2. How does it manifest itself?

3. What causes it?

Clarke Fobes position is that this thing exists and is caused by
changes in the bore dimensions over time. (I really should not
state Clarke's position but I think this is a reasonable summary of
it.) That is Clarke's opinion, and I don't think that we should
automatically reject his ideas just because they are opinion, but,
by the same token, we should not automatically accept them because
he is a superior technician with experience. This is also true for
Jim Pyne and David Hite. All of these men have offered their
opinions on a phenomenen that is not universally understood or
even accepted as a problem.

I have an opinion too. It's worth a lot less than those of Fobes,
Hite, and Pyne but here it is in any case. Blow out is a phenomenon
suggested to exist by musical instrument manufacturers for the
purpose of selling instruments; i.e., it is a sales tool which has
come to be accepted by the clarinet-playing community as a whole.

The evidence for the non-existence of this problem is copious. The
evidence for its existence falls in the realm of urban legends.
There are a lot of new people on this list who were not here the
last time we thrashed this question to death. It was about three
years ago. I just don't want these new people to fall under the
spell of the famous "blow out" syndrome without realizing that
a lot of people think it to be about as true as Rapunzel or
Hansel und Gretel. Perhaps all these people are wrong, but that
is a matter that has to be rigorously established, not simply
perpetuated.

And the last way to win a technical argument is to suggest that
"xxx says so!"

>
>
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=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

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