Klarinet Archive - Posting 000619.txt from 1999/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: Hack repairs
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 22:49:37 -0400

At 05:13 PM 7/19/1999 -0700, Kevin Fay wrote:
>I remember the day my R-13 arrived in the mail from Sam Ash (hey, it was
>only $325, less than half of what the stores charged in 1976). It was--and
>is--a terrific clarinet. I was happier than a clam at high tide. My
>father, noting my glee, proceeded to "inspect" the instrument.
>
>Fortunately, he didn't actually do anything to it, other than let me know
>that it CERTAINLY wasn't built the way Bill Boeing would have done it.
>According to my Dad, while an artistic triumph, the clarinet is an
>engineering flop. He was astonished that the joints are held together by
>friction and (gulp) cork--and that one had to rub Crisco on so they don't
>bind too tightly. Manufacturing tolerances could only be so stable on a
>piece of wood. None of the mechanisms have bearings. The pads are made out
>of . . . sheep intestine. And on and on and on.
>
>I have no doubt that if you had given my Dad a "proper" development budget
>(say, about the same as the Saturn V rocket booster or a really fine nuclear
>missile) he and his buddies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory would come up
>with a clarinet that's really . . . interesting.
>
As one who has almost 3000 flying hours in a B-52, and thus a great deal of
respect for his engineering work, I would be most interested in seeing a
clarinet built "the way Bill Boeing would have done it." Riveted aluminum
(for light weight), hydraulically actuated B and Bb levers, and an ejection
seat in case of muffed cadenzas!

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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