Klarinet Archive - Posting 000657.txt from 2000/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Plastic vs. Wood
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 19:23:53 -0400

At 06:36 PM 8/22/2000 -0400, Les DeBusk wrote:
>
>What is the difference? Is it not the material but the design and
>components that make the sound correct? Or is there another side to the
>story? If you made a clarinet identical (size,bore,ring size,key
>position,ect..) to a, lets say, Buffet R-13 out of a heavy plastic would
>you not get the same tone and sound? In many ways i dont think so. But
>thinking about it, wood warps and cracks. Plastic doesn't. And many
>clarinet players often play with a barrel made of a sort of plastic
>because most of the time the wooden barrel has to be replaced every few
>years due to the change of the roundness and because it warps. Another
>question to this story is..... Does wood resonate more than a heavy
>plastic? And does the thickness and weight play into the sound
>production? In other words i know there has to an acoustic reason for
>wood. If there wasn't they could be made out of anything sturdy enough,
>true?
>
Oh, boy! The wood vs. plastic debate again! :-)

Really, this has been hashed out a lot in the past few years, so check out
the archives. Theory suggests there should be no difference, but...

Bill Hausmann NEW ADDRESS: bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

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

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