Klarinet Archive - Posting 000673.txt from 2000/08

From: les debusk <sflane@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Plastic vs. Wood
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 09:09:26 -0400

I think the Buffet Green Line clarinets are a mixture of very fine sawdust of
grenadilla wood/epoxy resin not just plastic .... right?
Les DeBusk

Roger Shilcock wrote:

> It seems likely that wood is used because it isn't metal, historically
> speaking - you don't actually want resonances from the material if you're
> making an instrument which is meant to have a scale, rather than produce
> hunting calls or fanfares.
> The Buffet "Greenline" models are plastic, in the most general sense of
> the term. A closer comparison might be between the wood and plastic
> Howarth instruments - I haven't seen any such comparisons on the list upt
> to now, though.
> Yours,
> Roger S.
>
> On Tue, 22 Aug 2000, les debusk wrote:
>
> > Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 18:36:14 -0400
> > From: les debusk <sflane@-----.com>
> > Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> > To: "klarinet@-----.org>
> > Subject: [kl] Plastic vs. Wood
> >
> >
> > 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?
> > Thank you,
> > Les DeBusk
> >
> >
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