Klarinet Archive - Posting 000740.txt from 2000/08

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Cocobolo mouthpiece
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 20:24:29 -0400

Ken Shaw wrote,
>>Can anyone enlighten me regarding proper Genus & species name for
>>Cocobolo as well as any other info about its characteristics and Geographic
>>distribution? I think I read somewhere that Cocobolo is the least dense,
and >>Grenadilla the most dense, of the woods currently used for clarinets.

I was curious about that, too, so I researched the subject. My 1998 article
is available online:

"Are Blackwood and Grenadilla the Same Wood?"
http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/Equipment/Wood.html

The article discusses a number of types of wood in addition to the following.
In these excerpts pertaining to your question, I deleted the notes that
refer to a reference bibliography that appears at the end of the article

>Before the 20th century, manufacturers often made black clarinets of a
dense,
>heavy, black hardwood with the botanical name of Brya ebenus. Brya ebenus
>is the original grenadilla, also known by the common names of granadilla
(note >the slightly different spelling) and cocus..... [snip] It's also known
as Jamaican
>ebony and West Indian ebony, and comes primarily from Cuba and
>Jamaica....[snip] ...[I]t's unlikely that ANY clarinets are being
manufactured >today from the wood originally known as grenadilla.

>Much of the wood used in early to mid-20th century clarinets belongs to some
>of the more than 100 different species in the genus Diospyros, generally
>known as ebony....[snip]

>The wood most correctly referred to as African blackwood, although it's also
>sometimes called grenadilla, is Dalbergia melanoxylon, also known as Mpingo
>and Coromandel ebony. It grew, and may still grow, in wide areas of Africa
>and East India, from South Africa to as far north as Senegal, although today
>it may grow only in Tanzania and Mozambique... [snip]

>Additional species of the genus Dalbergia grow in Mexico and in Central and
>South America.... [snip] The South American Dalbergias are lighter in
weight
>and less dense than the African Dalbergias and much lighter and less dense
>than Diospyros or Brya. [snip]
>Some manufacturers make clarinets of cocobolo, which is Dalbergia retusa.
>Although most manufacturers and musicians can learn to distinguish between
>cocobolo, rosewood and the heavier woods more often known as blackwood
>or grenadilla, confusion arises because one of the local South American
>names for Dalbergia retusa (cocobolo) is spelled "granadillo" in some places
>and "granadilla" in other locations. The hardwood with these names
>is not to be confused with another South American plant whose name is also
>spelled "granadillo" in some places and "granadilla" in others. That
granadillo,
>a type of passionflower vine, Passiflora edulis, is not used in
>making clarinets. Some manufacturers have promoted cocobolo and rosewood
>clarinets as grenadilla, no doubt with this South American popular name
(with
>its slightly different spelling) as the justification.

While the article isn't definitive or comprehensive by any means, it includes
more information about these woods and others. Someday I want to do some
more research on this subject.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thoreau's Law: If you see someone approaching with the obvious intent of
doing you good, run for your life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

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