Klarinet Archive - Posting 000715.txt from 2001/04

From: "CLARK FOBES " <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Cracking clarinets
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 02:41:42 -0400

Dee,

I am having some trouble with some of your assertions.

You made a broad statement that it was nonsense that clarinets crack because
of the differential in expansion from bore and surface due to a rapid
variance in temperature. This statement also included information about wood
and its relative psi. Your statement does not take into consideration that
wooden instruments are not made from a material that is uniformly dense or
without grain or flaws, that they are not solid tubes and that they are
pierced with many posts and holes that stress and weaken the wood.

You also seem to think that because some clarinets DO NOT crack under the
circumstances that I described (Marching in Iowa winters was your example)
that this somehow disproves my theory. I am willing to bet that some
clarinets DO crack under the circumstances that you described.

I never stated that all clarinets will crack under the circumstance of
temperature variance. I believe, as you do, that clarinets that crack are
either weak or flawed in the area of the crack. But for the flaw to turn
into a crack there must be a precipitating event and I believe that one of
these events is sudden temperature variance between the bore and the
surface.

Whether you believe it or not and you think this part of "urban legend"
there is a preponderance of evidence garnered by many, many artisans for as
many years as clarinets have been made that clarinets will and do crack
under the circumstances I described. I have witnessed clarinets and oboes
crack at the absolute beginning of rehearsals either outdoors or in cold
halls. I see many clarinets each winter that need to be pinned and most
players start with "the hall was really cold.."

If you still believe me to be wrong then you won't have any problem putting
your clarinet in the freezer for an hour and then begin practicing on it
immediately after taking it out. It may or may not crack, but it is not a
bet I would want to make.

Clark

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