Klarinet Archive - Posting 000046.txt from 2001/10

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Trivialities
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 14:30:03 -0400

On Thu, 4 Oct 2001 14:56:04 +0100, tony-wakefield@-----.net said:

> > If you're referring to my suggestion -- and I suspect you are --
> > that a (perhaps) potentially wobbly middle tenon joint is a trivial
> > reason to choose one make of clarinet over another, then I can't
> > agree with you.
>
> Tony,
>
> I <don`t> agree that this is a trivial reason to choose one over
> another. I agree that this problem can probably be easily solved, but
> it can <initially> be not trivial surely.

Oh, of course. After all, there are degrees and degrees of wobble. You
can imagine that in a worst case scenario, the instrument might come
apart in your hands. (Indeed, the bell of a boxwood instrument of mine
did on one occasion fall off during a broadcast performance of the Weber
quintet. A bit more on that later.)

My comment wasn't intended to suggest that to talk about how to cure a
wobble is to talk trivially, even though it actually is quite easy to
cure a wobble with waxed thread, or by replacing the cork, or by any of
the other more or less permanent suggestions that have been made.

It was intended to suggest that anyone who, on reflection, really
believes that 'many people' have *changed* instruments from Prestige to
R13 -- both professional instruments, notice -- 'because of this
[wobble] problem', must be operating in some sort of alternate reality.

My own unfortunate experience on a copy of a period instrument occurred
because boxwood is much more sensitive to humidity than blackwood. If
you don't play a boxwood instrument for some time, the joints tend to
shrink, and so are wobbly. As you play on it, they tighten up, and in
the end can actually bind unacceptably. So ongoing maintenance -- for
example, with waxed thread, or for the less authentic, pvc (plumbers')
tape -- is necessary. I hadn't noticed that the bell was loose, though
I'd checked the other joints. The bell fell off just before the final
triplet semiquaver passage, so there was absolutely no chance to replace
it. And it not only 'compromised' the low E ;-), but made the whole
sound wheezy and unresonant. The quartet were (silently) howling with
laughter, of course.

> Shall we agree to disagree?

Probably we don't disagree?

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
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