Klarinet Archive - Posting 000768.txt from 2003/02

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] cracks
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 15:36:04 -0500

Sue,

Just curious about your particular situation with the cracking
instruments...

Is your apartment/house particularly dry?

I know people who have the "crack jinx" but it really isn't the
person as much as the environment. I have had clarinets I have
left in automobile trunks in 100+ degree weather, and below 10
degrees, and have never cracked. I also am originally from the
South and have been in rather humid situations most of my music
playing life. I rarely hear of cracking in the Southeast, but
have heard of quite a few in the Southwest, where cold isn't a
problem, but dry is.

I am now in New York City, and have radiator heat. My apartment
is so dry, my nose bleeds almost daily if I don't humidify my
apartment with a humidifier, or by boiling water or leaving the
shower on hot for 30 minutes or so a day to steam the apartment
and add the moisture. Still no cracks (knock on wood) but I do
go out of my way to make my apartment humid for the clarinets.

I don't subscribe to the idea of oiling clarinets since many
repairmen, including Buffet's own Francois Kloc, have
specifically discounted cracks being averted by oiling the
instrument. It may keep the instrument from getting as much
water retention from the inside simultaneously while the outside
is dry, but that goes back to the humidity thing, and if you
humidify your apartment or house regularly, the clarinet
shouldn't be too dry to play.

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - New York City
--- Raycraft <raycraft@-----.com> wrote:
> Now that we are on the subject of CRACKS......when I first
> began playing the clarinet again about five years ago, my
> husband bought me a used plastic Bundy for Christmas (his
> reasoning
> was that he did not want to make a BIG purchase until he was
> sure I was really going to stick with it).....Within a couple
> of weeks,
> I knew I needed a better one. The salesman at the music store
> (who is NOT my repair guy) recommended an intermediate model
> Jupiter, which my husband bought me for the following
> Christmas. If I
> had been involved in this, I would have said, "let's spend
> that same
> $600 and find a good USED one instead", but this was supposed
> to
> be a surprise, so I was unaware of it until the sale was
> finished,
> and then of course I felt like I should keep it, because it
> was a gift.
>
> So. I did keep it, since it WAS an improvement over the Bundy.
> Within a couple of months, it cracked. I had ben very careful
> to
> never play it cold, etc,etc....the company was good enough to
> replace
> the top section, since it happened so soon after we bought it.
> About a year down the road, THAT piece cracked, right through
> two
> tone holes. I had that repaired, and it didn't get any worse.
>
> Okay. After playing on the Jupter for three years, I decided I
> needed
> a Buffet, and was looking for fifties or early sisxties R13.
> My repair
> guy came across a 1936 model, and said it was pretty close to
> an R13,
> just a few minor differences, so I bought it from him. It had
> not been
> played for YEARS, but he gave it a complete overhaul, oiled it
> REAL
> good, and when I asked if I should break it in slowly like a
> new horn,
> he said it was probably so well cured by now that there would
> not be
> a problem....
> Well, guess what? It cracked within 10 days after I started on
> it.
> What am I doing wrong here?
> He repaired the crack (three pins). Then a new, smaller one
> developed.
> That one has two pins in it, and it doesn't seem to be getting
> worse.
> The first, larger crack, which does not go through any tone
> holes,
> looked like it was trying really hard to open up, so we added
> another
> pin (this crack has FOUR pins in it now)....
> I'm pretty bummed. This is an older Buffet which has been
> around
> to a very long time. So why does it crack when I get my hands
> on it?
> Sue

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