Klarinet Archive - Posting 000888.txt from 2003/02

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <patricia@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Allergies, reed treatment chemicals?; was, Wood allergies (to Lelia)
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 22:08:31 -0500

Kelly Abraham wrote:

>
> Anyway, I am NOT allergic to clarinets, or the wood billets
> after they are finished. I can continue my pursuit of
> clari-tooting for as long as I wish with no bizarre wood allergy
> to make practicing difficult. I just can't shred my clarinets if
> I have a bad practice session! ;-P
>
> I just wanted to thank Lelia for the blurb about the wood. I had
> forgotten about it from the post all the way back in 2000.
> Thanks again Lelia!

It is not unusual at all for people to be allergic to some rather
"unusual" things, it would seem! IIRC, not too long ago, someone posted
to this list with an allergy to reeds. I have noticed that some reeds
definitely have a rather funky taste to them, when I first take them out
of the box and begin to work on them.

I'm wondering a few things -

1. What chemicals is raw cane treated with before it is cut, etc.
commercially and made into reeds? Now, I visited the Rico factory many
years ago, but it has been AGES, and I cannot remember this for the life
of me!

2. Are reeds treated with any sort of "preservative" chemicals before
shipping to retailers, etc.? After all, they ARE an organic product -
they were once living things, and are subject to breakdown in their raw
state.

I will readily profess my ignorance here...I used to always simply take
them out of the box, do what I had to do to get them to play, and that
was that. However, this thread made me think about this - and it
certainly could cause problems for someone who has allergies.

Patricia Smith

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