Klarinet Archive - Posting 000382.txt from 2003/10

From: "CLARK FOBES {USER_LASTNAME}" <reedman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] bass clarinet woods
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:21:09 -0400

The assertion that your bass clarinet is made of cocobolo seems unlikely.
Perhaps it is made from rosewood that it is light in color?

I am not certain where the term "grenadilla" came from, but it is a rather
broad term that seems to cover several blackwoods. The most inaccurate term
for clarinet wood is ebony. Ebony is a term often ascribed to the clarinet,
but true ebony is from the Diaspyros genus and the wood I have bought
(unknowingly!) was not very suitable for making clarinet parts. This is the
dark wood that is used for string instrument finger boards and piano keys.

Most clarinets and bass clarinets are made from a very large group of woods
with the genus Dalbergia. Dalbergia melanoxylon (African balckwood) is the
very dark wood that is most common.. Some bass clarinets and the larger
contras are usually made from another wood in the Dalbergia genus - usually
Brazillian rosewood. These instruments can range in hue from deep red to
brown. I am fairly certain that most African blackwood trees are not large
enough to produce the extremely large diametes required for the contra
clarinets.

Here is a link to a very interesting site about African blackwood or
"Mpingo"

http://www.blackwoodconservation.org/

Although I have "heard" the virtues of cocobolo in instruments made by
Stephen Fox, I have never been tempted to work with it due to the highly
toxic oils in the wood.

Clark W Fobes

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