Klarinet Archive - Posting 000143.txt from 2004/01

From: "Jim & Joyce (lande@-----.net)" <lande_family@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Cracks, cracks
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 21:47:57 -0500

I once took string bass lessons from an older gentleman who had two
wonderful basses, one from the very early 1600s and the other from the
1700s. Both were riddled with cracks. You could look all the way through
one of the basses. My teacher said that occasionally he and a furniture
repair guy would steam apart a bass, and patch the insides using strips of
veneer. He said that all repairs were done with hide glues, which can be
steamed apart. He admitted that his repairs didn't last as long as the
could because sometimes he had to drive with a bass strapped to his car
roof.

Both instruments had incredible tone (even with me sawing) and both could
play considerably louder than my student bass. The professor said that they
played even better right after they had been repaired. Nonetheless, the
large cracks seemed to have little effect.

I understand that most violins that age have replacement necks in order to
get the instrument to play to modern pitch.

My point: These strings are very different beasties than clarinets. I
don't think your clarinet would sound great with cracks in excess of 1/8
inch or with strips of veneer glued inside.

If you read Hoadly on Wood, you will see pictures of wood clamped to a steel
beam and then periodically soaked and tried. The expansion and contraction
forces are sufficient to rip the wood apart. The purpose of the pins are to
spread the force over a greater amount of wood. Pins plus glue will give a
lot more holding power. Two times? ten times? I don't know, but it
wouldn't surprise me if it was even greater than 10 times, given the
geometry. Basically, the wood in the clarinet failed and the glue simply
restores to wood to its original -- and not sufficiently --strong state.

Fortunately, I have never had a crack in my metal clarinet.

Good luck.
Jim

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