Klarinet Archive - Posting 000660.txt from 2004/07

From: "Warren Rosenberg" <wrosenberg47@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Material influence on sound...one more time
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 13:53:49 -0400

Thanks again, Walter for such a nice, clear explanation. Much better than
see the archive, youngblood.

I believe I started this very interesting thread and concurrent trouble
regarding materials. I've learned alot, but it appears that my suspicions
about the influence of marketing may be more true than I thought.
I've always heard that Buffet was King of the Clarinet Manufacturers and
Grenadilla wood was the king of woods for clarinet.
Now I wonder what's the straight dope.
Is Buffet just a label like BMW and Benz, etc? Certainly the mechanics of
the keys, etc. are better quality than the WalMart variety of which everyone
is so fond, but for the difference in price between a "student" buffet and a
R$
----- Original Message -----
From: <GrabnerWG@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] Material influence on sound...one more time

> In a message dated 7/16/2004 11:21:01 PM Central Daylight Time,
> ormondtoby@-----.net writes:
>
> <<Morrie Backun or Walter Grabner or Clark Fobes all have the boring
> equipment to try this. I know that at least one of them has CNC
> equipment and can probably do this experiment more precisely than I can
> with my kluged-together-on-the-cheap equipment. I've often wondered
> why one of them hasn't done so and announced the results.>>
>
> You can do that. Then you can announce the results. Then people will say -
> prove it.
>
> In fact I have done it.
>
> The problem here is that we are dealing with perceived phenomena, not
> scientific results. I may make a barrel (or mouthpiece) that one person
loves, and
> another discards.
>
> Even though I disagreed with Dan in his recent post, to a very large
degree
> what he says is correct. The diameter and shape of the clarinet bore has
an
> affect on tone many times greater than that of the material used.
>
> However, I and others do perceive differences in tone (and response) based
on
> material even when the measurements are as close as we can possibly get
them.
>
> Benade believed that different materials influence tone because of the
degree
> of porosity in the walls of the material. For example, no matter how much
you
> polish wood it will still have a porous structure, far different from say,
> plastic. The amount of porosity determines how much of the energy is
absorbed by
> the walls of the instrument.
>
> If I am understanding what I am reading correctly, the differences in the
> amount of energy absorbed accounts for the differences in the tone quality
as we
> hear it. (Again, this has nothing to do with the body of the instrument
> vibrating.)
>
> Here is a very simple example. Cocobolo is more porous than grenadilla,
> plastic much less porous than grenadilla. If I make three barrels, trying
as hard
> as I can to duplicate all the measurements exactly, and make one of
cocobolo,
> one of grenadilla, and one of plastic, I would have three barrels with
SLIGHTLY
> different tonal characteristics. If we say the grenadilla barrel is the
> "control," the cocobolo barrel would sound more covered, less penetrating;
in fact
> "darker." The plastic would be less covered, more penetrating, or
"brighter."
>
> Maybe most of the difference is appreciable by the player. To what extent
the
> difference can be heard by the casual listener ten feet away, I cannot
tell
> you.
>
> Maybe I can do some trials on that someday. However, nobody pays me to do
> that, and I do have to make a living. Great topic for a dissertation?
>
> To a certain extent however, I don't care. People stand in line to buy
> barrels made of exotic woods. I could make plastic barrels all day and
offer them on
> eBay for $20 each and no one would buy them. It is amazing, sometimes, how
> the market decides these things.
>
> Walter Grabner
> http://www.clarinetxpress.com/
> World-class clarinet mouthpieces
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>

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