Klarinet Archive - Posting 000189.txt from 2004/12

From: "DWH" <dwh46@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] humidity
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 15:26:48 -0500


> Does anyone know the humidity range that is best for storing wooden
> clarinets. Is it fact or fiction that low humidity will produce cracks in
> time.
> Is there any upper humidity that is bad?
>
>
>
> Howard
> Email shertzhg@-----.edu

Howard -

Humidity is a big deal for any wood instrument. It's the change from high to
low to high, etc., that will cause damage as the wood shrinks and expands
with the humidity changes. Here are some posts from the archives that may
help answer your question.

http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/1995/02/000222.txt

http://www.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/1997/02/000207.txt

http://www.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/2003/09/000483.txt

http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/1997/02/000204.txt

I know that when a music business where I worked started selling a line of
high-end acoustic guitars, we were REQUIRED by the dealer agreement to
provide an area where we could control the humidity year-round. The levels
they consider optimum for guitar woods: 45%-55%. I don't know how that
applies in numbers to clarinet wood, but I know I started rotating our
Buffet and Leblanc clarinets through the booth we kept the guitars in during
winter months, and never had any loose rings or other signs of wood
shrinkage. Plus our customers could use the booth (a large Wenger
sound-proof booth) to try out the instruments.

I still use the same tried-and-true method I've employed for thirty
years....eat an orange and put the pieces of orange peel in my clarinet case
in winter months. It doesn't harm the keys or mechanism, and doesn't lend
any strong citrus odor to the instrument.

Don Hatfield

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