Klarinet Archive - Posting 000207.txt from 2005/10

From: or3mondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: Clarinets in the afterlife?
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2005 19:48:00 -0400

Austin Hogan wrote:

> I have heard of clarinets becoming "worn out"
> after lots of playing. [snip] Wear out
> meaning the wood becomes old and warped.

Austin, the above statement combines two different issues.

First, if a change in the instrument is large enough to be measured
(with a caliper or scale or surface hardness meter or whatever), then
some aspect of the instrument's sound or playability can come into
question. Older instruments can suffer measurable damage over the
years (or they can improve as they settle down or are moved to a
different climate).

Second, some people use the term "blown out" to mean that an
instrument's sound has deteriorated for no measurable cause except that
it is old. You'll find many discussions of this if you search the
Klarinet archives for "blown out".

Some such discussions claim that changes occur at the molecular level.
Sometimes they include a statement that "I know my technique hasn't
changed, so it must be that the instrument has changed.... it's just
blown out, that's all. My new clarinet plays just fine." This is
similar to arguing (before NASA made it into space) about what's on the
back side of the moon. Since there were no actual observations in
those days, a person could say almost whatever they wanted about the
back side of the moon and not be disproved.

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