Klarinet Archive - Posting 000239.txt from 2005/10

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: Clarinets in the afterlife? (blow out vs. paradise lost)
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 20:49:41 -0400


>
> Well, that's exactly what I do and it so happens the modern "high-tech"
> instruments don't make it.
>
[Forest Aten]

"don't make it" were? And for who?

>
> Let's face it: The alleged science behind modern clarinet making is a heap
> of bovine faeces used to advertise new, expensive models. A friend of mine
> worked at Buffet in France in the 70s, and later took his 'Meister'-exams
> in
> Germany. He used to work for Keilwert, Moeck, Mollenhauer,
> Schreiber/Boosey/Buffet (until recently they were one big trust) and many
> others. He gained insight in the manufacturing methods now and back in the
> 70s . He is in despair. When I bring him one of my historic clarinets for
> restoration he keeps raving about the marvels of craft and subtle design
> he
> discovers under every second key. When we compare a new model some
> customer
> left for servicing, like a Buffet or Schreiber or Yamaha or Wurlitzer, it
> usually makes us very sad.
[Forest Aten]

BUT....could I play one of your "historic clarinets" say....in the Dallas
Opera and keep my job?

> I have reason to believe that many crucial steps in clarinet making can be
> better addressed by an experienced craftsman, taking his time with a few
> well-made hand tools than by some new fangled computer-controlled but
> ill-programmed devices.
[Forest Aten]

Are all "new fangled computer-controlled" machines a problem for you? And
why do you assume that these state of the art machines are "ill-programed"?
Site relevant examples that we can all go to examine....please.
>
> Do you know the chaos prevailing at modern woodwind-factories? Unskilled
> labourers hastily assembling the parts, managers taking over from
> unrelated industries without any musical background, people frustrated and
> demotivated.
[Forest Aten]

Site...which factories and which companies? I've been to several factories
in the past ten years as a consultant and have not observed this "chaos".
Management people have always come and gone....and labor in music instrument
manufacturing have largely been a unionized system all around. Period of
unrest have occurred over many decades....many. The shop foreman usually
have the "control". Motivation/demotivation (? Is that a word) usually occur
through periods of economic change.

> There is science for everything, but it's always only as good as the
> assumptions behind it and the care with which you apply it. The
> revolutionary R13 design of the 50s might have had certain benefits
> (intonation, evenness...) but very many drawbacks (sound, character,
> mouthpieces).
[Forest Aten]

A better word than "assumptions" might be compromises. Drawbacks???? Sound?
I love the sound of the R13...the Buffet company has become the top
manufacturer of professional line clarinets (for a long time) based on the
desired "character" of this clarinet...and I have a ton of top quality
mouthpieces that play wonderfully on the R13. Kaspar, Fobes, Smith,
Lomax....and there are more...

Forest Aten

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org