Klarinet Archive - Posting 000606.txt from 2006/03

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Conductor batons
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:59:02 -0500

At 09:59 AM 3/28/2006 -0800, Tim Roberts wrote:
>Lucite is somewhat brittle and doesn't react well to fatigue. I would
>have guessed that it was unsuitable for a baton, and would have a
>tendency to shatter when whacked against a podium, as batons sometimes are.

They can be very cool with a small light in the handle, though. Great for
conducting in darkened pits!

>Fiberglass, as in the fishing rods he mentioned, is probably the
>near-optimum material.
>
>I would have guessed that many hardwoods would be too delicate when
>lathed that thin, but my friend Google tells me that birch and maple are
>both commonly used in craftsman-quality batons.

Mollard batons have wood shafts. Personally, I find them too lightweight
for my taste, although my conducting experience is relatively
limited. With a heavier fiberglas shaft, there frequentlyy has to be a
weight placed in the end of the handle to counterbalance it properly. The
baton should balance right about where the shaft meets the handle.

Bill Hausmann

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic
hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.
There's also a negative side." -- Hunter S. Thompson

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