Klarinet Archive - Posting 000127.txt from 2007/09

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fbjacobo@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 22 Sep 2007 09:01:02 -0000 Issue 7470
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 20:27:41 -0400

Dan,
Don't pass judgement on a clarinet you haven't had blow out - pardon
the misuse of this aphorism. I invite you to come and play on my blown
out instrument and compare it to yours. And I am not the only one by a
country mile who has had an instrument blow out. My R-13 first started
to go so sharp that even a 68mm barrel wouldn't help. Then the tone got
shrill and it lost the depth of sound. Finally, the upper range just
got sharper and sharper (even more than the rest of the instrument).

As for the why, I don't know. I can only hazard some half-baked ideas
like playing very loud for many months (the way I did in my South
Serbian Rom band and Klezmer band) or maybe having saliva with some
mysterious properties which ruin the wood (I told you they were
half-baked) or maybe the wood somehow becoming lighter and less dense
as it ages. If Buffet wants to contact me and examine this instrument,
I invite them to measure it any way they can.

The point is, blow out seems impossible to someone to whom it has not
happened. Kind of like how light must be for a blind man. However, I am
ready to swear on all things dear that my instrument did blow out. And
I'll fight any varmint what says otherwise! ;-)

Fred Jacobowitz

Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
Ebony and Ivory Duo
On Sep 22, 2007, at 7:55 PM, Daniel Leeson wrote:

> Who says they do? And what objective evidence supports this? I had a
> clarinet built in 1890 and it was terrific when I sold it. Ever hear
> of a
> bass clarinet blowing out?
>
> I can't speak for oboes. There may be a clear different between the
> results
> of extensive playing between the two instruments. But clarinet blow
> out is a
> myth to frighten you into buying a new clarinet.
>
> DNL
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Howe [mailto:arehow@-----.net]
> Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 4:44 PM
> To: Klarinet
> Subject: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 22 Sep 2007 09:01:02 -0000 Issue 7470
>
>
>> (Please don't
>>> tell me about instruments becoming blown out. We're old friends and I
> don't
>>> want us to argue about myths.)
>
> Oboes blow out, this is beyond dispute. The upper register becomes
> uncertain, the tone gets thin. Reboring or even shellacking and
> reboring
> don't help. Bassoons don't seem to blow out. So clarinets don't?
>
> Robert Howe
>
>
>
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