Klarinet Archive - Posting 000193.txt from 2010/11

From: Robert Howe <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Klarinet Digest, Vol 9, Issue 31
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:14:00 -0500

>
>> I thought it interesting that the high clarinets website from the university
>> of Edinburgh mentioned an Eb sopranino clarinet that has a particularly flat
>> lower register.
>>
>> http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1e.html
>> (1041) Clarinet in Eb, M?ller type (possibly continental Europe, c 1850)
>
> As Lesley explains in her video, that's a thing that sometimes happens when
> the bore of an instrument warps over time. The clarinet becomes 'out of tune
> with itself'. That can often be corrected by reaming out the bore, which
> usually contracts. (You can also tell how much it has contracted, because
> wood shrinks in a constant proportion with and against the grain, allowing you
> to reconstruct the dimensions of the circular cross-section that has become
> elliptical.)

One can also correct these issues, at least to a first order approximation,
by reversing the shrinkage. My experience with oboes has led me to leave
the instrument in a cool, very humid place for days or weeks, until the
instrument has taken up several grams of moisture; then to apply oil lightly
to the bore. The intent, which I realize is imperfectly realized, is to
restore the wood to its dimensions and humidity at the time of manufacture.

It is amazing how this process can help the scale and sound of an antique
instrument without removing a single cell of wood.

Cheers

Robert Howe

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