 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mike Blinn
Date: 2006-07-19 15:38
I was surprised to see and read about ebonite clarinets made in the 19th century. What is ebonite anyway? Is it hard rubber, or a plastic? Could it be a synonym for ebony or black wood?
Mike Blinn
http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1l.html#Egerton
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-07-19 15:42
From the Plastics Industry website:
"Certainly, the history of the rubber industry has a bearing on plastics. This is because ebonite, or hard rubber, discovered in 1851, was the first thermosetting material to be prepared and the first material that involved a distinct chemical modification of a natural material."
http://www.plasticsindustry.org/industry/history.htm
This would have been a very early usage (clarinets from 1862).
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-07-19 21:27
According to the Edinburgh University site (quoting from Pamela Weston), Henry Lazarus (1815-1895) played ebonite clarinets. http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1m.html
I haven't read the Weston books in some time, but I recall that she quoted Lazarus as saying he preferred the tone of ebonite over wood. The site has a rather truncated photo of one of Lazarus's clarinets from its collection.
Ken Shaw
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Author: FDF
Date: 2006-07-19 23:41
According to Wikipedia, "Ebonite is one of the earliest forms of plastic. A hard, rigid and shiny resin, it was intended as an artificial substitute for ebony wood. It is actually a very hard rubber first obtained by Charles Goodyear by vulcanizing rubber for prolonged periods. As a result, it is about 30% to 40% sulfur. It is often used in bowling balls, Ashton pipe stems, fountain pen nib feeds, and high-quality saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonite
Goodyear (1800-186) reeived a patent for vulcanized rubber in 1844.
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Author: BTBob
Date: 2006-07-20 16:18
Wiki said: "It is often used in bowling balls, Ashton pipe stems, fountain pen nib feeds, and high-quality saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces."
Not to mention medium-and-awful-quality mouthpieces. The material doesn't guaratee the quality!
Does anyone when Conn stopped making metal clarinets (the first time) and went to hard rubber? I have seen rubber Conns from as early as 1920 (both Albert and Boehms).
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2006-07-20 17:59
Brad, I got quite a humorous "bite" out of it !! Happily the "science" of hardening rubber [formerly natural, now synthetics] with sulfur [and other elements] has greatly improved the quality/servicability of this very useful THERMOSET "resin" [I dont like to call it a "plastic", it "is NOT" heat-softening as implied, IMHO]. Other opinions are welcome, please. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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