 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jmcaulay
Date: 2001-10-15 22:30
Bob Rausch's current posting on humidity prompted me to post this: I've owned a Fontaine/Couesnon (so marked) clarinet for more than twenty years. After repadding, it played quite nicely and still does, but I've not played the instrument very much over the years. Around 18 or 19 years ago, I moved to the edge of the Mojave Desert, and most of the time, humidity here is *low*. In recent times, the rings have become loose to the point of falling off, and the big bell ring is so loose it turns freely. Fortunately, no part of the instrument has developed any noticeable cracking at all, as determined by quite thorough inspection both inside and out, plus looking into the tone holes that aren't obscured by pads.
The question is: what do you do for an instrument that has become so dry? Should it be brought slowly into a higher humidity environment and be allowed to reabsorb moisture? If that's done, do I then have to live in a humidity-controlled chamber? If not, when I get the thing out to play it, it will be in a volume of space in which the relative humidity will likely be lower than 20%. So that somehow doesn't seem like such a great idea and might even encourage cracking, eh?
Or is it proper to replace that lost moisture with an appropriate oil? Should I send The Doctor my whole tax refund check and get enough "good stuff" to soak the whole thing for a day? A week? A month? One enquiring mind wants to know.
Regards,
John
thinking more highly of "GreenLine" all the time....
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Author: John
Date: 2001-10-16 03:17
I would suggest you look at Larry Naylor's site. He is a Sneezy sponsor. I sent my 1960's Buffet for an oil emersion process and it came back renewed and playing better.
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Author: Kai
Date: 2001-10-16 11:43
On my teacher's advice, I bought a 'dry' box ie, one of those Humidity-controlled boxes to keep my instrument in whenever I am not using it. She also suggested that I put the entire case in with the instrument in it so that somehow, the wood isn't directly subjected to the sudden changes of humidity levels when it's in or out of the box.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-10-16 18:10
John made reference to an oiling preocess, which my favorite repairman calls a "hot oil [almond] treatment" which does wonders for old woods, restoring and reconditioning the "shrinking" clarinet, improving appearance as well. Don
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