 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Nicole Y.
Date: 1999-11-07 21:13
Hi all,
I just wanted to know something. I am in a conflict with my parents about repadding my wooden clarinet. I had it "overhauled" last year, but alas, the work done on my beautiful horn was, to put it bluntly, TRASHY. I have dealt with all the problems of leaky pads by just pressing keys harder. But now, I want it repadded--completely. I want to have it done by a music store an hour away which I know is completely reputable because of the wonderful work they did on my friend's horn. My parents disagree. They say I could go audition for AllState on my plastic Vito, which hasn't been repadded in 3 years (which I did last year since they never got me my wooden one back from the overhaul on time.). I made 10th chair regionals with that horn. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I have better overall projection and a richer sound on my wooden clarinet, and that would help me earn a better score. How can I get some sense into my parents' heads?
The Freshman,
Nicole Y.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-11-07 21:30
Nicole Y. wrote:
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Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I have better overall projection and a richer sound on my wooden clarinet, and that would help me earn a better score.
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Not necessarily. A well-adjusted plastic horn will beat out a badly adjusted wood horn any day, and plastic basses can and do compare with wood ones when set up properly. See <A href=http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=12314>This Posting & Reference</A>.
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Author: Kontragirl
Date: 1999-11-08 00:12
Mark's right, I play on a beat up Yamaha 20...We actually bought it from somebody who used it as a marching horn. Once it got a check up, it was a great horn...still is. I'm a sophomore and considered the fourth best clarinet player at my school. So what do you say, paper or plastic?
Kontragirl
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-11-08 00:21
Kontragirl,
In most cases plastic soprano clarinets aren't up to the same level of quality as the wooden ones, so the comparison there is less apt.
Bass clarinets, even plastic ones, are _expensive_. The plastic bass clarinets I'cve see have pretty good & solid keywork; they still needed a lot of TLC and hand finishing to make them good. But, since the prices are so high on the basses it makes sense to spend the extra money & get even a plastic one in great shape.
I'm not sure I'd want to spend a few hundred dollars or more getting a regular plastic soprano clarinet playing to a high level ...
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Author: Kontragirl
Date: 1999-11-08 01:04
I didn't mean to go overboard, I was just saying my plastic squaker is a good example of a well adjusted plastic horn against a wooden clarinet than needs to go to the repair shop. That doesn't mean I don't want a wooden one...
As for the low clarinets...I find that my plastic Bundy is better than the wooden Selmer one I played on. Then again, the poor Selmer was in the instrument shed for who knows how long and my Bundy is in prime condition.
Kontragirl
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Author: D.B.
Date: 1999-11-08 01:37
Get the Wooden Clarinet fixed properly. Chances are that it will play a LOT better then the Plastic one. I'll explain - Your Wooden Clarinet is pretty new - yes? The student model Wooden Clarinets keep getting better, and better. Most Plastic Clarinets play pretty badly to me - I'm not at all a fan of Plastic Clarinets, as because of their internal dimensions, or because they are plastic (don't know, can't say) they do not sound as good as a good wooden clarinet (note - I said GOOD wooden Clarinet, a bad one is just as bad as one made of clay). You will be up against many, many Professional level Wooden Clarinets in a State Audition - go with the best instrument you can. I started playing Clarinet in 7th grade, in 9th grade I made All State Band (in Virginia, with Luis Baez as Principal Clarinetist that year back in 1978). I was the only one it the section with a Plastic Clarinet, and a Bundy at that. It's possible, but not easy.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-11-08 01:41
D.B. - is that your real email address? The one you're using now (fan@sneezy.com) looks awfully suspicious unless you work for Hughes Automotive ...
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Author: Merry
Date: 1999-11-08 02:03
You may as well it get fixed now as it will need fixing eventually and having it perfect playing condition before a major audition seems like perfect timing to me. It seems best that you compete on the best instrument you have as every advantage will help even a mental one. There doesn't seem to be too much point owning a beautiful wooden clarinet if it is not in good repair (even though I am in a similar situation except I have a 2 hour trip to find a reasonable repairer and a 6 hour trip to find an expert - perils of living in the country).
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Author: anonymous
Date: 1999-11-08 02:36
This is an interesting topic. My school owned a wooden Noblet Alto Clarinet, which I played in clarinet choir for about 4 years. It never worked well and we sent it to the shop every year to try and get it to work better. Finally last year, we had the music store loan us a newer wooden Noblet of the same model and a plastic alto clarinet. (Can't remember what kind, maybe a Vito.) After comparing all three side by side I determined that the plastic alto had a much better tone and was more reponsive than either of the wooden ones. We ended up trading in our wooden one for the plastic. I just found it interesting that you were talking about the lower clarinets seeming to play better when made from plastic. Glad to know I'm not the only person with that opinion.
Of course, I agree with other posts that for Bb Clarinets a wooden clarinet in good playing condition is better than a plastic clarinet.
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Author: Willie
Date: 1999-11-08 04:32
It could be worse. I gotta drive through about six towns and two counties just to buy a reed.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-11-08 11:37
Willie wrote:
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It could be worse. I gotta drive through about six towns and two counties just to buy a reed.
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Which is why the Postal Service was invented :^)
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-11-08 12:29
Nicole, It should not need repadded. See if you can convince them to take it up and get the pads re-seated. If the pads are new, that's all it should take.
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-11-08 16:26
Dee has a good point about making sure all of the pads are reseated. Even my premium pro-grade wooden clarinet needed to have a pad reseated. My horn was brand-new, so the pads and the entire horn for that matter didn't need an overhaul. One little trill key pad was the culprit. I took the horn to a good woodwind tech and he had it fixed up with a correctly aligned pad in about 15 minutes.
Go for the small stuff first. You would be surprised at how little it will cost to turn what seems like a piece of junk horn into a world class performer with only a minor adjustment here or there. Been there, done that. It works, trust me.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-11-08 18:04
anonymous wrote:
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... Of course, I agree with other posts that for Bb Clarinets a wooden clarinet in good playing condition is better than a plastic clarinet.
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Of course Nicole should get her pro grade instrument fixed, not because it's wood but because it is a pro model rather than a student model.
This and other posts should be saying that a intermediate/pro clarinet in good condition will be better than a student clarinet in good condition. There is no evidence to support material induced differences. Student horns are built to be cheap, rugged, and easy to play. This is a different set of criteria than that used for pro grade horns. Different design criteria result in different sounds.
If you can provide us with MATCHED wood and plastic clarinets not only built to the exact same specifications but individually checked to insure that every dimension is identical (to eliminate horn to horn variance) and that the surface finish characteristics are identical, I am sure that there are people willing to undertake an investigation to see if material induced differences exist or not.
Anecdotal evidence doesn't count. People saying they played xxx and it was better than yyy is too subjective to do more than act as a springboard to kick off an investigation. Afterall, I overhauled a plastic horn this summer and just for fun played in the summer band. People said to me, "That's a plastic horn? You're kidding!" So I showed them the instrument. Naturally I was using a high quality mouthpiece and reed.
If you want to hear some crummy wood horns, get hold of the some of the cheap student woods that were made before plastic dominated the field. The plastics made by today's big four are far better.
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Author: Aaron Hayden
Date: 1999-11-08 18:09
If your clarinet was previously (so called) overhauled by a person that is not a professional technician, chances are that the pads are of poor quality, wrong sizes that do not fit propertly. Also many amateur technicians will push down on the keys and possibly wedge them shut to obtain a tone hole impression. If this is so, sometimes re-seating the pads can't be done properly, since the felt of the pad is compressed and will never seat right. If there are any chips on the tone holes(sometimes can't be seen without magnification) this will cause pads not to seat properly.
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Author: steve
Date: 1999-11-08 20:10
no one gets it...sorry for the rant....this isn't about plastic vs wood horns...I will assume that nicole can get a part time job after school or her parents can afford the price of a pro overhaul...if I'm wrong, I'm sincerely sorry for butting in, and I'll shut up..
the issue is does nicole's parents really support her clarinet playing??...she said "My parents disagree. They say I could go audition for AllState on my plastic Vito"....when i was a kid, I dropped my R-13 on the lower joint tenon. smashed it...my old man (phd chemist union carbide, we weren't poor) wanted the maintenance guy at work fix it because he played sax in the company dance band...never repaired a horn outside of seating a pad....I wasn't allowed to have an after school job...have to study to go to college...I fought like hell to get it to a proper repairman, and the old man coughed up the money after a fight with my mother....got the tenon replaced....went away to college and worked in factories during the summer to pay board and incidentals (something all young folks should do, imho)....my first major purchase with my damn money was brannenization of my horns.....bitter taste never left my mouth....when I got to be solo clarinet in the NU symphonic band, and my old man wanted to take me to dinner after the concert, I politely declined and went drinking with my phi mu alpha buddies.
s.
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Author: Willie
Date: 1999-11-08 21:32
But Mark,,, my daughter never tells me she's outta reeds untill the day of the concert. This must be in the genetic programming of adolesents. I usualy see a couple other band parents at the same store at the same time with over heated pickups outside.
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Author: Nicole Y.
Date: 1999-11-08 23:08
To all:
My Noblet has a wonderful tone even with the crappy pads it has and the wonderful leaky pads. Much better than my Vito. I am having the whole thing repadded so that I KNOW that everything is in working order...I was very disappointed in the "overhaul" my music store gave me...so I'm going to Savannah. So, the my Noblet does sound better... and it beats the living daylights out of my Vito (which I love too, but still...something about wood and the tone).
Thanx,
The Freshman,
Nicole Y.
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-11-09 03:33
Nicole,
If you live in the Phoenix area, send me email. If not, here's what I would do if it were me (but keep in mind that I am very mechanically inclined). If it were me, I would make a deal with my father. If we get the good horn repadded for the audition, I'll learn how to do the maintenance myself. If you can repad, recork, and regulate your clarinet, you have about 90% of it. If he goes for the deal, you can practice on the plastic clarinet.
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-11-10 17:00
My wife would step right up and choke me beyond black and blue if I even thought of performing major work on my very expensive pro-grade horn. The price of the potential risk is way too high, especially since my Buffet certified tech is only 5 miles away and he fixes most of the small stuff for free.
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