 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2003-12-04 14:52
Please excuse me if this has been covered more than forty times in the past, the thought came to me as I listened to Dean Edell on the radio this morning. He mentioned that airplane cabins often go down to 10 percent relative humidity.
This is the season that we amateurs are most likely to travel with our horns. I usually would carry my wooden horns with me in the cabin to avoid the very cold temperatures in the hold. Recently I installed a hygrometer in my case and maintain the horns at 60% with no difficulty. If I was to travel in and out of airports and planes I could expect the humidity of the case and it's interior to cycle wildly between that 60 and 10. This in my view is a recipe for cracks to develop.
What does this mean? I don't know if the humidity in the hold varies as much as the cabin, perhaps you should put the clarinet inside your luggage. Or another approach would be to carry it on but have it sealed in a garbage bag (unfortunately you will need to open that in the airport for inspection). But finally, when travelling I think it is necessary to place a humidifier, film can with wet cotton or maybe orange peels, inside the case.
Another alternative is to just take that spare horn or spare Bundy plastic horn along instead of your best wooden horn.
Just a thought, TH
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Author: William
Date: 2003-12-04 15:14
Humidity has never been a concern of mine, or my clarinets--none of which has ever cracked. And I do own many, Selmer, Yamaha, Buffet and LeBlanc, so my luck is not a "brand name" thing, but perhaps a result of careful swabbing and of minimizing extreme and sudden temperature change whenever possible. But maintaining humidity?? Good for cigars, but clarinets............of no concern for me (or mine).
I always take my best clarinets as carry-on when flying--never checking them with my baggage "in the hole". My reason, temperature change and those muscluar baggage handlers that always seem to hold tossing contests when loading my stuff.
Disclaimer--I do not smoke, but have a brother-in-law who paid over a thousand dollars for his cigar humidor (right word??). But, then again, none his cigars have never cracked...............Hmmmmm.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2003-12-04 15:25
What about bass clarinets that won't fit as carry on?
I've never flown with my instrument, but expect to be making a trip to Europe with it a couple of summers from now. I hope to some extent that the bulkiness and padding of the case are enough to dampen the rate of temperature change it will see. Any comments?
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-12-04 16:02
Get a small case, one that will fit as a carry-on. Then your instrument will be at room temperature (whatever that is) for the entire flight. They make such things for Bass Clarinets - a search of this board should turn this up.
Assuming that you play your instrument every day, a 10% drop in humidity will not effect a wooden instrument that stays closed in its case for two hours on an airplane flight. Unless your home has a really well-calibrated humidification system, your relative humidity may well vary a lot more than that on a daily basis.
Other people may have different experiences, but unless you are travelling to a tropical or desert climate, you won't see any issues.
Whatevery you do, keep the instrument away from abnormally high or low temperatures. Storing it in a hot or freezing car, for just a few hours, could be disastrous.
=> Note: Put all screwdrivers, pliers, knives, and other sharp or pointed tools in your checked luggage. Do not take it as carry-on, or you will lose it, as well as valuable time at the airport, when your case is X-rayed.
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Author: CJB
Date: 2003-12-04 16:24
Don
I've just bought a Wiseman case so I can take my bass on as hand luggage when I fly to the states in just over a week's time. My problem wasn't the bass case (check out the Yamaha cases, they are tiny!) but that I'll need my Eb and Bb as well. I have been assured that there will be no problem taking it onto the plane. The only thing I can really criticise about it is how heavy it is!
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-12-04 16:28
Checking a musical instrument for international flights is like handing the keys to a Ferrari to your 16 year old before you leave for a weekend...
... something bad is bound to happen.
A regular bass clarinet case should be sufficient for the trip.
I would ship my instrument in advance to the destination, if possible.
(Or take a holiday from playing, maybe.)
Perhaps you bring your mouthpiece, and go shopping?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-12-04 16:53
Ah YES, annual concern with the thermodynamics of the air/water system, again. Relative Humidity [% of "saturation"] vs Absolute Humidity [concentration]. Physical chemistry 101. To the scientifically-inclined [please help me!], its in the "steam tables", cold air can "hold" less water [as vapor] than can warm air, its what causes fog and rain! Thats why they are called precipitation! So outside [cold] air, home or airplane, when warmed up [inside] shows a great drop in Relative Humidity and tends to dry-out everything. Its noticeable to me when I receive static-electric "shocks", about 30%?. Having several hygrometers, I move my best wood horns to an area which stays at about 45%, and put humidifiers in the "playing" horn cases. I think its OK to discuss enthalpy, but we prob. should avoid entropy. Comments?, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: supernova_khr
Date: 2003-12-05 17:20
It's not just airplane cabins that can go down to 10%RH in winter, but also interior heated houses in cold dry climates. I live in the Rocky Mountain front range, and experience wild fluctuations in humidity between being outside and inside in winter. (FYI, see
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/avgrh.html
for statistics on actual monthly average RH throughout the US) From that, you'll see that the Denver January average (outside) is 35%. Heat that up to 68 F, and there's virtually no water left! You just can't, even with humidifies, get the humidity inside up much more than 30%, as everything condenses on the windows when you try. Even in summer during the day, our outside humidy is still less than 40%. (note, I only find the electrical shocks a problem at less than 15% humidity).
So, I've always got a water source in my clarinet case. It takes about a week to for the sponge in a film can to dry out. So, when traveling by air, if you keep a water source in your case, you should be fine for a travel time of less than a day. And I'd never put my clarinet in checked luggage, especially now that you can't lock your suitcase, and any security person can go through it without you there. You'll actually likely be fine even without a water source in your case, as water from a hunk of wood doesn't evaporate quite like an open pan full of water. One of the tests we did when I was working fire weather was measure the weight of a standard stick to judge potential wood moisture content, and subsequent fire danger. During hot dry periods, it took a long time to appreciably change the stick moisture content.
Also note, the hold of a plane is not going to be much colder than the cabin, at least not enough to dramatically affect the RH, so the RH is going to be about the same. They pump the heat initially into the cabin, but it circulates throughout the plane. (as well as the whole plane is pressurized, not just the cabin, which would be an aerodynamically unstable situation).
Cheers,
Kay
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