The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lavadude
Date: 2004-09-19 18:04
I just recently purchased a selmer clarinet. It has come to my attention that it has a plastic bell and barrel. Does that affect the sound? Should I be worried? The clarinet appears to be one of the more recent models (if you were to judge it by the case).
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Author: Contra
Date: 2004-09-19 18:47
Is the rest of the clarinet plastic? If so, then it's fine. Materials don't really affect sound too much, if at all on a hearable level.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2004-09-19 21:46
It's also fine even if the body is wood. I don't know about this particular instrument but there have been times when instruments were produced with a wooden body and plastic barrel and/or bell.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2004-09-19 22:23
I'm fairly certain the Bundys came that way for a while.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2004-09-21 15:15
My first clarinet in 1961 was a Selmer Bundy that had a wooden body and plastic barrel and bell. It was a pretty good instrument. Several of my friends had the same instrument and went all the way through high school with them. I'm not sure how long they were made like that or if Selmer later made any other model with plastic barrels and bells.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-09-21 15:44
I had the same makeup of clarinet back in the '40s but it must have been a stencil as the name was Andre Ruelan....No problem in my opinion as long as the price was right
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-09-21 21:57
I'm afraid the plastic and wood materials will react adversely to each other, causing rapid heating and possible explosion, probably during a very quiet passage in the music. Be careful. Warn the director of the possibility.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-09-22 14:05
yes,Dave, it's one of the problems with plastic. I once had my bell melt during a 4th of July parade....very embarassing.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-09-24 00:22
I don't subscribe to the notion that materials "don't make a difference".
So it matters to me. But if it doesn't matter to you than that's what counts.
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