 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2004-12-02 18:10
This is a follow-up to a recent thread about humidifying instruments. When I bought my clarinet in 1980 the dealer did not mention humidifiers to me, and neither did my teacher. When I was in college the horn would travel back and forth with me from Tacoma and Seattle back to dry southern Idaho.
When I heard about Dampits I was actually more concerned about a possible wet to dry cycle with the dampit than I was about the overall climate, so I didn't go with that. Anyway, are there pros and cons of starting to use something like the Humistat after all this time? I am a bit inclined to leave well enough alone, but would be interested in some opinions.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2004-12-02 20:25
(Disclaimer - I sell humidifiers and dehumidifiers)
An old saying goes " Clarinets come in three types - those that will always crack, those that will never crack and those that may crack given insults". Unfortunately this is not engraved on the inside of the clarinet when it is purchased so the prudent course is to treat your clarinet well throughout its lifespan and try not to render environmental insults such as too dry, too wet, too cold, etc.
Part of the humidity question is to try to keep it within a range of RH (which is also connected with temperature) which is conservatively between 5
0% and say 75%. Many horns (probably in the "never crack" category" )have had many insults of excess or dry humidity and survived but again, we can never tell when the straw that breaks the camel's back will come to any instrument. A professional player friend just had his 1980's R-13 crack unexpectedly in a cold pit orchestra situation. Again, the prudent pursuit is to keep the oil content, temperature shock, and humidity range of the instrument within a good range and hope for the best. As with any fine tool it works best if kept clean and protected.
The Doctor
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