 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2005-04-01 12:34
Anyone know about these? Apparently by Woodwind.....just wondering if they're any good and are they hard rubber or plastic material.
Thanks in advance.....
John Gibson
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-04-01 15:26
Yes, I have several Steel Ebonites, the term may have originated as a "trademarked" name of the Woodwind Co, and/or Conn. My earliest good, purchased, mp is a WW K5 "Melliphone Special" [alto sax, 1935?] which is marked Steel Ebonite with Reg. US Pat. Office below it. I also have a SteelITE Ebonite cl mp marked NEMC with the well-known Conn emblem above it. Of course the well used [common] names, steel[meaning hard], and ebony [and its other forms, Fr? ebene] I believe, is among the many terms for [natural] African Blackwood [grenadilla et al, species of Dalbergia, dense woods] were prob. not "trademark-able" per se, but were when combined with "ite" , I presume, from Vulcanite, which term possibly dates from Goodyear's work [1800's] with hardening natural rubber by heating with sulfur compounds to "crosslink" the long elastic rubber molecular "strings" [my terms]. With improvements in the H R processes, and the availability of synthetic rubbers, these more modern "thermoSET" plastics dont oxidize/degrade forming the OLD brown/green surface coatings, but stay shiny black like the mps made fron "thermoplastic et al" resins, ABS etc. Much of what I've tried to say here is derived from 'materials chemistry books/handbooks' available as references in public libraries.'Nuff? Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2005-04-01 19:34
I bought a batch of old-stock Riffault mouthpieces that were Steel Ebonite. Seemed to be like hard plastic. I went back to my wooden Greg Smith.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-04-01 22:52
Good logic, Don, and probably as accurate as we'll get. I have always thought they were "Bakelite" but perhaps we'll never know for sure. I have a couple of them and they are "so-so"....but look good.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-04-02 01:18
Not necessary so....or even so-so
Some are quite good*
Bettoney Steel Ebonites are particularly good. Terry Guidetti refaced one for me that has become my all time fav. (along with some other modern mpcs that get attention hereabouts....depends on what I am aiming for at the momemt)
My better steel ebonite mpcs really act and handle refacing and revoicing like hard rubber.
I have others that are very much like older Lelandais.
Some even say they were made in France.
Perhaps Walter or Dave Sp. or Greg might shed some light on this.
*OTOH...I have others that were mediocre, but that could also be due to the facing.
Bakelite was actually named for a person who formulated the "first plastic" and seems to be rather brittle. It was used extensively in smoking pipes to emulate the amber stems that were sold with quality Meerschaums.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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