Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-12-28 16:49
I have no idea how it sounds, but a Rosewood clarinet with gold(-colored) keys has real aesthetic appeal to me!
BTW: in response to the discussion last summer on the effects of plating on the sound of clarinets, I built a math model of the long F#/C# key. Its a spatula, pivot, long rod, pivot #2, arm, cup/pad. I found out that the resonant frequency of the key --held against its stop by a finger will change a few Hertz with different plating materials.
While the plating is very thin, it has a disproportionate effect on the key stiffness because it is as far from the center of the structure as it can be.
The result of plating different materials on nickle silver is that gold, silver, nickle and nickle silver platings (and buffing off an equivalent thickness of the base nickle material) can change the resonant frequency of the key by a few tenths of a percent. Say --shift the key from 440 to 442.
So, there is an effect; but it of the same order of magnitude as the difference between two keys that could be caused by a shift in the forging dies, a few extra seconds on the polishing wheel, ....
Bob Phillips
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The Clarinet BBoard
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