 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-12-30 02:08
One of my employees is a talented woodcrafter and gave me a belated Christmas gift today: a GRENADILLA pen and pencil set he turned himself. He knows how much I love the clarinet and throught it would be a really special gift. (Please don't hate me for accepting it.)
To make matters worse, he told me that he made about 40 (!) of them to sell at his church bazaar.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Clarinetgirl06
Date: 2005-12-30 02:14
So, what's wrong with it? I think it's neat. If you don't want it you can ship it to me.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Neil
Date: 2005-12-30 02:25
Did you ask where he got the wood? It doesn't seem likely that an individual would have access to clarinet-quality blocks. I would guess that he used pieces that were too small or poor in quality to be used for clarinet manufacture. You might want to make sure, though, that he's not planning to surprise you next year with a solid grenadilla desk.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-12-30 02:29
I'm concerned about the whole "grenadilla shortage" thing. I know this is a subject of intense debate whether or not it's real, but I'm sensitive (perhaps too much) about preserving it for more noble pursuits (like making clarinets) instead of using it for car trim, pens, and other seeming frivolities.
Please note that I will be the first to admit that this make me either an elitist or a total jerk, or both. If I'm completey misguided, then I appreciate being set straight on this. I've made many a meal out of eating crow.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-12-30 02:35
Neil...he gets the wood via the Internet. He's also making a large Japanese-style lamp base out of grenadilla and a walking stick for his dad.
One of his other projects uses prehistoric mastadon bone that he got from a seller in Russia. I forget the name of the stuff, but he says it really stinks when he turns it on his lathe.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-12-30 03:18
Chalumeau Joe wrote:
> Please note that I will be the first to admit that this make me
> either an elitist or a total jerk, or both.
Elitist most probably ...
The clarinet wasn't originally made of grenadilla in any case. There are other materials which may or may not work as well, but at the moment the price of grenadilla is low enough that alternatives just aren't being explored to any great extent.
However, marketing comes into play an awful lot ... if the "top line" clarinet of some manufacturer were made of polyester reinforced polymerized cow dung and was played and recommended by some very popular clarinet star along with being touted as having the "darkest chocolately creamy tone I've played, ever" and there were only 200 made per year, each individually signed by the craftman who burnished the nameplate, and it cost 3 times as much as their regular line ...
people would line up to buy it and all would be defending their purchases as being the best clarinet ever made. It's human nature.
And who knows - they might be right about the clarinet, too.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2005-12-30 09:07
> The clarinet wasn't originally made of grenadilla in any case. There are other
> materials which may or may not work as well
I remember that a lot of recorders (including alto and bass) are made from indigenous hardwood like pear, maple or boxwood. Is grenadilla en vogue just because everyone is using it or does it just have the best price/performance ratio?
There won't be a grenadilla shortage. Just raise the price...
--
Ben
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-12-30 09:14
tictactux - recorders don't have (much) keywork. If you make a keyed instrument out of wood that is too soft, then (a) the posts may shift (b) the wood may warp enough that the keys don't work properly.
-----------
If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-30 13:38
The Pen-Blank gren. wood sold by Packard or Woodcraft are thin billets that crack easily and are good for........pens.
Their larger bowl-blank gren. has loads of pre-cracks and would not make good clarinet material..
Believe me on this.
So enjoy the pen. Most of them would have never made it as an instrument.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-12-30 13:46
Think of how much grenadilla is rejected by makers anyway - apart from filling worm holes and using the lower quality wood on student instruments or salvaging the better part of a billet for barrels, the offcuts have to go somewhere - it's better put them to some other use or turned into Greenline Buffets.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chalumeau Joe
Date: 2005-12-30 14:00
OK, I'm convinced. My conscience is now clear.
I'm resisting the urge to come up with a retort for Mark's "polyester reinforced polymerized cow dung" clarinet; but, should anyone want to start the ball rolling...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-12-30 14:16
I believe that the discussion of woods for clarinet [etc] insts. given by Rendall in "The Clarinet" is the most comprehensive. He stresses the high density, hardness, machinability and availability as important factors in choice versus boxwood, other "softer" woods, even rosewood [tho it is often desired for "beauty"]. When well treated/aged, its water absorption and cracking-potential are [hopefully] minimized. I'm surprised that others beyond Buffet have not made their own version of Greenline, which I regard as a "good move". Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-12-30 14:51
The blurb says '... the result of blending 95% of ebony powder with carbon fibre...' so read into that what you will.
But it's more brittle in comparison to grenadilla, so don't lie your Greenline (or any clarinet for that matter - plastic or otherwise) on a chair where it can get knocked or sat on.
One of the clarinet players I know knocked one over and it snapped at the middle tenon, just like a plastic one would have done.
It would be good if the pulverised wood and resin mix was reinforced or pre-stressed with carbon fibres running along the entire length of the joint as in pre-stressed concrete, then there'd be inherent strength similar to what you'd expect in wood.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
