 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Pat Parkin
Date: 2000-06-12 22:55
Does anyone know what kinds of wood are currently being used for clarinets, beside African Blackwood (and its relations) and Rosewood? I'm asking because there is a tree here in Western Washington call the Madrona, which is famous for its incredibly hard, durable wood. I was wondering today if anyone has tried using it for a woodwind instrument.
Pat
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-06-13 14:44
We had a go-around on woods here recently, it may be under Blackwood or Arundo Donax. A stray thought, ask "Lark in the Morning" in San Fran/Mendocino who may use local woods for some inexpensive insts, I recall a tarogotto and a G clar, from some time ago. Don
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-06-13 14:59
...just don't try to burn an old plastic horn. It will make a mess and could produce toxic fumes.
I know I'm a lousy novice player, so don't give my wife any hints about using my wood clarinet for firewood. 
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-06-13 18:00
I've also wondered about this as I do know there were some experiments with alternate woods during WWII as North Africa was cut off. I did recently have the privilage to see and hold a French clarinet (1950s) that was made in rosewood and in the natural rosewood color. It was absolutely beautiful.
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Author: Beejay
Date: 2000-06-13 22:09
I've often wondered why the incredibly hard Quebracho wood of Latin America has never been used to make instruments.
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Author: Meri
Date: 2000-06-13 23:21
Beejay:
Trying to recall what F. Geoffrey Rendall said about suitable woods for clarinets, he said that woods used for making them must have certain properties, such as being dense, not too heavy, a bad conductor of heat, relatively impervious to moisture, not be prone to warping or cracking, handles easily,and other things I can't remember at this moment.
As for the Arundo donax, you couldn't make a clarinet out of that; that's the stuff used for our reeds! :-) ( I can just imagine a Millionare question on the scientific name of the material used to make clarinet, oboe, and saxophone reeds)
Meri
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-06-14 15:29
Correct, Meri, old folks get mixed up in the woods, sorry. Meant "generic" grenadilla, rosewood et al. I recall Rendall's comments on good[?] old boxwood being "more useful as a hygrometer than as a cl body"!! Don
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-14 20:36
Don,
I've seen a lot of boxwood clarinets from the late 18th - mid 19th centuries - and most make great "commas" now :^)
The use of stronger wood allowed more keys to be put on the clarinet. However, the weight has increased dramatically and very little until recently was done to relieve the concomitant thumb problems.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-06-15 06:20
There are several hard, dense woods out in the forests, but they would be very prone to cracks and splits when subjected to the extremes of moisture and drying that a woodwind goes through every time you play it. There is a tree in the Amazon that is naturaly very oily and hard as nails. Vertually every warship in the fleet has pieces of this wood as the as the propeller shaft bearing. It lasts for years under water with constant use supporting tons of weight. Let it dry out and it cracks into many little pieces despite the oil content.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-06-16 14:00
Some wood is actually *too* hard to be practical. There's one tree, aptly named Ironwood, that few woodworkers will touch, because it's so difficult to cut and turn, and it dulls expensive tools so fast! BTW, I researched an article about clarinet wood that I think is still on this site somewhere, under "Equipment." The title is, "Are Blackwood and Grenadilla the Same?" It's just preliminary research, not the last word on the subject.
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