 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2007-05-04 07:04
From what i've been noticing, cracks in wood seem to be develop most frequently in the jump trill key. Is there any reason why this is so? is this pure happenstance or the wood weaker because of the closeness of the trill key? or is it something else?
What do you do when there is a "possible" looking cracks? sand it down?
In my opinions, cracks are alot like cancer. It is preventable when you catch it early, but difficult to cure when the damage is done.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-05-04 09:19
Most cracks I've seen happen here (between the top tenon and upper trill tonehole) though I have seen some that have split between the tenon and the speaker bush.
As long as a crack terminates fully into a tonehole it won't spread any further, but that depends on the angle of the grain at that point.
But cracks aren't terminal in that it's the end of the life of that joint - they can't be stopped if they're going to happen, but once they have split they can be dealt with and with hardly effect on the playability of the clarinet.
Are Shakuhachis more prone to splitting than oboes or clarinets?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2007-05-04 10:56
In looking at older clarinets for sale at flea markets, yard sales, junktiques stores and so forth, I've noticed more cracks in barrels than anywhere else. Often, they're conspicuous, bad cracks: wide open. Clarinets that end up in these low-rent markets tend to have the more visible problems that make dealers in music stores say, "No, thanks," when people try to sell the instruments there, so my observation may not mean much, statistically: I'm seeing the white elephants' graveyard, where the clarinets that got dropped or suffered from bad conditions in long storage go to die. Still worth opening up those cases, though, because every now and then, something worth saving gets buried alive.
Fwiw, I also see a lot of flea market clarinet casess with mixed parts from more than one brand name. By far the majority of the replacement parts are non-original barrels and bells, indicating that something bad happened to the originals. Typically, these replacements are not the custom-made, after-market barrels that can improve a clarinet; these have name brands on them from inexpensive, student-quality clarinets, and often these "married" barrels don't even fit the clarinets in the cases with them: somebody's combined two wrecks to make one instrument that looks whole, to people who don't look carefully.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-05-04 11:49
Yes, barrels, that's where the hottest air is
Bob Draznik
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2007-05-05 01:47
Draz,
No, the hottest air is when you tell me all those great stories when we are looking through the stuff in your sub-basement!
HRL
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2007-05-05 05:46
is there any explanation as to why the cracks form in the upper joint right by the upper trill key? it's so consistent that it has to do with something in the cutting process or something. is there more pressure there then anywhere else as this is where the air first encounters resistance? thus creating a crack or a bubble of pressure?
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2007-05-05 07:25
If you put a material under stress then it is most likely to fail where it is weak, for some reason, eg at/through a tone hole. And the splitting occurs near the top of the instrument, because that is where there is most moisture in the bore, hence the most swelling of the timber.
Chris wrote "...As long as a crack terminates fully into a tonehole it won't spread any further, but that depends on the angle of the grain at that point..."
I disagree, unless I misunderstand you. I have seen cracks spread from the upper tenon to the throat A key's hole, out the other side of the hole along the spring groove to the next tone hole, and sometimes out the other side of that, past the index finger hole, and on to the next tone hole.
They're nasty ones to deal with because there is so little space for pinning without risking further damage from the stress of the pinning operation itself, or after it. These are the ones I like sent back for replacement if they are under guarantee.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-05-05 11:28
Ha, Hank....So!, you're still alive!
Bob Draznik
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