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Re: Why aren't plastic clarinets made with wooden dimensions?

Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2008-04-09 13:18

"J.J. contrary to the Buffet advertising the Greenline material is not 95% Grenadilla - it would not be strong enough without much, much more resin than filler."

Well said, Omar.

Ryder: "For those who don't know what Buffet's Greenline is exactly, its a compound of 95% ebony dust and 5% carbon fiber. "

Yes, that is the statement in the Buffet-Crampon web site. But of course it is not true, because there would be nothing to hold those materials together. I guess that it means that a mixture of "95% ebony dust and 5% carbon fiber" is mixed with some sort of binder, almost certainly something like an epoxy resin.

I see this as dishonest of Buffet, but it suits the image they are trying to make. For all we know, there may be 70 % binder, and the REST is in the proportions mentioned.

"The carbon Fiber completely eliminates the risk of cracking and reuces the effect of temperature and humidity."

I don't know that that is accurately reported. Buffet goes further:

The website says:
"The addition of carbon fibres means that Green Line clarinets are not susceptible to variations in atmospheric conditions (changes in temperature and humidity), the risk of cracking is therefore eliminated."

I very much doubt that this is true. The binding agent is almost certainly a polymer - plastic - and plastics are subject to dimensional changes with changes in temperature, probably more so than timber is. Timber changes more with humidity, but many plastics absorb moisture and expand accordingly, eg this is a problem with nylon bearings.

JJ: ""

David Blumberg: "But eventually that will cease to be used as it will run out. Maybe not in your lifetime, maybe not mine, but probably in our kids lifetime it will. I wonder how much the old wooden clarinets will cost then??"

After the dust has settled, they may possibly be in the same category as wooden mouthpieces are now. :-)

Omar:
"Having spent the last several years investigating the properties, formulation, making batches of hard rubber, and testing the acoustics of the batches, IMO it is hard to classify it in one generic term because there are vast acoustic differences depending on the formulation, cure, and formation of the hard rubber appliance (be it mouthpiece, barrel, or clarinet body) from a molded (or extruded) and then vulcanised format to machining the part out of vulcanized rod rubber stock. The formulation in molded rubber by necessity must be different than that for making rod rubber stock. The appreciation of the sound produced is in the ear of listener no matter what the process"

I'm not sure that composition of a mouthpiece has a lot to do with composition of a body. A mouthpiece is slapped hard by the solid reed. How the material responds in returning the energy to the reed is highly significant, and highly dependent on that material. By comparison, a body can hardly be said to be slapped.

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