 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: alisdair
Date: 2008-12-22 11:48
and other extreme climes...
Hi y'all...
I will be joining a research trip to remote parts of Australia in a few months and am looking into picking up a s/h Vito to travel with.
How do you think this instrument will take to camping in a very hot humid climate with a good chance of the opposite at some time?
What precautions can I take or do you think it is going to be a fairly durable choice?
Thanks for your thoughts
Alisdair
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-22 12:33
Stay tuned for expert advice from that part of the world.
Bob Draznik
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-12-22 13:07
My friend's Vito melted a little bit on the plastic during "the hottest band camp ever," but everything is still functional. The melting doesn't even look like melting, just not shiny anymore!
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Author: alisdair
Date: 2008-12-22 13:31
so will i end up with a salvidor dali clarinet??
will this help me play bebop?
Post Edited (2008-12-22 13:32)
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Author: Curinfinwe
Date: 2008-12-22 14:32
I must warn you though, January and February are extremely hot in Australia, and can get up to 40 degrees Celsius in the coastal cities. I didn't play clarinet when I lived there, but I imagine you'll have to be very careful.
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Author: 78s2CD
Date: 2008-12-22 15:12
I used to leave plastic clarinets year round in our trailer in Baja California with no ill effects. The temperature frequently got above 115F. Obviously, I wouldn't leave any instrument lying around in the sun for any length of time.
Regards,
Jim
James C. Lockwood
Rio Rico AZ
"I play a little clarinet"
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-12-22 16:03
I've no experience of these conditions, but I wonder whether you might have problems with the humidity more than with the heat. (I know the title of your post says "desert", but your text says "humid".)
Maybe you need to take some precautions to protect the pads from rot, under continuously humid conditions. Possibly also rusting of metalwork.
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Author: Curinfinwe
Date: 2008-12-22 16:34
It's not at all humid in the Australian Outback. Very dry, and very scorchingly hot.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-22 16:54
I have a hard time believing that a Vito whether the earlier phenolic or later ABS versions would melt during a hot summer in North America....or suffer any cosmetic damage as noted by the above author. I would suspect that the friend put something on the finish which reacted with the temperature. I'm thinking that a primary consideration would be taking a clarinet for which tech service is available down there.......which leads me to nominate Yamaha.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Arlee
Date: 2008-12-22 17:43
Direct exposure to sunlight or high heat will soften most plastics so they'll bend quite easily. I know this firsthand. If that happens to your instrument you'll then have to submerge it in very hot water to reshape it -- never a good situation.
The cautionary action would be to not let it sit in direct sunlight for any appreciable length of time. Leave it in its case until you get the urge... then find a shady place to play.
Arlee
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Author: 78s2CD
Date: 2008-12-22 17:54
Alisdair didn't say exactly which of Australia's many climatic areas he was going to visit, but if he said it's humid, that may well be so. He did say the area was remote, in which case a screwdriver and a Micro Clarinet Kit may be the extent of the available tech service. If conditions are humid, that may not be a bad thing, even if the instrument is wood. In Southern Arizona my instruments always seem happiest during humid times of the year. During dry weather I always keep humidifiers in my cases.
Regards,
Jim
James C. Lockwood
Rio Rico AZ
"I play a little clarinet"
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-22 18:38
"Direct exposure to sunlight or high heat will soften most plastics so they'll bend quite easily."
I don't buy that. I am under the impression that hard rubber may be the easiest of clarinet materials to suffer from heat but I think that phenolic, ABS and Acrylic are resistant to softening under most "normal" temperatures. To soften a common ABS plastic horn enough to deform it one would probably have to leave it exposed to high heat desert conditions for some time.......which any reasonable clarinet player wouldn't do. Perhaps your personal experience was with a hard ru -bber instrument?? Perhaps you could name the instruments that softened on you?
Bob Draznik
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Author: Arlee
Date: 2008-12-23 03:49
I believe it was a shiny plastic Conn - not real sure now though as it was many many years ago. Not thinking, I left it on a cot near a [closed] window on a bright and sunny summer afternoon. Then, for whatever reason, I left it there while doing something else. Upon returning to the room an hour or so later the horn (sunlight streaming in directly upon it) had 'sagged', conforming itself to the mattress shape, a nice shallow bow shape.
While you may not buy my story, Bob, please keep in mind that I'm the one who lived, or suffered, through it :(
I will admit that I couldn't tell you now for sure whether it was hard rubber, still shiny newish, or a plastic material. You may be quite correct but, my point is -- don't leave your instrument for any extended length of time in direct sunlight. Why take the chance?
I must add that I had purchased the horn at a pawn shop for $15 as a backup/marching horn. This was waaay back in the late 1950s. No great monitary loss but a rather valuable lesson to me at the time about taking care of my toys
Arbee
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-23 20:01
Arlee/Arbee....I don't doubt that you had such an experience with a clarinet. I doubt your statement about most plastics being susceptible to the same problem because it's just not true. Just like plastics in general, hard rubber is not just one formulation and treatment. The hard rubber clarinets of "many years ago" were known for acting as yours did. Fortunately at least some top rated ones nowadays have benefitted by advances in formulations and treatments. Nevertheless, your recommendaton certainly is sound.
Bob Draznik
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-12-24 05:18
This is a misunderstanding. The original poster simply mispelled desert. He was talking about the common phenomenon where you eat a cake and suddenly a clarinet jumps out of it.....
"clarinet in the dessert"
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Author: Buffet Boy
Date: 2008-12-24 20:45
Wow, where should I start...
I have a First Act/Century clarinet as my marching horn( I would never ever march with my Buffet). All I can say is this, Plastic instruments are very resiliant to most weather conditions. My plastic clarinet survived through 100+(F) degree weather during the day, and close to freezing during the night. I it's also been in the sun when it was 90 degrees and not cloud in the sky.
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Author: alisdair
Date: 2008-12-25 10:04
Yeah I did say desert but then mention humidity... I just like the idea of clarinets in the desert! (Even if the instrument doesn't.) I'll be spending the bulk of this trip in a mostly humid climate on the mid to north west coast where it often approaches tropical... however I do plan some excursions into the desert like central regions of Australia at some point.
This trip incidentally is up to Ningaloo reef, by Exmouth. I have not been yet but it's supposed to be stunning.
Happy holidays from down under!
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