 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jsc
Date: 2009-03-15 14:54
Hi,
I may be traveling some this summer. What precautions should I consider with my horns with humidity?
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-03-15 15:22
Buy a humistat and a hygrometer.
<www.humistat.com>
James
...and a good insulated case cover, I use Altieri.
Gnothi Seauton
Post Edited (2009-03-15 15:22)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-03-15 18:34
Prevent rapid changes in BOTH humidity and temperature. A large gradient of either across the thickness of your wooden instrument can apply enough stress to the wood to crack it. The warm, damp side of the wall expands the pulls the cooler, dry side apart.
For temperature control. Keep the instrument in its case, and think about adding more insulation to slow down the warming and cooling of the instrument buried inside. When you take it out of the box, pay some attention to how hot or cold it feels and be careful with your hot air flow.
For humidity, I've found that it takes a LOT of water in the box with the horn to keep it damp enough in there. I use two 1x1x2-inch sponges saturated with water, placed in tight fitting plastic bags to keep water away from the lining of the case. These bags are open on one side to let water vapor out into the case and wedged into nooks and crannies so that they won't "tip over: and wet the case. With this much water in a double case, my hygrometer reads 50% RH.
I poke the sponges with a finger before closing the case, and if they are drying, I pull them out and re-saturate them.
When you are blowing your horn, the air inside is close to 98-degF and 100% humidity.
Bob Phillips
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Author: jsc
Date: 2009-03-15 18:38
I'm hoping there aren't major problems as we are going from S. California to possibly Virginia. Humidity should be similar, I believe.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-03-15 19:54
Summertime in VA you have 80-99% humidity...so you won't need a humidifier of any kind if you come here.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: jsc
Date: 2009-03-15 20:31
Thanks James. If we do go, it's more to see Civil War sites and such. I thought I'd try and go to North Carolina, as well and visit Muncy Music.
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2009-03-16 02:03
In such high humidity areas there's always a problem with mold. When we were living in Costa Rica we realized why everyone had closets with those wooden-slatted doors, or some way of letting the air circulate. Some unused leather shoes were fished out of the back of the closet looking quite green, yuck! In the mornings our clothes felt damp until later in the morning when the sun dried the rain from the previous day. When playing my clarinet there it was a lot more stuffy than here, until we were there awhile - it probably got acclimatized.
This winter (in Canada) I watched the hygrometer more than usual and kept the humidity at close to 40%. The humidity in the house dropped to 18% with the central heating, even with a humidifier running in the music room. But if the humidity inside the case was higher than 40% for an extended period, mold started to grow along the surface of the padding in the case.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2009-03-16 02:29
To provide just enough disagreement to obfuscate the matter:
I keep my clarinets at 40-50% humidity, and have never had a problem with mold.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2009-03-17 03:06
Latin: Obfuscatus. English: a transitive verb: to make obscure, to darken. So, a contrasting opinion to muddy the waters? Hey, this is how we learn!
Being fascinated with science, for sure there are other factors at work than only the humidity level inside the case. Probably it had something to do as well with the MANNER that humidity was introduced into my case, a concentration of humidity that probably led to the level being higher than 50% at the point of contact - probably more like 80%. Then the environment of the room, previous unseen mold spores, age of the case, etc etc. A lot can be happening at a microscopic level that we don't see until other factors promote the growth of the stuff to a degree that we finally can see it.
Anyway, drastic humidity changes can't be healthy for the instrument...
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Author: William
Date: 2009-03-18 15:20
Your reeds are more succepetable to variations in humidity because of the porus nature of the cane. I've travelled all over the US through a variety of climatic changes and have never experianced any problems with my clarinets. No mold, cracks, pad probs, keys sticking, nothing. Just keep the clarinets with you on the plane, in the car, on the train, etc and if you do not mold or crack, neither will they. Clarinets are more durable than most of us give them credit for. It's those pecky, wimpy, thin-tipped reeds--expecially those new VDs in those wonderful little individual packages--that can't stand the climate and altiude changes.
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