 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alfred
Date: 2009-04-14 04:17
So earlier today, or, yesterday by my time, I took a trip to Muncy Winds and purchased an R-13 Vintage. I also got a Muncy barrell, and a BG metal tradition lig. I'm very, VERY happy with my new set up. ASnd the people at the shop were so nice, and so thorough, it was very, very easy to find the perfect fit. Though, choosing between barrells was a tough choice. [:
Anyway, I'm wondering about the breaking in procedures. Rod, from the store, gave me some advice, but everywhere I read it's slightly different. The conseunsus seems to be either 15 minutes at a time, or three five minute intervals, swabbing immediately afterwards, and keeping it somewhere in which the humidity is not liable to change. I'm curious though, as many of you know much, much more about the clarinet than I do, what are your suggestions.
Also, is there a "right time" after which the clarinet "gets broken in" and is ready to be played on full time?
Post Edited (2009-04-14 04:37)
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Author: William
Date: 2009-04-14 14:37
The most iimportant thing is swabbing after every use, including wipping the tendon sockets. Many advocate using a separate cloth for the tendons because of the possiblitliy of cork grease resedue transfer to the bore if you use a swab. As for "break in" of a new clarinet, I have never worried about this with any of my numerous new pro level clarinets--just played them "out of the box" at will with no resulting consequence (cracks, shrinkage, whatever....) And this includes two Buffet R13's purchased while i was a student in the 1960's (still play them--don't believe in the "blown or swabbed out" theory either) as well as my newest acquisition--a Buffet Prestige 1193-2 bass clarinet--purchased about 5 yrs ago and put immediantly to normal usage with no break-in process. Perhaps I am lucky to have always selected clarinets made from the "good wood" pile--you know, grenadilla without flaws that eventually become cracks--but I do not think even the most careful break in process will prevent problems if the material the clarinet is not made from the best stock. For best results, however, always swab & wipe the tendons as well as avoiding (whenever possible) extreme rapid temperature changes--something that is not always possible here in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2009-04-14 14:40
I would play a new wooden clarinet for about 30 min. at first and then let it "rest" for another thirty and then play again. By the second day I'm ready to play an hour at a time on it. The break-in period is not as difficult as some would have you think.
The humidity suggestions are good, as is swabbing out.
Congratulations on your new instrument. I hope it serves you well for a long, long time.
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Author: pelo_ensortijado
Date: 2009-04-14 17:00
depending on where you live it may vary in how careful you have to be. dont really know, buts that's my guess.
i was adviced once to start out the first day with 5 minutes. the next 6 and so on.
its really hart to let go after just a couple of minutes, but as the climate is here(sweden), its worth letting it become used to the temp/humidity differences gradually and dont stress it in any way.
i dont really have any physical evidence that this is the way to go infront of just to start playing full time. but to me it makes sence that the wood needs to get used to vibrations and all. especially those fabric-speeded-up-production-made buffet/selmer/leblanc/yamaha.
im just playing it safe with my horns. its not worth it IF they'll crack...
//niclas
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Author: kangotang
Date: 2009-04-15 14:45
I also just purchased a new R-13 A clarinet from Philip Muncy and Co. - it is my second from them and I have been extremely pleased with both the quality of instruments, and the quality of service.
With my latest purchase Muncy sent me detailed instructions on breaking in a new clarinet which, I must admit, are the most cautious I have come across.
The document recommends playing your new instrument for 5 min. at a time, 3 times per day, for 2 weeks, swabbing religiously. You are then supposed to add 5 min. to the playing time every two weeks until you get close to your "normal" practice routine. (I'm not sure how many of us split our practice time up between three different times of day). It also recommends that professionals do not perform on the instrument for one year. The usual precautions such as avoiding drastic temperature and humidity changes are also included.
I attempted to follow these procedures for a few weeks, but my schedule simply will not allow it. I personally think that this particular set of instructions requires too much patience, but if you are the paranoid type I would definitely trust Philip Muncy's advice as I'm sure he's heard plenty of horror stories!
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Author: oliver sudden
Date: 2009-04-15 16:03
> It also recommends
> that professionals do not perform on the instrument for one
> year.
(Amateurs, on the other hand, may use it freely... ;-) )
ONE YEAR?!?! Oh for goodness' sake! Plan your instrument purchases well in advance, folks... (It is made from grenadilla, this clarinet, yes?)
Do you add five minutes to the total or to each of the three 'blocks'? Surely not the former?
So who here has actually had a clarinet crack (I haven't) and what breaking-in routine had they followed? I have a feeling that might be useful information...
Post Edited (2009-04-15 16:05)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2009-04-15 16:42
Or...you can forget the break-in instructions and just play the #%&*!&$# out of a new clarinet for the first year.
If doesn't crack, chances are it's a pretty good piece of wood.
...GBK
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2009-04-15 16:50
Actually, I can't tell the difference in the longevity of an instrument one way or the other. Some I break in hard and others I've babied and I've never had a cracked instrument. I do, however, use caution concerning temp changes and meticulously care for the moisture by swabbing and wiping off keys.
Post Edited (2009-04-20 14:36)
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Author: kangotang
Date: 2009-04-15 22:27
Good to hear that others aren't aren't as careful as these instructions suggest... I practice whenever I have time, and don't really like adjusting my daily schedule around a piece of wood.
Again, Muncy has been a great company to deal with, and I'm sure the instructions are just a response to the angry calls that surely come in when someone's clarinet cracks.
FYI: I purchased a R-13 Vintage a few years ago and kept the playing time down to about 30 mins a day for a few weeks before I started using it as my primary instrument. No cracks yet. My former professor, however, takes better care of his instruments than anyone I know, and yet his Festival cracked after a couple years of use. Who really knows.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2009-04-16 22:04
Yes, it's true that how old an instrument is doesn't protect it from cracking. As mentioned above in kangotang's comments, it's possible for cracks to happen any time in the life of a wood instrument. Care must be given for excessive moisture, escessive temp changes and other common sense stuff for the care and feeding of your clarinet.
I have a wonderful Cocobolo Backun Bell that is 5 years old and it cracked all of a sudden after I got home from Israel last year. It was as protected as it could have been. I never used it outdoors in extreme changes and kept it under the seat on the airplane (never check anything in the cargo area unless it's an instrument that is too large to carry-on).
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Author: Alfred
Date: 2009-04-17 10:53
Oh, well, I have the instructions for breaking it in, they're the ones I've referred to.
And, so, I been playing on it for the week. I just make sure not to go over an hour a day, and it works fine for me. I just take caution to swab thoroughly after each use.
Thanks for all your responses, nevertheless.
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2009-04-18 03:58
http://www.taplinweir.com/care_maintenance.php
A very reputable source, to say the least.
I just purchased a Buffet Festival A from Lisa Canning and a barrel for my Bb from John Weir. Great stuff all around. Please take care breaking your new equipment in. I am doing so to avoid any issues now, or later on.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2009-04-18 15:26
The above posted link gives a much more sensible and balanced approach to breaking in than the Muncy which IMO is way over the top (and I am a firm believer of the break-in period).
What none actually mention however is the danger to the wood caused by excess moisture collecting in the toneholes, especially the top trill holes.
The bore of a tonehole exposes actual endgrain wood and so is much more absorbant.
Swabbing does not remove all the moisture from these so a recommended proceedure once the clarinet has been swabbed and dismantled is to cover finger holes of top joint as in playing and use palm of the hand to cover lower end then blow firmly into top joint whilst actuating the RH trill keys individually to force any remaining moisture out. Same can be done for any other key showing signs of water build up. It takes only moments.
Some players also like to wedge the trill keys open with a thin piece of cork to allow air to circulate in the early days.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2009-04-18 16:33
Could the purpose of ultra-long break-in periods be to insure that you'll be outside the warranty period before you play the instrument enough to give it a chance to crack? Just a thought. 
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: GBK
Date: 2009-04-18 17:33
Jack Kissinger wrote:
> Could the purpose of ultra-long break-in periods be to insure
> that you'll be outside the warranty period before you play the
> instrument enough to give it a chance to crack? Just a
> thought.
Ding..Ding..Ding...
We have a winner !
...GBK
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2009-04-18 18:42
I purchased my R-13 Vintage last June, and was very concerned about the breaking in process. I wrote to Buffet and also talked to the salesman at the store and both told me to play the horn only 15 minutes per day the first month, and swab after each playing. That is what I did although I was anxious to really play the heck out of it. Also on my warranty I can take it into the store four times the first year for little check-ups, but so far I have only had it in once. I can't choose between the two barrels either! This was a slow process of breaking in, but for that money, believe me I behaved myself. Our weather here is "moderate" and temperature does not change much daily.
My Noblet C clarinet that I bought new some years back I did NOT take the time to break it in, and the upper joint cracked on New Year's Eve as the band was playing near a fireplace in a dance hall. But it was under warranty and Noblet sent me a new piece, no questions asked. So I learned my lesson the hard way. Heartbreaking to glance down and see your lovely new horn slowly cracking a little at a time.
Good luck with your Vintage, I really am enjoying mine.
Carol
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-04-18 21:36
Does anyone have any real evidence as to what happens when one "breaks in" a clarinet using any of the processes we've heard about? I bet not.
More opinion and hand-me-down wisdom of the "to oil or not to oil" ilk than hard evidence, empirical or scientific.
If a clarinet is going to crack, it makes more sense that it's going to crack because of stresses already present in the wood or because of a large temperature differential between the outside environment and the inside (bore) environment (like playing next to a fireplace) rather than not following any protracted break-in process or any niceties thereof.
Follow some sort of break-in technique if it feels good, but this old crab's advice is not to agonize over trifles like "fifteen minutes four times a day" vs. "a half hour three times a day" for a week, two, week, a month, or a year.
(Ever notice that manufacturers don't require a prescribed break-in process in their their warranties?)
Let the flames begin.
B.
Post Edited (2009-04-19 02:41)
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Author: buedsma
Date: 2009-04-20 08:05
anyone ever thought about how clarinets and bassclarinets are transported overseas by plane ??
Would humidity and temperature changes not be extreme in those situations ??
Or all all the clarinets wrapped in special protective material ?? To avoid sudden temparature drops/rises etc ??
Otherwise some of the break-in procedures might be a bit exagerated . Break it in for 2/3 weeks ( avoid too much moisture and temp changes, don't play for hours ) and that's it.
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Author: oliver sudden
Date: 2009-04-20 09:47
I'm pretty sure that the cases are wrapped in plastic before going on the plane. That would sort out the moisture problem.
But that is certainly the kind of consideration that makes breaking-in unpredictable, isn't it? You don't know what the wood has already been through since it turned into a clarinet...
> Otherwise some of the break-in procedures might be a bit
> exagerated . Break it in for 2/3 weeks ( avoid too much
> moisture and temp changes, don't play for hours ) and that's
> it.
That's certainly what I've always done, whether with blackwood or boxwood or rosewood or maple, and I've never had an instrument crack. But as I said upthread that doesn't actually prove anything! :-)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-04-20 13:22
It is moisture content rather than temperature that makes grenadilla swell.
So surely, if a clarinet is going to crack, then it will do so because of added stresses caused by an increase in the gradient across the thickness of the timber, of moisture content. The causes of this gradient are the exposure to the player's moist breath on the inside, and the exposure to the clarinet's geographical climate (or micro-climate).
The bore side of the timber wall eventually reaches a maximum moisture content based on how much playing per day (i.e. time exposed to 100% humidity).
I cannot imagine the non-bore side of the timber wall taking more than a couple of weeks to reach a certain moisture content based on the player's climate.
So what difference does it make if you wait more than a couple of weeks to expose the bore side of the timber to the maximum moisture content it is going to have to live with.
I agree that this excessive recipe for breaking in is probably a sneaky dodge of the guarantee.
If there were an important, known, break-in regime, it would surely be stated by the manufacturer.
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-04-20 14:03
I would like evidence to support that "It is moisture content rather than temperature that makes grenadilla swell".
According to a professor of wood technology here, this is not the case.
His summary: Dimensional changes in an piece of blackwood of the size and shape of a clarinet body and "naturally aged" (not kiln dried) due to moisture absorption over a period of weeks is trivial compared to changes caused by sudden wide temperature variations or differences in bore and outside surface temperatures, especially when there are already structural stresses in the wood itself.
My contact has kindly offered to write up a short summary, with "numbers," of the evidence and implications of environmental temperature and moisture conditions on blackwood machined for clarinets.
I'll post that as soon as I get it. (His name and qualifications will be included then, though he asked that I not mention it at this point to avoid more messages in his IN box.)
B.
Post Edited (2009-04-20 14:04)
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Author: musicalnotes
Date: 2009-04-21 19:45
Amature Question, but do you break down your clarinet everytime after using it? Or do you just swab it, and put it on the rack?
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2009-04-21 23:51
I would not like to argue with somebody with more technical expertise than myself, but the the following needs some explanation...
Temperature changes can occur within minutes in a new environment, whereas moisture content in a timber such as grenadilla changes but slowly.
Take a tenon which is quite a precise fit. I have never experienced such a tenon to jam from swelling as soon as the instrument is warmed, i.e. within minutes, and to become free again as soon as the clarinet cools.
On the other hand, a precisely fitting tenon will indeed jam after a few days or weeks if the clarinet is moved to a more humid environment.
Post Edited (2009-04-27 21:32)
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-04-22 00:57
I've done both, but before I'd put a clarinet on the stand, I always swabbed each joint AND tenon socket to keep condensation from affecting the bladder pads, then reassembled it.
The only downside for me for not putting it in the case broken down is that the silver keys tarnish faster and the clarinet gathers dust. Then again, things might get a little musty if the horn stays a closed case most of the time.
Keep in mind, though, that whereas I never worried at all about humidity, many on the list do, and they will advise to to keep it in the case with orange peel, humidifiers, and so forth. If you're concerned about that, you'll probably want to at least swab it and close it up in its case whenever it's not being played.
B.
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Author: oliver sudden
Date: 2009-04-23 19:10
Can anyone here give some hints on humidifiers? Are they worth using?
I had a clarinet weather scare this winter (in Germany) - some of my clarinets spent nights in freezing cold trucks on the way to concerts, the humidity in the building I work with was very low because of the heating... as a result some keys stopped working and I invested in hygrometers and dampits and crossed my fingers that nothing cracked (fortunately nothing did).
I'd be grateful for any advice - across the pond your winters are a bit more extreme so I'm sure you have some to offer!
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2009-04-23 22:17
Oliver,
For no other reason than what I know as a woodworker, I would never use a humidifier in my case, especially if the humidity in your location is very low.
Despite others' strong opinions to the contrary, what most woodworkers will tell you is that it's not any given normal humidity or temperature that's going to crack wood, it's the shock of abruptly subjecting wood to radically different temperatures and humidity levels. (That's why so much antique furniture has come to ruin in modern days; central heating, with it's quick heating and cooling cycles and temperature, and humidity "zones.")
Therefore, storing your instrument in a closed, humidified case, opening the case, and then playing the horn in a very dry environment is going to subject the instrument to an abrupt change that will stress the wood a lot more than letting the clarinet gradually come up to whatever the "ambient" humidity is. So, in my opinion, using artificial humidification is bad, not good.
Of course, I'm a skeptic about the affects of humidity on cracking anyway, but you asked. The only advantage that I've seen in keeping the humidity in a case up in a dry environment is that it seems to keep skin pads more pliable right out of the case, and what was done there was to keep orange peel in the case--a much more "gentle" method of humidification that what is likely with those case humidifiers.
IMO, much more important is the temperature! Quickly moving your clarinet between high and low temperatures (as you would have if you took your instrument from your car into the house that night, immediately opened the case, and then started playing it) could be a real problem!
Again, it's not humidity or temperature that matter, it's how quickly you subject your instrument to abrupt changes in either.
By the way, I doubt that it was humidity that caused the key binding problem, but the change in the dimensions of the instrument caused by the low temperature.
Which keys bound? My guess is that the ones that are mounted between posts perpendicular to the long axis of the instrument were the ones you had a problem with because the body of the clarinet contracted with the cold, thus bringing the posts closer together. (Contraction on the long axis of the clarinet would have been proportionatey very very small, and not likely to cause this binding.)
B.
Post Edited (2009-04-24 03:03)
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Author: oliver sudden
Date: 2009-04-24 20:03
Thanks for that. I'm always careful not to play any of my instruments straight away if they're very cold of course.
The keys that stuck were on the bass clarinet and were both long rods: the bottom C thumb key and the rod on the top joint that takes care of the automatic octave key. Whatever caused them, it didn't let up until after it was back home again, carefully warmed up and had been played a couple of times...
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Author: hellochris
Date: 2010-05-26 02:18
Question.
I got a new instrment maybe 6 weeks ago, and I unfortunately have been blowing away until about 2 weeks ago. NO cracks. Today I was only planning to play on it for half an hour to an hour, but I got so into practicing, it went into a few hours. Will my instrument blow out?
??
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2010-05-26 02:31
Breaking in is a precaution that many choose to take in preparing their horns. That you've played your instrument so much in such a fashion is no guarantee that you will have any issues with the wood at all.
In an aside, "blown out" is a different condition than cracking, and I highly doubt you could have blown out your clarinet in the amount of time you're describing.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: hellochris
Date: 2010-05-26 02:35
Ah, I have received the same feedback from my peers. however, have I possibly ruined the results of a successful broken in clarinet (whic is about a year following its purchase)?
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Author: Bill G
Date: 2010-05-27 04:54
I've sustained only one crack in over 70 years of playing. I didn't know anything about the break-in and swabbing precautions mentioned in this thread until about 5 years ago. About 35 years ago I was playing a travelling ice show, with a score requiring many changes between alto sax and clarinet. The band was seated on the ice, covered with canvas. After a clarinet passage well into the show I had to change from clarinet to sax, and placed my clarinet back on its stand, resting on the canvas covered ice. The next time I needed the clarinet, I could produce only air--from a crack through the trill key tone holes. (I had to transpose the rest of the clarinet parts to sax.) Solely on the basis of that experience, I'm inclined to believe that sudden change of temperature is more often the cause of cracking. Bill G.
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