 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: interd0g
Date: 2009-11-06 18:22
It seems to be common knowledge around here that no two instruments, mouthpieces or whatever, of the same brand and model, are even similar in performance and we must try out a bunch of them to select something acceptable.
I can't test out this assertion very easily here in Antigua, as everything you may want to try has to be imported personally, guided through an excruciating customs procedure etc.. , duties up to to 100% paid, and returns would be a nightmare.
So I will take this on trust from the many eminent performers who have explained this on the board.
Now, I was an engineer and at times designed items for mass production or supervised assembly and quality control. I have to say that if this level of inconsistency existed more widely, then the industrial society we live in would not work. ( need not inquire if that would be a good thing).
Has anyone from the industry addressed this matter and confirmed that their own products vary from unacceptable to excellent on an every day basis?
If so, has anyone identified what exactly it is that varies?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2009-11-06 18:49
interd0g wrote:
> Now, I was an engineer and at times designed items for mass
> production or supervised assembly and quality control.
Hmmmm ... have you looked at true Amish-made furniture? They mass produce nowadays, the construction and assembly is well-supervised, and the quality control is unsurpassed. Ohio and Pennsylvania have been the two states where I have visited their workshops.
No two pieces alike.
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Author: vjoet
Date: 2009-11-06 19:19
Hmmm....When a person buys a mass produced cell phone, as long as it dials and they hear on it, then it's okay. No one ever speaks about the overtone sequence audible on a cell phone. No one cares if the spot for the battery is half a millimeter larger in this one versus that one.
A clarinet poses (unique, I believe) problems, more so than an instrument that overblows at the octave. A difference of 1 /1000 of a millimeter will create audible differences. Tooling mouthpieces (hard rubber) or clarinets themselves (wood) to 1 / 1000 of a millimeter for the bore, and the 20-odd tone holes, all exactly placed and of the exact size seems a herculean task. And then throw on top of that the degree and shape of the undercutting. Wow. And all of it interfaces in the audible realm.
On your next overseas trip, I'd suggest you plan on spending several days trying instruments out, or mouthpieces or whatever you need.
Vann Joe
(amateur)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-11-06 21:40
Clarinets, barrels and bells are made of wood. That's a natural product so every piece is different, you can't grow to pieces exactly alike. And because it is a natural product it is subject to changing with the temperature, humidity and any other natural element. Just the process of being shipped over seas will have an effect on wood. So they can make them exactly alike but no two will come out that way. As far as mouthpieces go, I've been told that each blank dries at a slightly different rate so some of the material will change slightly from the others. Also, many fine mouthpieces are hand finished. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-11-07 15:23
And why would we want all clarinets alike, anyway? When clarinet players attach our mouths to these instruments, we're part of them, and we're not all alike. Our heights, the sizes of our hands, the sizes and shapes of our lips and teeth, the interior sizes of our mouths, even the shapes of our tongues -- all these things differ. One size does not fit all. I wouldn't want to have to wear the same shoes my husband does.
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: Chris P
Date: 2009-11-07 16:42
The nearest thing to consistency is with plastic clarinets as they're moulded from resin which should be the same density from one joint to another - though toneholes will still need to be drilled and other parts made and fitted by hand.
Toneholes will be set out the same on every instrument provided the CNC machine is accurate, and keywork should all be the same provided the individual pieces are all accurately formed.
Then there's the other human element of keywork making and finishing - there should be a standard to which all instruments are finished so keywork positioning, venting and spring tension is identical on all instruments.
The last part - the human element - is the most variable factor in all manufacturing (as all humans are different) provided all other stages that are machine made are accurate and there's no inconsistency in materials used.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2009-11-07 22:19
Watch the video of the Buffet factory and notice how "precise" the finishing of the bore is. If every instrument were to be identical, in addition to above items, they would have to process each joint with a new, precisely identical finishing rod and have the positioning of the joint controlled by a precision machine. That level of precision is not worth the cost because no two players are the same. Minor variations allow a wider range of players to find "the right instrument" for themselves. Sometimes, absolute precision is not as good a choice as "good enough".
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-11-08 00:40
One major reason why there's inconsistency in equipment is that, short of actually play-testing the equipment (which can be impractical in a mass production context), there's no good way to test the *behavior* of the equipment as opposed to measuring its shape and physical dimensions to see if they're in spec.
And because the physics of these instruments is complex, it's difficult to predict their behavior based just on dimensional measurements. You can try to manufacture to ever greater dimensional tolerances, but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is how they play, and that's not something a machine can adequately test. (UNSW's Roboclarinet notwithstanding)
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