The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: Humidifying clarinets

Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2010-05-24 15:27

I've put up several notes on how temperature and moisture gradients can crack wooden clarinets. Here's a summary.

If the clarinet is hotter inside than outside and/or wetter inside than outside, the bore will try to expand. That expansion will try to stretch the exterior. It does not take much temperature or humidity difference to crack the wood. My estimates show that normal carelessness can readily bring the cross-grain tension in the wood to its failure point.

THEREFORE: do not let your bore get (much) hotter or damper than the outside.

For temperature gradient, don't blow body temperature and humidity air into a cold clarinet. My teacher will hold the upper and lower sections of his clarinet in his armpits before playing on a cold day!

If the rings are loose, that tells you that the wood is dry. When its "normal" moisture level is recovered, the wood will swell, and the rings will become tight again. You need to get this equilibrium slowly so that the moisture can work its way from the bore outward through the wall of the clarinet.

In addition to the moisture and temperature gradients, the sockets also get expanded from the inside by the compression of the sealing corks --making them even more succeptable to cracking than the rest of the bore. The rings keep the sockets from splitting under these extra loads. When the rings are loose, this safety system is not effective.

It will help if you can "moisturize" the outside of the instrument, and "get it wet" from both sides. That's why you need a moisture source outside the instrument.

Here's a link to the thread where I explain what I do:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=268357&t=268320

The effect of oil in/on the wood must be to slow the water intrusion, but I doubt that it will prevent water from getting into the wood. I'm no expert on diffusion, but I imagine that even with a hydrophobic oil coating that water vapor will diffuse into the wood.

Take it easy. Don't play the instruments long enough to saturate the bore with water. Let them come to equilibrium through-moisture condition slowly enough to avoid cracking.

I wish you good luck because small differences in acclimation and variations in the wood strength can conspire to crack you instrument with the best of care; so luck plays a role here.

Bob Phillips

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics