 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: curiousclarinetist
Date: 2011-02-24 07:19
It seems to be the consensus that the Humistat is the way to go for clarinet humidifying.
http://curiousclarinetist.blogspot.com/2011/02/humidifying-your-case.html
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2011-02-24 11:03
While the Humistat might be a wonderful product ...
Your link indicates "a consensus of one" ...
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Author: CWH
Date: 2011-02-24 12:40
An effective yet inexpensive alternative is an old plastic Rx bottle with a cosmetic sponge placed inside. Drill a couple of holes (1/8 in.) into it and dampen the sponge every couple of days with distilled water. Problem solved…simple, frugal and effective.
Study, Practice, Play and Enjoy.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2011-02-24 13:35
Use a small digital hygrometer (online cigar sellers) to determine success....see the recent posts about humidifying a BAM case.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2011-02-24 15:24
curiousclarinetist wrote:
> Mr. Charette, what is your preferred method?
I don't have a preferred method - I have a whole-house humidifier and don't have any problems with my piano, guitars, or clarinet.
The point was:
You have a review and conclusion at your site, not a consensus.
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Author: Philcoman
Date: 2011-02-24 15:46
Well, room humidifiers are only useful if your instrument doesn't leave the room. But in any case, we couldn't find a room humidifier that really did the job in our rather open-spaced living area, so we use a humistat for my clarinet and ukulele, dampits for the larger instruments (guitars, cello), and the piano has its own humidifier installed. We're pretty happy with all three, although the dampits need to be refreshed at least daily in the depths of the New England winter.
"If you want to do something, you do it, and handle the obstacles as they come." --Benny Goodman
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Author: DougR
Date: 2011-02-26 14:27
It's an interesting (sometimes tedious) area of discussion, so let me contribute some tedium of my own. My conclusion is, I'm not sure what "works" and what doesn't. What do you mean by "works"? I have a lucky charm in my pocket that keeps the elephants away. My proof that it works? No elephants! I have a pair of humistats in my Bb/A case--how do I know it works? No elephants...er, cracks!
I've been running a little science-fair experiment all winter, with a closed tupperware container, a bunch of reeds, a hygrometer, and a humistat. By meticulously varying the amount of closure on the container lid I could keep the humidity at an indicated 55-60. This "worked" right up until some mysterious tipping point occurred, and my reeds developed little downy beards on their butt ends. I frankly can't tell you whether the reeds played better at 55-60, beards or not, than they would have at 25-30.
I keep a hygrometer along with the 2 humistats in my Bb/A case; the indicated humidity is 28. Of course, it was 28 with just one humistat too. (I suppose the needle could be stuck.) The humistats gradually empty & need to be refilled, which I'm happy to do, strictly for peace-of-mind and to give my life a sense of grand purpose that it would lack otherwise.
When I bought my R13-A, used, it came in a Buffet double case from the early 70s--a dollar-store-Samsonite-cheap-looking job with no flange around the lid whatsoever. Freezing air could get in, rain could get in, dust could get in. With a case like that, how was there NOT an epidemic of cracked Buffets back in the 70s?
Finally, here's what I learned at my local guitar shop, when I took my classical guitar in to get some cracks fixed (long cracks running on either side of, and parallel to, the fingerboard end): I said, should I have humidified this guitar? They said, no: your guitar probably would have cracked anyway, and besides, it's not the ambient humidity that makes tone wood crack, it's the extreme and abrupt changes in humidity, e.g. when soaking a dried-out dampit and putting it back in the case, the abruptness of the change will cause wood to crack. (They specifically mentioned Dampits as an example of what NOT to use to humidify guitars. For clarinets? YMMV, of course!)
If money were no object, a whole-room humidifier would be the way to go...if I could find one that burned used reeds for fuel. What I should probably do at this point is get out all my hygrometers from their various cases and containers, line them up and field-test them for standardization under various conditions (e.g. atomic attack, desert-like conditions, etc.) to see if they read the same, then buy stock in Rico and get some vitalizers and reed cases to use them in, which pretty much seems to "work" for everyone who's posted about them in the past. (Let Rico worry about humidity levels, in other words.) I'm sure THAT would keep the elephants away!
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Author: alanporter
Date: 2011-02-26 23:41
I cannot understand why you people put up with all this nonsense of cracking instruments and mouldy reeds, etc. A greenline, or ebonite or plastic instrument, and a synthetic reed would put an end to all these problems. Or are you pretending that there are problems that the rest of us don't understand. ?
tiaroa@shaw.ca
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2011-02-26 23:53
I, too, have found no elephants. However, several years ago I purchased a used instrument on the auction site. When it arrived, all tenon rings were loose, the bell ring was loose, and it was developing several hairline cracks. Since it arrived, I have kept a pill bottle humidifier in its case. Today, with no other corrective action (other than use), all rings are tight and you have to know where the cracks were to have any hope of finding them. It is now one of my favorite instruments and I use it regularly. I don't know about preventing cracking, but humidifying the instrument (starting with a humidifier and, once well started, continuing with use) definitely improved the instrument and reversed the cracking process. It required several months of sitting in a humidified case to reverse most of the problems before I stared playing it but, now, one would be hard pressed to demonstrate that it ever had those problems. I can't prove that they can prevent cracking, but I do keep a pill bottle humidifier in every clarinet case.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2011-02-26 23:55
That would be because not a one of them are the same as a good Wooden Clarinet - including the Greenline.
Doesn't feel the same, doesn't feel as good to blow. Sound wise, maybe they can hold a candle, but that's about it. Can't beat it.
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2011-02-27 03:03
I may be totally off base from lack of knowledge, but I suspect that cracking is much more of a problem in newer instruments because of a reduction in quality of available wood. I started with a 1930s Kohlert which I used for everything. Although there were some around, I had never heard of a plastic clarinet until I was well out of college. My Kohlert, along with my brother's Centered Tone, went from concert to marching in the sun to sitting in the stands at football games with temperatures in the mid 30°s (and suddenly being played for any score). All of the wooden clarinets in our high school band and my college band did the same without any problems. The wooden portion of my collection currently includes the Kohlert, a Selmer 55, Centered Tone, Series 9, and Series 10 and none has shown any tendency to crack with the exception of the 10, which was cracked when I got it, but is no longer a problem. I suspect that concern about cracking has increased because it has become more common and there is now an alternative.
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