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RE: upper register sounds pinched

Author: Dee
Date: 2001-02-19 22:09

Corey wrote:
>
> got some questions then>>> why don't proffesionals use
> plastic clarinets with high quality reeds and proffesional
> grade mthpce's?? hmn?? why do they use wood for musical
> instruments then?? you seem to know so much>>to achieve a
> better sound! if you used metal for clarinets you wood achieve
> a totally different sound.you achieve a an ok tone quality with
> plastic clarinets... better with wood
> please reply promptly

There is a little thing called consumer resistance that is often next to impossible to overcome. The clarinet makers simply are not willing to risk producing a professional grade instrument in plastic. Consumer resistance has killed more good products than any other factor.

Why don't pro players use plastic clarinets with high quality reeds and pro mouthpieces? Simple. A pro is going to make sure that all elements of his setup are pro grade. Right now the choice of pro grade plastic clarinets is limited to the Buffet Greenline and an instrument made by Howarth. Howarths are not common in this country and the bore size happens to be different than that preferred by players in this country so would seldom be chosen by US players. That means a pro player has no choice in plastic instruments. The Buffet Greenline is it and not everyone likes Buffets or if they do like Buffets happen to prefer a model not yet available in the Greenline. Of those who do like Buffets, people who have a horn are not going to replace it. Of those who are buying, some are still brainwashed by the material debate. However this is changing, people are getting tired of cracking instruments and are starting to get on the band wagon.

Oboes are moving even more rapidly to plastic. Upper joints in oboes are so prone to cracking that several makers are offering professional grade oboes with plastic upper joints. And the pro players are buying them and using them.

Until there are two identical pro grade instruments available to compare, one plastic and one wood, you can't attribute the difference in sound to material. You cannot get a valid result by comparing a beginner instrument to a pro instrument.

The Buffet Greenline is a plastic clarinet by the way. The hype about it being ground grenadilla is simply sales hype. The epoxy has to completely coat the sawdust for it to stick together. Thus we end up with what is commonly referred to as a "filled plastic". But it's plastic nevertheless. The reports that come back are that there's no discernable difference in sound between the R-13 and the Greenline R-13. No more than you would find between two wooden R-13s.

The plastic clarinets that you are familiar with are *NOT PROFESSIONAL GRADE*. Student horns normally do not sound as good as pro grade horns due to design not material. A truly good player can compensate for the design deficiencies and make theses student grade ones sound great but they have to work a bit harder at it and on the cheapy Chinese junk and some other second rate brands, it's not worth the effort.

And guess what? Clarinets have been made of metal. But they too hit the consumer resistance barrier. And too many of them were badly designed and badly made. Most were made for the student marching band trade. Just like the plastic horns of today, they gained an undeserved bad reputation. So then people did not want them. The pro horns, "tainted" by the reputation of the junk ones, could not overcome the consumer resistance. The Haynes solid silver, double wall (for insulation), pro grade instrument was reputed to sound great as were the other very rare pro horns.

By the way metal clarinets sound just like any other. I have two of them in my mini collection.

While I play a pro grade Leblanc as my main instrument, I have a plastic Vito for outdoor gigs in questionable weather. Either way I sound like me. My stand partner didn't even notice until I told them and were astonished that a plastic clarinet could sound like that. Naturally on the student horn, I have to pay more attention and work a little harder to get the sound I want but it's not that big a problem. One of the metal horns that I have happens to be a good intermediate instrument made by Noblet. I still sound like me. My family certainly can't tell which one I'm playing just by listening.

If you search this bulletin board, there are articles where tests have been run with the player (an experienced player) behind a screen. The player did use good setups on plastic and wood instruments. The listeners (clarinettists themselves) could not tell which was which.

I would happily trade you my old Pan American wooden student grade that I used to have floating around for a Buffet, Selmer, Leblanc, or Yamaha plastic student grade any day of the week. That old Pan American had dreadful intonation problems. That was the most difficult to play horn that I have had personal experience with.

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