 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2012-02-14 16:48
why dont professionals use plastic clarinets?
is the quality worse than wood? what makes wood better?
what are the differences between poor quality plastic clarinets - and good quality plastic clarinets? Is it the quality of parts used to make it?
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2012-02-14 17:04
Because wood is the traditional material of higher-grade clarinets, professionals have come to expect the more expensive clarinets to be made of wood. Plastic was introduced to clarinets as a way to make more rugged and weather-resistant instruments for outdoor and beginner use, superseding metal clarinets (which were more expensive to manufacture) in that role.
There is nothing inherently superior about wood vs. plastic acoustically; and from a mechanical standpoint each has good and not-so-good properties. In the past some truly excellent clarinets have been made from materials other than wood. Currently many professional oboe and bassoon manufacturers offer very high quality plastic upper joints or entire instruments as an alternative to wood (which has a marked tendency to crack in thicker-walled instruments such as the double reed woodwinds).
Today, the differences are purely market-driven. Although manufacturers are certainly capable of making top-of-the-line plastic or hard rubber (or metal) clarinets, they would have a hard time selling enough of them (it's been tried, a few times). Because advanced and pro players EXPECT wood, the manufacturers make their top instruments out of wood.
So, modern plastic instruments are targeted at the bottom end of the market, thus are made with cheaper materials, sloppier tolerances, and little or no hand finishing. Consequently they're not as good as more expensive wood clarinets which benefit from more expense in materials and manufacturing and more labor invested.
I won't go into 'poor quality' vs. 'good quality' plastic clarinets, because it would expose my bias against Chinese instruments. Somebody else is welcome to step up and take on that discussion.
![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2012-02-14 17:19
For me the notes were to hard to control. I couldn't get a nice even scale. Some notes were stuffy other notes pop out. so with that I couldn't trust the horn. Mainly solo work and duets, quintets and quartets.
I haven't played the Buffet Greenline yet. I think Ridenour is pretty close at getting these issues fixed.
I have to say that a few of the name brand horns have some troubles, but only on a few notes, so there isn't a company that can make a really perfect horn, at the moment, but these companies are all getting close. Both Buffet and Selmer also seem to have some quality horns. There are a few people that can go to Buffet and hand pick clarinets. Those horms I'm sure of are really good.
I think there are great plastic clarinets and plastic reeds already out there and unless you plan on doing a lot of classical type of music, and you are not a pro yet, plastic reeds and horns can be a very a wonderful thing. You simply slap the horn together, get that 1 or 2 year plastic reed and off you go. It's really great for major temp changes such as marching in 20 drgree weather suddenly, 3 hours later you are doing a warm inside 75 degree concert hall performance.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2012-02-14 22:33)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2012-02-14 21:01
First of all, as a professional player, I think wood does in deed have a warmer tone quality than plastic. Perhaps that's because they have not made a very high quality plastic clarinet that can come closer to the quality of wood. We say plastic but they probably could make them out of some type of material that we would call plastic even though it would be a different type than say a Bundy is made of.
I think the other problem is that at least now, the companies don't make the plastic clarinets with the same care in tuning and key work as they do with a pro wooden model. Undercutting the tone holes, high quality springs and key work etc. I know many wood clarinets are far from being intonation perfect but plastic clarinets, at least the ones I've tried in the past, don't even come close. Someday a company will come up with a material that matches the quality of wood and produce a high professional quality clarinet, the after a while it will slowly become acceptable. A little like the Rovner Ligature, when it first came out, I helped getting it marketed in the first few years, most players won't touch it with a ten foot reed because it looked "funny", not it's the most copied design of any ligature on the market. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2012-02-14 21:34
I don't want to argue the material, per se.
I have heard that because plastic (actual, dyed in the wool PLASTIC) melts under many of the most common reaming, drilling processes AND is much harder to achieve a good foundation for posts with plastic, wood becomes the better choice for the actual manufaturing process.
SO
Would YOU be willing to pay $10,000 for a plastic clarinet if it took that to create one that was equal to a wooden horn? I think YOU might be looking for a cheaper alternative rather than a technological achievement. In reality, a really good horn will cost you and there's no way around it, material not withstanding.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2012-02-15 06:48
Eventhough plastic is resistant to cracking in the way that wood isn't, there are some technical issues that make it overall (IMO) a worse material in terms of making a clarinet. I'm talking about the plastics such as the Vito, Bundy, etc.
Regardless of tone, manufacturing, price, etc. there is something I like about wood. There is no real reason, it's just a nice material. In the same way that a wood table is nicer IMO than plastic, glass. Or shelves, etc.
Re the claims above (and elsewhere) about wood sounding different from plastic ("warmer", "makes a decisive difference", etc.), you will probably not find a single shred of REAL evidence for that. By REAL I mean an unbiased, objective comparison of that. BTW I'm not saying there is no difference.
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Author: The Watcher
Date: 2012-02-15 08:03
I've noticed no one has mentioned Yamaha in this discussion.
Being a rather new student of the clarinet I chose the Yamaha YCL-250 as my first Clarinet. I did this after seeking a lot of advice. The one thing that kept coming to me was that they put about as much effort into the Student, ie plastic, model as they do in their Intermediate and Professional Clarinets - all of them wood.
Now I have an Intermediate, Normandy 4 paired with a Vandoren M13 mouthpiece, I can clearly state in some areas I prefer the Yamaha. I find it has excellent tone and clarity. Although my hearing sucks - I can still tell when I make a mistake coming out with either the wrong note or a load squeel.
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Author: William
Date: 2012-02-15 18:21
For my first three years of high school, I played on a Bundy clarinet, earning two class A first division awards at our State Music Festival and placing second chair in an All-State band. Listeners always told me I had a great sound and were very surprised to learn I was playing a Bundy. My secret--a pro level mouthpiece and careful listening. Intonation by ear..lol. However, when I first brought home my first wood clarinet--a Selmer CT--it was my mother listening to me practice from the kitchen who first mentioned a "nicer sound".
Bottom line: I think that material does make a difference in the sound of a clarinet, but not as much as a good mouthpiece/reed setup and good listening--making your clarinet sound like you want it to.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2012-02-15 19:03
Quote:
why dont professionals use plastic clarinets?
They do — the Buffet GreenLine. You've got to hand it to them; the reputation of the R13 and some clever marketing — ooh, grenadilla wood dust!!! — has enabled them to even sell these clarinets to traditionalists. And these traditionalists manage to achieve the classic warm "woody" tone on the epoxy horns as they would on one made of blackwood.
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Author: J. J.
Date: 2012-02-16 05:02
I think quality of wood--properly selected and aged--does not make a decisive difference in tone quality.
J.J.
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