 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Timmy7930
Date: 2012-11-10 02:11
This would be more about the material they're made of. There are several plastics clarinets are now made of but, I'm curious to see the difference and which one is the "best". I guess the two main ones I'm curious about is Bakelite vs ABS. Also, I hear Bakelite is very brittle and can crack easily, is this true? All help appreciated!
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2012-11-10 11:43
Bakelite is a very early plastic, one of the first commercial types, often used in electrical circuit boards and as far as I know hasn't been used for clarinet bodies since maybe the 1920s. I have a Bakelite bass clarinet upper joint made by Harry Bettoney and it's excellent, I really like the material but you won't see it on any clarinet that's even remotely "modern". Most modern plastic clarinets are made of ABS or acrylic plastics; neither of those is particularly brittle. ABS is quite tough but doesn't machine as cleanly as acrylic, is more of a molding plastic than a machinable one. Acrylic machines nicely but is more susceptible to cracking (though still not bad in that respect).
Be aware too that many non-wood clarinets are made of hard rubber, same as most mouthpieces, rather than plastic (although you could make a good argument that hard rubber is in fact a type of plastic, using natural rubber as the base component).
Whatever you do, PLEASE don't call plastics "composites" as so many people do nowadays --- plastics are homogeneous (single-material) whereas true "composites" involves layers of different (or differently-oriented) materials or a mixture of dissimilar materials (such as glass-fiber-reinforced plastic or "fiberglass" which is mixture of glass fibers in an epoxy plastic matrix).
It's been years since I studied materials so there could be a few errors here. I hope experts such as Dr. Omar might chime in with corrections if needed.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-10 11:59
Bakelite was used well into the '70s - B&H Regent, Vito, Bundy and Yamaha plastic clarinets were made of bakelite until they switched to using ABS resin which is much lighter and less dense than bakelite.
Yamaha still make mouthpieces from bakelite for clarinets and saxes.
Ebonite (hard rubber) has made a comeback with Chinese imports, but has been the choice material for mouthpieces.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2012-11-10 12:29
can we settle on "man made material" vs "wood" vs "metal"?
(I know that some argue that hard rubber is a natural material but so far I haven't come across a plant or other living form that produces hard rubber, only some of the ingredients.)
--
Ben
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Author: MichaelW
Date: 2012-11-10 14:47
“Whatever you do, PLEASE don't call plastics "composites" as so many people do nowadays --- plastics are homogeneous (single-material) whereas true "composites" involves layers of different (or differently-oriented) materials or a mixture of dissimilar materials (such as glass-fiber-reinforced plastic or "fiberglass" which is mixture of glass fibers in an epoxy plastic matrix)”
So the Buffet „Green line” Tosca- and Prestige- models, made from a resin (which one?)- wood dust and probably carbon fibre mixture- indeed would consist of a “composite” material.
M.W.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-11-10 20:08
I'd call Greenline a composite.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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