Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-04-12 17:12
There was an excellent special several years ago on public tv on the mpingo (grenadilla) tree. The wood often has sections that are off-white. This would look funny on an instrument and lead people to think it was a flaw, so the wood is routinely dyed black, which is fairly close to the original color of the heart-wood.
I've never found any difference between dyed and undyed wood, so I think the difference is purely esthetic. About 30 years ago, a fellow I knew special-ordered a full-Boehm R-13 from Buffet in Paris and asked that the wood be left undyed. He thought he would get a finish that looked like rosewood or tulipwood (like a Selmer contra-alto), but it came as a muddy, mottled dark brown. I'm sure Buffet, Leblanc and Selmer select the wood to be left undyed to make sure it has an even color and nice looking grain. I would be very surprised if they didn't also treat the surface to bring out the grain, perhaps with a bit of highlighting or a touch of bleach.
Old instruments (say, 75 years old or more) were made from larger trees, and the grain is so dense that you can barely see it. Also, according to a former Moennig apprentice, at that time, Buffet applied a special polish that gave the bore a mirror finish. See http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1999/05/001153.txt.
Newer instruments are made from younger trees with more open grain. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I can't find the reference, but at least one well-known clarinet tweaker said a few years ago on the Klarinet board that barrels with an open grain in the bore give a better sound than those that are sealed or mirror-smooth. Lately I've been using a boxwood barrel made by Kalmen Opperman, which is very light and has an open grain in the bore, and it plays better than anything else I've tried.
Tom Ridenour has told me the same thing he told William -- that the Leblanc Concerto and Opus are acoustically identical and made from the same quality wood. He told me this while he was working for Leblanc, just after these models were introduced, so he would have every reason to try to justify the higher price of the Opus, but he didn't. I accept the statements by Brenda Siewert and Irwin that they sense a different and better quality in the Opus. All I can say is that I've played a fair number of both and never been able to tell any difference. Certainly any difference between the models is submerged by the sample-to-sample variation between individual instruments. I can accept that billets of wood with the best looking grain are made into Opus instruments, but that's far from saying there's a difference in playing quality.
Steak houses market the sizzle as much as the steak. At least in my opinion, Leblanc does the same for the Opus. In the end, you play what works best for you.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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