 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-07-16 00:23
I've heard stories of new wood clarinets performing all sorts of dimension changing stunts during the initial periods of ownership, particularly in areas with temperature and seasonal changes (think New York more than Arizona).
Eventually, I hear, (pun intended) they settle down.
What factors do you imagine are in the works here that might make the instrument more sensitive when the wood is younger, less so when older, and is there a way to get out of this nasty cycle faster when the new instrument is first acquired?
Part of me envisions this Navy Seal like training for the instrument shortly after ownership which has it move from climates like the refrigerator, to duhumidified room, to air conditioned room (climate and humidity controlled) to car trunk...
Then again, like the Navy Seal recruit itself, that might crack it.
Thoughts?
Thanks
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-07-16 05:23
The problem is that the only evidence that this vulnerability of newer wood is true is anecdotal and usually based in each anecdote-teller's case on one example. I suppose someone like Hans Moennig, who gave me my instructions for the new instruments I bought from him, might have seen enough examples of the consequences of too little break-in care to justify his approach. Most of us don't deal with so many new instruments in our lives.
It may well be true that new instruments are so acutely sensitive to temperature changes, but it's really hard to know for sure what is actually demonstrable and what is simply "received wisdom" that has been passed more or less unquestioned from generation to generation.
In any case the standard break-in advice (as given by Moennig 50 years ago) doesn't seem so arduous follow - start playing a new instrument in daily 15 minute stints and over a period of 3 or 4 weeks gradually increasing playing time until you've reached your normal playing regimen. The only requirement is that you have another clarinet to do the rest of your work on until you've reached full use of the new one.
Karl
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2017-07-16 05:48
Thanks Karl. I read similar advise off board. It sounded so similar that I wonder if is also sourced back to Moennig wisdoms.
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Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2017-07-17 00:44
It would be wonderful if manufacturers would accelerate putting the professional designs into composite clarinets. While I have some very nice wood clarinets, I would gladly trade them for an identical one (perhaps with a round bore instead of an oval one) in a high quality ABS/Ebonite material. From what I've heard the closest to this is the Leblanc/Backun Bliss and Alpha or the Ridenour Libertas (although there is rumour of keywork issues). I have not had the opportunity to test play any of these.
As a woodworker - furniture builder, I have some thoughts regarding the wood clarinet. I suspect that any clarinet will arrive in some unknown hydration condition. If you have just spent $6000 on a new wood clarinet, there are some additional investments in time, learning and measurement that might help...e.g.
https://www.wagnermeters.com/wood-moisture-webinar/
It is easy ($300-400) to know the moisture content of your clarinet and easy to know the relative humidity where you are storing the instrument. By playing the clarinet you are dramatically increasing the RH inside the instrument for some period of timing (even after you have swabbed it and returned it humid to the the case).
My guess would be that the best thing you can do is leave the case open all the time, keep it indoors at relatively constant temperature, and ramp up quickly (over 2-3 weeks) to using it every day for your normal practice. Keep in mind that some clarinets crack in the factory, and yet there are also older French clarinets that have been stored in a garage for 50 years, then restored to be like perfect. I don't think the difference is in how they were broken in, but rather the particular wood density, grain orientation, grain density (i.e. ring spacing), and the pre-drying (air vs kiln) done before and after rough bore machining.
I rarely hear people talk about the bore circularity. I have not seen enough cracked joints to have good statistics, but I have measured a few badly cracked joints that were much more out-of-round than typical...just an observation. Asymmetric shrinkage is the cause of most furniture cracking, as it is well-known that edge grain (the surface with even grain lines) and face grain (the more open smooth-appearing surface will expand and contract (with both humidity and temperature) at rates differing by as much as 2X. So this means that the side and front/back of the clarinet are distorting away from a perfect circle by meaningful amounts. Most wood clarinets measure 1-2% out-of-round but I have seen as much as 5% in an uncracked clarinet.
So the main thing is to keep the clarinet very stable for a while until it has approached it's longterm ambient, and then play it a lot in that ambient before you start taking it out to extreme environments (outdoor shows on the pavement in a California summer, or August in New Orleans, or winter in Boston). Any wood instrument (guitarists/violinists worry about these same things) will always be a living/breathing entity; moving from New Orleans to California or Boston will require you to break the instrument in once again.
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Author: toffeeman3
Date: 2017-07-17 01:12
When i played for liverpool philharmonic orchestra the old pros woukld put their new instruments out to be broken in by freinds etc.
A new instrument will never be as good as a slightly older one which has settled down,seated in its pads and been re-ajusted,wood more so than plastic
07469847273
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Author: TomS
Date: 2017-07-17 03:51
Just sold my last wooden clarinet, so I've left behind these worries. It's the arguable fact that you have to regularly play and watch over wood that makes me nervous to have any sort of collection that sits in the closet.
Just waiting for the Buffet Tradition and Yamaha CSVR to be made in a non-wood version. The Tradition in greenline might see production ...?
I can leave my Ridenour clarinets on vacation and not worry that I can use them later with no issues ... as long as the little bugs don't eat the pads.
Tom
Post Edited (2017-07-17 07:42)
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