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clarinet changes after "playing-in"

Author: LC007
Date: 2017-10-30 19:59

Hello clarinetists,

I've been playing for 2 months now, and am pleased with my progress. I am especially pleased with the tone I am now getting out of my Selmer CL201 which I have been "breaking-in" for a month now. It was new when I got it and dehydrated (the store where I bought it was over air-conditioned and dry). Now that I've had it in my home under controlled temp/humidity and have been playing it twice a day for a month the tone I believe has improved... or is it just me that has improved. Even the bore is looking better. It used to be so rough and now appears smoother and shinier - probably from all that swabbing.
I am wondering can a clarinet's tone change after having been played-in for a while? - even a short while?
I know guitars improve with playing but that takes years.

Thanks to all that respond.

Luc

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Re: clarinet changes after "playing-in"

Author: kdk
Date: 2017-10-30 20:31

LC007 wrote:

> I am wondering can a clarinet's tone change after having been
> played-in for a while? - even a short while?
> I know guitars improve with playing but that takes years.
>
In my opinion (which is all you'll get for a topic like this), yes. I don't really know why, and it might not be measurably true, but my auxiliary clarinets, that I don't play often, seem to become easier to play over a few days' playing. Is it the clarinet or is it me getting more used to the instrument? Don't know.

I must say, I don't notice this so much with my saxes (obviously almost all metal), which I don't play for months at a time.

Karl

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Re: clarinet changes after "playing-in"

Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2017-10-30 20:34

Well, plenty of people would say "yes" (probably most).

But aside from the pads seating better and maybe the mechanism freeing up, I'd go with the simplest explanation for the change you perceive: that you are the one who's now "played in" with the instrument, not that the instrument has changed.

At least I, after owning a few dozen instruments in my life, don't have the ability to detect changes that happen gradually over months, even when the bore changes shape, which will occasionally happen. Guess I'm not sensitive enough.

Can't say about the bore finish, though swabs might have a slight polishing effect or maybe remove some oil or coating that the clarinet was manufactured with, but unless you're using a sandpaper swab it's unlikely that swabbing would turn a "rough" bore into a "smooth" one.

Let the games begin.

B.

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