Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2021-08-14 01:23
I'm old school enough to use a very simple criterion for needing humidity control:
If the rings are tight, leave things alone. If they get loose, humidify until they tighten up again.
One of the old remedies was to put pieces of orange (or lemon) peel in the case. Another was to use Dampits. I always preferred to have the added fragrance of the orange peels. Now, when there's (very rarely) a problem with my rings, I use Boveda Packs - 49%.
I once got my rarely used "rosewood" C clarinet out of its case to play on it and found that not only were the rings loose, but the throat A key was binding. The wood had moved enough to move the key's pivot posts. Dampits (the thin violin/clarinet size) tightened the rings and freed the A key in a couple of days.
Full disclosure - I live in suburban Philadelphia, PA. The monthly average relative humidity here, according to one chart I've found online, rarely goes lower than 70% and the real culprit when the instrument wood dries out is the indoor heat or AC, which both dry things out even with a humidifier attached to our HVAC ducts. Your need for extra humidity in Scottsdale may very well be more consistent.
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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