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Re: Cracked Plastic Bass Clarinet

Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2022-07-26 19:38

There is a type of failure called a fatigue crack that does not require a "drop" or large impact to break the instrument. Essentially what happens is a very small defect or microscopic crack gets formed in the plastic at some point, and slowly expands every time the instrument is handled. It could take years for such a crack to expand to the point of causing a noticeable failure. Since the instrument has been in use for 6 years, the original damage could have been from an earlier student user or even a manufacturing defect. Fatigue failures don't usually happen in wood, but they are very common in plastic and metal parts.

If you can provide a good quality picture of the fracture surface, it would help with a diagnosis.

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