The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: "Grainy" wood

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2023-06-20 08:30

Statistically speaking, I don't see more cracks on clarinets with more grainy wood than less grainy wood. That is, ratio of cracked grainy clarinets vs. non-grainy clarinets is more or less the same as ratio of grainy clarinets vs. non-grainy clarinets I see.

>> The good thing is it's not new , so the wood has likely done everything it was planning to do already. <<

It's the combination of the wood itself and the conditions that cause cracking. It's more likely that an old clarinet was already exposed to the conditions that could cause it to crack, but not necessarily, and I see more than a few clarinets that suddenly crack after years or decades.

>> They don't even age the wood naturally anymore, instead they dry them in kilns because demand is so high. <<

It's not clear cut that air drying is necessarily always better than kiln drying, and often both methods are used.

Also there are a lot more cracked clarinets in the last few decades because a lot more clarinets are made than in the past. Using Buffet professional models as an example, I don't have exact numbers, but in the 50s they made about 2000 to 3000 clarinet per year. In the 90s they made over 10,000 clarinets per year. I imagine student/intermediate models increased by at leas the same proportion. Simply from being much older it's fair to assume more of the "bad" (e.g. severely cracked) clarinets from the 50s didn't survive.

I don't have very accurate statistics, but from just seeing many clarinets from every decade, I don't see what I would consider a significant rise in cracking (in proportion to the number made).

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

"Grainy" wood new

Musikat

2023-06-18 20:33