 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Karin
Date: 2001-11-20 18:08
Is there a big difference in the sound on a wooden clarinet from that of a plastic one? I´ve been playing the clarinet for about 6 months, and I have a Yamaha 26II with a Vandoren B45 mouthpiece. I´m just renting my clarinet at the moment but in january next year I have to decide whether I want to buy it or not. I´m really serious about playing (I practise 2-3 hours a day) and want to join an orchestra when I get good enough. For me it´s important that the tone is really nice and thats why I wonder if it is a good idea to buy a wooden clarinet instead? What do people in orchestras normally play on? Are wooden clarinets expensive? Is there a danger in buying old clarinets? Grateful for any advice!
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Author: Benny
Date: 2001-11-20 20:29
The tone on a clarinet is determined by its bore. So if a plastic clarinet and a wooden clarinet have identical bores they should sound the same (theoretically). However wooden clarinets are most often made better than plastic clarinets. A professional grade horn will have more responsive keys and will be more in tune with itself, for example.
I got my R-13 (silver keys) from International Musical Suppliers for about $2000. If you talk to Lisa Argeris (I don't know the spelling) she will play a bunch of horns and send you the best three for you to choose one.
If you have only been playing for six months it might not be a good idea to get a wooden horn so soon. I got a Buffet B-12 to start on and played it from 4th grade until 8th grade when I got my R-13. I never take my R-13 to school so it comes in handy to have a plastic horn in addition to a wooden one. Good Luck
Benny
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Author: Mark Charette,
Date: 2001-11-21 00:25
While that statement is something I can agree with, remember that it may be correlation without causation.
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Author: Pam
Date: 2001-11-21 02:20
Your age and various playing situations may affect your choice of instrument as well. I know that my R-13 sounds much better than the very old plastic student instrument I was playing before, but it isn't even a fair comparison in my situation.
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Author: willie
Date: 2001-11-21 03:41
You didn't state what grade you're in. If you still have lots of marching band left to do, stay with a plastic horn or look seriously at the new Buffet Greenline. If you want the wooden horn for concert season, fine, but a good plastic horn would make a good backup horn and keep your wooden one out of the weather during marching season.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2001-11-21 13:22
A well-adjusted Yamaha 26 with a good player can sound awesome.
I was once unusually astonished by the tone of a player beside me. That's what he was playing.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-11-21 13:26
I would have to agree with the above suggestion about the greenline Buffet. They are terrific instruments. I'm now using mine as my main instrument. Takes the worry out of bad weather situations and would be perfect for a student player. If I were a parent of a serious clarinet student, that's what I would get if I could afford it. Mine was $1,798.00 and then I spent $400.00 more with the Brannens to have it set up with cork upper pads and their other special "tweaking."
The downside of the greenlines is that there aren't many (if any) used ones around because they're fairly new and people tend to want to keep them. They're so much better than plastic and have that great wood tone.
Otherwise, get a good used Buffet R-13. They're plentiful. Look on the Sneezy classifieds.
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-11-21 17:56
My hard-rubber Kohlert bass clarinet sounds (to me, anyway) as good as, or better than, any wood bass clarinet I've ever tried. My hard-rubber M. Lacroix Eb clarinet sounds, to my ear, no different than any of the wood 'eefers' I've played (though admittedly I'm not an experienced eefer player). I agree with the school of thought that the sound and intonation of a clarinet body are, essentially, entirely determined by the bore dimensions and tonehole sizes and locations, and the body material has nearly zero perceptible effect. But this controversy will rage forever, I guarantee it!
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Author: Emms
Date: 2001-11-21 23:10
Different materials absorb and reflect sound in different ways. Are there any Physicists out there that might know if this would cause a difference in wooden or plastic clarinets? I would have thought that wood would be more absorbant of certain sounds than plastic, which would just reflect more, maybe leading to a more mellow sound in wood???
I need to revise my physics.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2001-11-22 02:53
Perceptions seem to change from time to time, even perceptions of experts. Boehm, the true inventor of the modern flute, a tip-top metallurgist as well as mathematician and musician, reportedly did a study which found silver to be the best material for the flute body from two standpoints: pleasing sound and minimizing "player fatigue." However, that was about 150 years ago. Recently, an investigation which brushed past my eyes (done at Stanford, as I recall... not certain) showed that silver was *not* superior flute material (other than that, I don't remember the conclusion). I'm afraid this is one of those things that will be forever an area of disagreement among even top-notch instrumental whiz-bangs, same as the "plastic vs wood" debate in the clarinet community.
My position for quite some time has been that a properly dimensioned garden hose could make a decent-sounding clarinet. Of course, that position and $3.25 will get a decent latte nowadays. But, somehow, I'd rather blow through a nice piece of wood -- unless foul weather dictates using the "combat" plastic clarinet, which action should embarrass no one at all. I also share the position that any clarinet player who anticipates *ever* playing outdoors should keep such an instrument for use when needed. Regards, John
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Author: Roger
Date: 2001-11-23 13:31
There have been many spirited discussions on the above in the past. Search the archives. The gist of scientific evidence (as gleemed from our discussions) is that there is no reason why a plastic clarinet could not sound as good as a wood clarient. but (with the exception of the greenline from buffet) professional clarinets (which have more attention to intonation, etc.) than intermediate or student models are generally made of wood.
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Author: Bob
Date: 2001-11-24 15:36
Dave: I've only been reading this bb for a few months and only more recently realize( I believe) that you "work on" clarinets. I'm 72 years old, a retired engineer and an inquisitive do-it-yourselfer in all trades. I am impressed with your comments which reveal considerable knowledge and experiece. I spent many years professionally working with and studying materials in general as a "Materials Engineer" and do have some opinions on wood vs plastic. In general my opinion is that plastic clarinets can be as good as any wood clarinet all other things being equal(which they never are). If plastics and their molding technology had been invented in 1600 perhaps plastic clarinets would be preferred over wood ones today. And...as wood becomes scarcer it will force plastic technology to improve even further. Hand in hand with the increasing scarcity of good clainet wood is the subject of proper curing and that is a long subject in itself. It is refreshing to hear comments from an expert such as yourself that are unbiased on the subject of wood vs plastic. Bob Draznik Joliet,Illinois (Bob on the bb)
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-11-26 21:11
Bob, it would be presumptuous of me to claim 'considerable knowledge and experience', but thanks ----- I talk a good line of BS, no? All seriousness aside, I do have some background in acoustics (mainly the underwater kind) with a certain amount of practical and theoretical experience in testing and selecting vibration-damping materials, and the effects of these materials on acoustics ---- a lot of this stuff is more or less applicable to the physics of clarinet body (and mouthpiece, and ligature, and reed) materials on the sound of the instrument. It's been explained many times on this BB and elsewhere that, from a physics standpoint, the wall material of the clarinet body can have at most a nearly imperceptible effect on sound production. The factors that really drive the selection of clarinet body material are cost (of course), machinability, moldability, durability, temperature stability, ultraviolet (solar radiation) stability, chemical resistance, allergic reactions of some people to certain materials, and possibly the most important for professional clarinets, PERCEPTIONS and MARKETABILITY. Y'all out there think that the best clarinets are made of wood, therefore y'all won't pay top dollar for a clarinet that isn't made of wood, right? So the clarinet manufacturers put their best people and their hand labor and their most expensive keywork and trim only on wood clarinets, otherwise you won't buy them. That's the bottom line. (Let's leave the Buffet Greenline out of this, as there is still some grenadilla content in the clarinet, and this is there as much for marketing as for acoustical reasons).
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