Author: Chris P
Date: 2011-10-10 19:36
All wooden oboes (and clarinets) are at risk of cracking, thin or thick walled, new or old.
What amazes me is some of the best maintained instruments can crack and some of the worst abused ones don't - so there's no hard and fast rules as to why instruments crack, but we should all adhere to a strict playing-in and maintenance routine on all new or formerly neglected instruments to reduce the risk.
If it was possible to control the growth, structure and density of grenadilla under strict conditions to make it just as dense (or maybe more), more even and straight grained, more stable and user friendly (which would eliminate a lot of waste), that would solve a lot of problems in woodwind manufacture. And if a synthetic substance that matched grenadilla in density, tensile strength, machinability and was tempreature/humidity stable was to be invented, then that would be the answer to all our problems.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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