 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: boggled429
Date: 2008-02-01 22:01
I'm a student and I've been playing on a Vito II plastic clarinet for 4 years now. I think it's definitely time for me to get a better clarinet. In my newspaper, someone is advertising a free "steel" clarinet. Do they literally make clarinets out of steel? Or is that some little-known brand?
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Author: sbrodt54
Date: 2008-02-02 00:22
It's a good bet that it's a typical metal clarinet, they are all over the place. I'm just finishing a complete overhaul on one and I have to ask the question, why? The tone wells are never flat, the spring action is terrible, the pivot and axel screws are all steel so they rust and corrode like crazy. The body is probably brass and then silver plated.
Everyone has an elbow and an opinion, mine is that I like a wooden clarinet to move up from plastic for a better tone and intonation. Buffet, Yamaha, and LeBlanc all make quite nice step up models, please go somewhere to play them and judge for yourself to see if you like them. Keep an open mind and play as many different clarinets as you can before you decide on one.
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Author: Neil
Date: 2008-02-02 01:09
You need a wooden clarinet, but get the free metal one and make a lamp out of it.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-02-02 11:10
"Do they literally make clarinets out of steel?" No
Bob Draznik
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-02-02 12:05
I remember seeing a Keilwerth bass sax listed on e**y with the body made from stainless steel - low A to high F# as well.
And also an all stainless steel flute made by Pete Worrell. Stephen Wessel flutes have stainles steel keywork http://www.wessel-flutes.co.uk/Home.htm.
I've never seen a clarinet with stainless steel keywork or an all stainless steel body, though it's not an impossibility. It's normally only the screws and springs that are steel (stainless or mild).
Some ebonite-bodied clarinets, eg. Selmer (London) Console were stamped 'Steel Ebonite'.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Chelle
Date: 2008-02-02 12:33
Since it's free, I'd go ahead and pick it up simply because it's a bit of a novelty. But since there's very few metal clarinets that aren't junk, I'd still find a nice wooden one to play.
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2008-02-04 04:27
A properly-made clarinet lamp won't harm it at all. The clarinet serves essentially as a sleeve over the steel or brass tube which houses the wiring and supports the lamp and shade. Admittedly, there are very few tin clarinets which are worth anything more than decorator value, but it's worth checking before doing anything with it.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-02-04 06:13
> Admittedly, there are very few tin clarinets which are worth anything more
> than decorator value, but it's worth checking before doing anything with it.
Bah. I bet you wouldn't be able to tell a wooden from a metal clarinet if you just heard it play.
--
Ben
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-02-04 06:43
It seems to be the case in general that a lot of people have preconceived ideas as to how a metal clarinet sounds, writing them off as having no tone quality, etc. without even seeing, hearing or playing one, and their usual response when they do hear one is 'I thought it'd sound like a soprano sax' - it won't, that's because it's a clarinet and not a soprano sax (though I have heard some people make a pro wooden clarinet sound like a badly played soprano sax, and their soprano sax playing wasn't much cop either!).
I've only played a couple of Conn metal clarinets and they don't play or sound any different to a wooden one. And also reckon anyone listening wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
It's only snobbery that they're not seen being played in orchestras or bands apart from Leblanc contra-alto and contrabass - I read on here a while back that a Leblanc contrabass player was told to get rid of it by their conductor as he didn't like the look of it, but the contra player took it away and painted it black and the conductor was none the wiser.
Selmer even made metal Eb clarinets as well as metal full Boehms - I think they made metal A clarinets as well which would most likely have been used by orchestral players. I can only imagine the snotty comments from the other players.
Metal flutes have been the norm for years as well as saxes (though there was the Grafton acrylic alto for a while, and now there's an all plastic alto from Thailand!), the odd metal oboe was made here and there as well as metal contrabassoons (and contras with the all metal low A bell section as well as Adler contras with the all metal bell section), sarrusophones, Rothphones and metal bass, contra-alto, contrabass and octo-contrabass clarinets so no shortage of metal-bodied woodwind instruments.
And they're still woodwind instruments and not hybrids. A woodwind-brass hybrid would have a mouthpiece with a reed and a valve or slide section as on brass instruments with the sound coming from the bell only, and what may be a limited range - stick a clarinet or sax mouthpiece on a trombone to get an idea of what it'll be like.
Saxes are pure woodwind, not hybrids.
A metal clarinet is still a clarinet.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2008-02-04 06:59)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-02-04 14:44
I seriously doubt that any clarinet was ever made from tin. Not sure about "Tin whistles", but I think they were made from tin plated steel or iron.
And....Yes....a Pox on lamp makers. Deceased clarinets should be given a decent burial.
Bob Draznik
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Author: EuGeneSee
Date: 2008-02-04 14:46
Burial? Certainly not wooden ones . . . this time of the year they are just right for kindling.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-02-04 16:12
Or Nunchakus. (You may want to remove the springs prior to use, though).
--
Ben
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-02-04 16:33
"Deceased clarinets should be given a decent burial."
They should be, but they usually end up on eBay.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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