The Clarinet BBoard

Re: Selmer Odyssee vs Ridenour

Author: Jack Kissinger  Date:   2015-05-03 18:17 So you were actually stating an "opinion" or "belief"? The way you stated it in your original post, it sounded (to me anyway) like you were claiming it as a fact. Can you point me to some specific posts that support your opinion? I've been following this Board for a long time and I don't remember ever seeing such a claim here before, let alone a broad consensus. My own experience with instruments I own is quite to the contrary. I have backup clarinets and special-use clarinets (think alto) that routinely go a year or more between plays and I've never noticed that the wood has become unsettled. So I can't agree with you. You might be able to change my mind if you can cite something specific -- scientific evidence would be preferable but even anecdotal experiences would be interesting, if they come from impartial sources.

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Re: Selmer Odyssee vs Ridenour

Author: Jack Kissinger  Date:   2015-05-04 08:46 Barry, I appreciate your identifying those threads but, to be honest, I don't see anything in any of them to support your assertion that "wooden clarinets need to be regularly played upon to keep the wood settled." I don't even find anyone who makes that claim in any of the threads,. In two threads, Norman Smale does assert that clarinets should be played regularly but his reason is that he finds clarinets that are stored and ignored for long periods of time are prone to having bugs attack the pads. That problem, however, relates to the material used to make the pads, not the material used to make the body of the clarinet. A hard rubber clarinet with "fish skin" covered felt pads is as susceptible to such attacks as a wooden clarinet with similar pads (unless out-gassing sulphur acts as a repellent. I would also point out that, in one of the threads where Norman makes this point, Ed Palanker, long-time bass clarinetist with the Baltimore Symphony reports that he's had no problem with wood clarinets that sit unplayed for fairly long periods of time. Ed's experience (which agrees with mine) directly contradicts you point. The only post I can find that has even tangential relationship to your assertion is by Clarnibass, who notes that when he left a clarinet on a stand "a lot," sometimes without swabbing it, his barrel and bell cracked -- presumably from moisture that collected in the sockets. That shouldn't happen with a hard rubber clarinet but it also shouldn't happen with a wood clarinet that is being properly cared for. And, in any case, the problem occurred in a clarinet that was being played frequently, not one that was spending most of its time in a case. The best I think you can conclude from Nitai's experience is, if you don't plan to take reasonable care of your clarinet, you should perhaps buy one made of hard rubber. Other problems reported in the threads you provided related to improper over-oiling or poor choice of oil. But, while these problems would not occur with a hard rubber clarinet, they also should not occur with a clarinet that receives minimal proper care. The clarinets that developed problems in this category were mostly clarinets that had been, for all intents and purposes, abandoned. And, in any case, no one reported problems related to the stability of their wood. There may be reasons to prefer the hard rubber Ridenour Lyrique to the wood Selmer Odyssee and there may be reasons to prefer the Odyssee, but you haven't convinced me that potential relative infrequency of using an A clarinet is one of them. jnk

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