Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-04-20 15:35
There was a Japanese company that made ceramic instruments back in the '80s, but they cost a fortune to produce and had pretty basic keywork (not full Gillet conservatoire keywork). The probelm with ceramics are they're brittle, and the joints shrink during firing so the joint has to be made larger before firing, and the correct mix of the ceramic and firing has to be controlled in order for the correct dimentions to be met afterwards, and before the keywork is fitted. I don't know if the bore can be reamed after firing on ceramics.
Crystal has been used for flutes back in the 19th century and still used for clarinet and sax mouthpieces (Pomarico, etc.).
But Schreiber (makers of student Buffet oboes) have used their 'Duralast' lined bores on student oboes for a while now, taking the idea from the lined joints in bassoons, and Howarth partially line top joint bores with ebonite in some oboes and cors to prevent cracking.
The only mix of wood and synthetics in current use is what Buffet use in their Greenline instruments, though they have a higher ratio of wood dust to synthetic.
Key posts can be anchored on plates like on piccolos and saxes and held in place with small screws rather than screwed directly into the body, and there's a variety of synthetic pads on the market - Eddie Aston 'Supapads' being one of them, and a similar concept but with a silicone rubber facing(Norbeck?) that Ludwig Frank use on their oboes and cors.
There's no reason why a formica type substance is used - they use it in electronics an it looks pretty dense, so I wonder how it would work on woodwinds?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
