Why do so many people insist that wooden clarinets sound better than plastic ones? I am a complete newbie to woodwinds in general and I do not even know what "proper intonation" is, so I have more or less put the question aside until I can get good enough to actually hear the differences that some people pay through the nose to get. But, I am curious, and besides that, I've just bought two wooden clarinets. My next question is, how often does a wooden clarinet need to have it's bore oiled? I understand that sweet almond oil is one of the preferred oils to use, but is it something that is done by the musician as normal maintenance or must it be taken to a technician? Do you oil the inside and the outside or just the bore? Lastly, what, if anything do you use on the outside to preserve and/or clean the wood? Is there a wax or a preservative that will clean and protect the exterior wood?
Please tell me about wooden clarinets.
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There have been exemplar clarinet players (Lazarus, for one) who insisted that their synthetic body (ebonite, in his case - a mixture of rubber, sulphur, carbon black and elemental lead) clarinets were superior to any others that they had played. So, you are not alone in your opinion, and there is some weight behind it as well.
I strongly suspect that the quality of manufacture is a more significant factor, and that the wooden clarinets have more attention paid to all factors during the course of their fabrication, mostly because it is expected of a professional quality instrument. Push comes to shove, the wooden body only make up a small (mind you, significant, but still small) portion of the price of the finished instrument. Labor accounts for most of the price of what you end up buying.
It is quite possible to get a bummer of a wood clarinet, but I have yet to encounter one in the lines that I have purchased (Selmer and Buffet).
I've not kept up on things in this area, but I was told once that Bundy student horns were moulded to their final internal dimensions, while Vito horns were reamed (with a long, slightly conical, machine steel cutter) to theirs. And, that might have accounted for the following:
I have owned a plastic clarinet (a Vito, I am ashamed to say) that I bought for about $20.00 with the intention of turning it into a lamp. However, it had the sweetest tone of any horn that I have ever owned. Other than some intonation issues here and there (and the fact that it was the product of Leblanc, the great Satan of clarinet manufacturing), it would have made an excellent everyday horn. I ended up selling it to a broke sax player who used to let me use his soprano whenever it was time to play When I'm Sixty-Four with a community orchestra. I sold it to him for what I paid for it, nice guy that I am.
I strongly suspect that the quality of manufacture is a more significant factor, and that the wooden clarinets have more attention paid to all factors during the course of their fabrication, mostly because it is expected of a professional quality instrument. Push comes to shove, the wooden body only make up a small (mind you, significant, but still small) portion of the price of the finished instrument. Labor accounts for most of the price of what you end up buying.
It is quite possible to get a bummer of a wood clarinet, but I have yet to encounter one in the lines that I have purchased (Selmer and Buffet).
I've not kept up on things in this area, but I was told once that Bundy student horns were moulded to their final internal dimensions, while Vito horns were reamed (with a long, slightly conical, machine steel cutter) to theirs. And, that might have accounted for the following:
I have owned a plastic clarinet (a Vito, I am ashamed to say) that I bought for about $20.00 with the intention of turning it into a lamp. However, it had the sweetest tone of any horn that I have ever owned. Other than some intonation issues here and there (and the fact that it was the product of Leblanc, the great Satan of clarinet manufacturing), it would have made an excellent everyday horn. I ended up selling it to a broke sax player who used to let me use his soprano whenever it was time to play When I'm Sixty-Four with a community orchestra. I sold it to him for what I paid for it, nice guy that I am.
One of the sweetest sounding and playing clarinets I've owned was a metal Conn Pan American, which was essentially a student-level clarinet. I also paid around $20 for it.
I agree with SOTSDO: it's more the quality in manufacture than the material the horn's made out of. However, it's also a truism that an instrument that's made with an eye toward quality is probably going to be made with quality materials. In most cases.
FWIW, I've often wanted a Conn "propeller" clarinet. Not because they play excellently or whatever, but because they're darn pretty.
I agree with SOTSDO: it's more the quality in manufacture than the material the horn's made out of. However, it's also a truism that an instrument that's made with an eye toward quality is probably going to be made with quality materials. In most cases.
FWIW, I've often wanted a Conn "propeller" clarinet. Not because they play excellently or whatever, but because they're darn pretty.
I have a Selmer metal horn with the knurled barrel that plays well, but visually it is stunning to the point of being a "show stealer". Silver plate does that sort of thing for a horn.
I'd like to own a metal bass clarinet, but I've not seen one for sale in time to claim it. The trouble is that I'd want a Selmer, and I've never ever seen one of those.
Too bad I don't own the immaculate set of Selmer Bb/A metal full Boehm horns in the green case so often shown off by their owner...
I'd like to own a metal bass clarinet, but I've not seen one for sale in time to claim it. The trouble is that I'd want a Selmer, and I've never ever seen one of those.
Too bad I don't own the immaculate set of Selmer Bb/A metal full Boehm horns in the green case so often shown off by their owner...
I'd like to show up with an Uebel aluminum bass clarinet. (There's an extremely good thread on this horn over at the ClarinetBB.)
One of the fun things about playing Bb contrabass clarinet was seeing folks try to decide what I was playing/what was attacking me. We've actually had a few discussions here regarding playing instruments that are visually stunning in some way. My opinion tends toward the practical: provided it's a good horn, visually striking is just fine. I'm just not going to pay significantly more for a pretty horn if it's not equally or more usable -- hey, I've always been on a limited budget.
There is also the school of thought that would say that you should try to blend in with the group. I think YMMV on that: bright pink clarinet might be great for a solo act, not for playing in a symphony orchestra.
Oh. I should expand on this a bit.
I've played a few Leblanc-made instruments and did a good deal of research on some of the Leblanc saxophones, including taking a bit of a look at some of their patented designs. On the good side, Leblanc is the only company I know of that actually did produce the entire range of clarinets, from Ab soprano (or higher; I misremember. Check Wikipedia.) to octocontrabass. On the bad side, Leblanc
For what it's worth, a lot of the overly complicated stuff is on the high-end pro horns, but some of the stuff can and does trickle down to their student and intermediate horns, like the low Eb on the Vito bass clarinets.
All this being said, most of the Leblanc horns I've played did sound nice and were fairly easy to blow, even my old contra. I'm just glad I never had to pay for adjustment on 'em -- especially on the contra.
That damn'd fork Eb/Ab key was the bane of my existence when I played a Leblanc pro model for a while when my horn was in the shop for a major repair. They couldn't set it up right so that it would stay in adjustment, not even after three trips to the shop.
Wooden clarinets used to be the only clarinet around. Whether it was a 6th grader learning the clarinet or clarinetist in the New York Philharmonic, they had wooden clarinets. For one reason or another, they now have plastic clarinets. They are more garnered towards the students while intermediate and professional clarinets are wooden. I had a plastic clarinet from 6th grade until the summer of my senior year in high school. My first wooden clarinet I got was $200 from a pawn shop. My band director was quite surprised and wondered if the people who worked there now how much wooden clarinets are worth. It was a Normandy LeBlanc clarinet. It was pretty good and I liked it. I had that throughout my senior year in high school. Over the summer, I bought my Selmer Series 9 clarinet for $1100 from a local music shop and it sounds amazing!
Wooden clarinets generally sound better than plastic clarinets, but yes it all depends on the manufacturer too. I ultimately preferred the Selmer Series 9 over the Buffet R-13 clarinet when I tried out clarinets. And you might have a different preference too. But when you are choosing wooden clarinets, I say to go find a used clarinet. I say this because 1) they're a bit cheaper than new clarinets and 2) the clarinet has already been played by a lot of people. The problem with brand new wooden clarinets is that you can't play them a lot when you first get it. You can only play it for a little bit each day. I can't remember why this is, but it's something you need to do if you get a new one. If you get a used one, take it to a music store that will repair it and tweak it so it is in playing condition. When that's done, get a new clarinet mouthpiece because professional clarinets (and intermediate ones) work differently. Whew! That was a lot. Hope I didn't give you too much info.
Wooden clarinets generally sound better than plastic clarinets, but yes it all depends on the manufacturer too. I ultimately preferred the Selmer Series 9 over the Buffet R-13 clarinet when I tried out clarinets. And you might have a different preference too. But when you are choosing wooden clarinets, I say to go find a used clarinet. I say this because 1) they're a bit cheaper than new clarinets and 2) the clarinet has already been played by a lot of people. The problem with brand new wooden clarinets is that you can't play them a lot when you first get it. You can only play it for a little bit each day. I can't remember why this is, but it's something you need to do if you get a new one. If you get a used one, take it to a music store that will repair it and tweak it so it is in playing condition. When that's done, get a new clarinet mouthpiece because professional clarinets (and intermediate ones) work differently. Whew! That was a lot. Hope I didn't give you too much info.
The premise is that the instrument needs to slowly find its equilibrium moisture content. The fear is that if it changes too fast, the instrument may crack. This is also a concern if you buy a used clarinet that hasn't been maintained at proper humidity and has shrunk (check for loose rings at the tenons and bell).
I don't understand why you say that pro and intermediate clarinets work differently - any clarinet will benefit from a good mouthpiece.
The mouthpiece is as important to your playing as the horn itself, if not more so. (Do remember that YOU are at least 80% of what generates the sound. The mouthpiece and horn, all things being equal, are not more than 20%.) In other words, I + 50 billion the comment that the mouthpiece will make a difference on any horn.
As far as I'm aware, you have clarinets made out of various metals, ivory, various woods and composites (like Buffet's Greenline horns), rubber and various plastics. The most common woods I have seen are pearwood, boxwood, mahogany (as mentioned previously), ebony, grenadilla ("African Blackwood") and, most recently, cocobolo. That a clarinet can be good in any of those materials heavily implies that if it's a well-made horn, the material doesn't make that much difference.
As far as I'm aware, you have clarinets made out of various metals, ivory, various woods and composites (like Buffet's Greenline horns), rubber and various plastics. The most common woods I have seen are pearwood, boxwood, mahogany (as mentioned previously), ebony, grenadilla ("African Blackwood") and, most recently, cocobolo. That a clarinet can be good in any of those materials heavily implies that if it's a well-made horn, the material doesn't make that much difference.
To throw some music into this debate, here is Lester Young with his metal clarinet (second solo) with, may be, the very best swing rhythm section ever. Also note (slight hijacking) one of the first good electric guitar soloes by Eddie Durham. And the clarinet sound is not that bad either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_QCTaisbWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_QCTaisbWw