Comments on: Rubber vs. Wood

By: ericdano

ericdano — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:35:56 +0000

Um….so think about what you said. Plastic would be 100% plastic. Green line ones have something like 90%+ of the material being wood. Now, sure, it’s not a natural chunk of wood….but it’s certainly not plastic at all. And clarinets I’ve played that were green lines sure don’t sound like their plastic cousins.

By: ericdano

ericdano — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:31:59 +0000

Yet wood clarinets are still what everyone plays on……

Honestly, look at the oboe world. A fox plastic or resin oboe is $2k. Does it play well. Yeah. Does it play as well as a wood oboe…..no.

Case closed

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:58:14 +0000

This reminds me of the story (true) of the forest Nelson had planted of oak trees . They figured there might be a war in the early part of the twentieth century and they were dead right – its just that we did not need wood for battleships , technology had moved on .

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:35:14 +0000

Correct , as far as I am concerned a greenline is a plastic clarinet – I dont care if they have mixed sawdust in it !
But if Buffet say its ok – then it must be ok . And like sheep everyone does .

By: McArthur

McArthur — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:59:10 +0000

Out of all these comments Gero makes the most logical sense. My personal situation/ example would be like his. I know that windows sucks ass compared to a mac. BUT I’m used to it, in my opinion it’s more streamlined and easier to get the same result with less effort, and my memories of mac’s in elementary school were bare bones “DOS” type computers. I still associate that with mac even tho I’ve used friend’s macbooks, have the knowledge they never crash and are far superior to windows, and are equally if not more equipped than a pc. Once a stigma is set it’s almost irreversible. Take for example The Hyundai Genesis. I’ve had a Mercedes S500. I went and looked at a genesis for the hell of it. The Hyundai was a beautiful car, “dressed to the nines” and had just about as good of quality, (I’m sure even better quality considering that was back when Mercedes was daimler chrysler). BUT I would never trade my Mercedes for a HYUNDAI. The history and legacy of Mercedes is worth more to me than the quality and craftsmen ship of the Hyundai. But if Hyundai so chooses, it can and will become the next luxury car, just as toyota did with lexus… People got use to the fact that a normally “lackluster” product (japanese and korean vehicles) can be made to compete with the hierarchy of german luxury. To me, lexus could never out do a benz, even though they may already have. Come on! The very first car was a benz! To me it’s he pinnacle. As it may be with your wood clarinets. Give me what ever sounds best and I’m happy I don’t care about ergonomics and ease when it comes to instruments. The more difficult the better. It’s stimulating.

By: jnswickard

jnswickard — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:49:44 +0000

I play mostly on a Buffet R13 Vintage, which is of course a wooden clarinet. Giora Feidman used a clear lucite Buffet B12 student model to record the Klezmer folk music on Schindlers List. He sounds better than I do–period. Of course that may have more to do with his skill rather than what the instruments are made of. Feidman also plays on wooden instruments.

By: Barry Vincent

Barry Vincent — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:34:14 +0000

I’d love to get a quality wood clarinet for $8.

By: ericdano

ericdano — Sun, 23 May 2010 23:23:27 +0000

Of course, you did not figure in Mr. Obama’s out of control printing of money, which will lead to inflation the likes of which we have not seen. So, I expect that gas will be easily $8 a gallon and things like Clarinets that are imported will be at least that, but not because the wood is scarce but rather from all the import tariffs and VATs that will be added to it.

By: Barry Vincent

Barry Vincent — Sun, 23 May 2010 23:10:25 +0000

Welcome to the modern world of depleted resources. Lower grade wood will always be available but be prepared sometime soon in the near future to pay anything up to $US12000 dollars for a Clarinet made out of good quality wood. That’s if ya silly enough.

By: ericdano

ericdano — Sun, 23 May 2010 22:56:07 +0000

Gosh, I bet you believe in global warming and UFOs too right? The wood isn't going away anytime soon, and they have successfully grown/are growing trees in such places as Florida