Deterioration of Grenadilla* Instruments - Part 1: Does Your Instrument Have a Problem?

Written by Larry R. Naylor

Part 1: Does Your Instrument Have a Problem?

Eventually, many players confront a scary reality: their favorite grenadilla instruments physically deterio­rate. What can we do to avoid or even reverse deterioration? In this two-article series, I would like to reply. I draw upon three decades of empirical data and repair experience.

In this article, I hope to clarify the deterioration phenomenon. Do realize that a deteriorated instrument is usually reversible as long as no one has re-bored it. Moreover, with careful, regular maintenance, one can even avoid the possible pitfalls of deteriorating wood altogether!

“Played-Out; Blown-Out”: The Instrument Has Lost Its Voice

Many players refer to deteriorated, wooden instruments as being “played out” or “blown-out”; the instrument has “lost its voice”. This condition is particularly common in instruments that have been played extensively, but have received little preventive maintenance, or have not been played regularly and now suffer the effects of non-use. This type of deterioration does not occur in plastic or metal instruments. Let us try to describe what “blown or “played” out” means, first subjectively, then more objectively.

Discussing sound using words is problematic; I call this the “chocolate problem.” It is impossible to tell people what chocolate tastes like until they taste it for themselves! A blown-out condition may include many symptoms such as poor tuning pitch and uneven scale. By the latter, I mean that some notes pop out, while others are subdued. The instrument’s scale and registers may become out-of-tune. On clarinets, for example, the chalumeau may become sharp relative to the other registers.

Another symptom is lack of resonance. Do realize that sizable leaks, poor reeds, poor mouthpieces and poor embouchures can also lessen resonance. Presuming an instrument is in very good mechanical condi­tion, one has a good reed, etc., but it is lifeless and lacks richness, then it lacks resonance. The instrument has a “dead sound”; timbre is consistently thin and lifeless. Moreover, the sound is not rich and ringing.

Poor response usually links to a lack of resonance. When an instrument hesitates in playing interval leaps, we can refer to it as being unresponsive [i.e., dimensional changes affecting its basic acoustics have occurred]. Frequently, I meet with first-time clients who have accommodated to an unresponsive instrument; the musician must over-power its shortcomings. Eventually, the player will reach accommo­dation limits when performance problems just become overwhelming.

Typically, a deteriorating instrument degrades gradually. Over time, one begins to note small faults. Then, slowly, the faults enlarge and new faults appear. By this stage, intonation problems are now quite exaggerated. Clarinetists, Oboists, and English Hornists may note that their instruments have developed a progressive and apparently “terminal flatness”. Moreover, the instrument has become increasingly stuffy — not just on the traditionally bad notes — but eventually on whole ranges and across whole registers. For Clarinetists, the throat tones have become annoyingly and chronically stuffy. Worst of all, for the traveling musician, going from a humid to a dry climate, or vice versa, results in the instrument just not playing well at all.

Again, the condition has become chronic. All grenadilla instruments undergo a predictable change during warm-up; the wood moves ever so slightly. The tone holes change their shape ever so slightly. The pads expand ever so slightly. The keys tighten up ever so slightly. That is perfectly normal. This bears repeating: the slight changes are normal.

Deterioration: Start of the Diagnosis

Modern instrument manufacturers must account for warm-up. Moreover, manufacturers also design instru­ments to play in a “standardized, good” environment, that is, sea level, 72 degrees Fahrenheit, 40% humidity. We should address the issue of possible deterioration only after warm-up.

Presuming a deliberate and appropriate warm-up, the player should try reasonable performer tests:

• Do these undesirable conditions persist when a colleague or teacher plays your instrument?
• Do these undesirable conditions persist despite changing reeds, mouthpiece, and/or ligature?
• Do these undesirable conditions persist even after your repairman properly adjusts the instrument?
• Presuming there has been no damage to the instrument or changes to embouchure, there are two major factors left to evaluate: pads and the wood. While instinct might lead one to think “pads”, replacing pads alone may have little effect on a deteriorating instrument with diminished resonance or “dead” sound. Objective inspection is now in order.

Objective Symptoms of Deteriorated Wood

Deterioration is a measurable, negative, acoustic condition. Deterioration has very definite visual and mechanical symptoms. Those visual and mechanical symptoms, in turn, manifest themselves in acoustic degradation. Let us examine and inspect a “played out” instrument both visually and mechanically, and work towards objectively confirming the diagnosis: deteriorated wood.

Visual symptom questions to ask, include:

• Do sockets and tenons, especially on upper joints, appear bleached?
• Are socket and tenon end grains a significantly different color from the color of the body?
• Do the end grains appear significantly dryer than the body of the joint in question?
• Presuming the external surfaces have NOT been painted black, is the instrument discolored? That is, are one or more patches a significantly different tint than the rest of the instrument?
• Are there cracks through post or tone holes?
• Looking down the bore, is there evidence of raised grain in the bore?
• Is one joint warped? That is, sighting down the long axis of the joint, is it bowed? [This condition is most noticeable in upper joints of Oboes and English Horns.]

Mechanical symptom questions to ask, include:

• Are socket and bell rings loose?
• Is there a loose center joint? [Shrunken or undersized tenon shoulders and oversized sockets allow lateral movement at the center joint]
• Do keys bind?
• Do keys become too loose and noisy?
• For Oboes and English Horns: do the fine adjustments change very frequently?

Diagnosis Confirmed

Your instrument is not undergoing short-term dimensional changes associated with “warming up.” The instrument has a chronic problem, deterioration. Through visual and mechanical inspection, we have identified definite and defined symptoms. The wood has indeed deteriorated.

We now face a seemingly difficult problem. In the wild, trees adapt to their environment, be it savannah or rain forest. But, how can we adapt chopped down, cut into billets, lathed, milled and machined wooden instruments to our playing environments? Put more simply: how can we insure a relative con­stancy of “response” of our instrument to our playing environment?