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SCN User <[log in to unmask]>
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Tue, 4 Oct 1994 08:32:15 -0700
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Good morning again - Celcon.
 
In the wonderful world of organic chemistry, things can have the
same composition and be very different.
 
I have not so long an experience with the new black stuff as some
of my colleagues, including Ed. The word I got from Jacques Way
was that celcon hardened more quickly, so you could voice it,
play the instrument in, touch it up and send it out without
expecthing the continuous change that comes in white Delrin.
 
I've always thought part of the continuous hardening in delrin
came from evaporation of the plasticisers used in its manufacture,m
and probably part from oxidation. Both materials, I think, are
kept on the shelf a while to evaporate stuff (to "age" - pipe
metal is left to age after casting, too) before it's used.
 
My own experience with plastic plectra is that delrin _can_ be
cut to be very much like a real quill - if you know what that is.
It's interesting to put a few pieces of raven in an instrument,
then try to voice to match. Or plastic can be cut in other ways,
some of which are also very nice and very useful.
 
The black "celcon" I've had is in blanks which are a little
thicker than the familiar "delrin," and which seem a lot softer
to cut. I find that makes it easier to make a thin taper at
the very tip, giving the string a little more lateral impetus,
and so a pluck a little more like the stuff from the bird. Wm.
Neil Roberts in LA redid the lower 8' of a big double here in
black quill while visiting a while back; we both felt it warmed
the sound (a little less harmonic rattle) just slightly.
 
I just last week had to replace some plectra in a local Dowd,
and found that the black plectra had a noticably cleaner sound.
We will probably revoice the whole instrument eventually - but
the blanks I have are slightly too narrow for the Dowd tougues,
so I have to shim every one. Is there a source for a wider cut
of blank, or for the material in bulk sheets?
 
I guess I should ask Lutz Bungart, whose shop The Harpsichord
Workshop is.
 
                                        David Calhoun
 
2b:h
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                          ANTE MUSICA
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A Northwest Workshop affiliated with Zuckermann Harpsichords Inc.
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