3-D Printed Bass Clarinet Reinventing Technology
An Interview with Jared De Leon

by Maryanne Lacaille

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I had the good fortune to speak with Jared about his 3-D printed bass clarinet in G. From a young age he was fascinated with building things, taking things apart and seeing how they worked and always had an engineering mindset which led him to begin playing clarinet at an early age.

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Maryanne Lacaille: What inspired you to delve into 3-D printed clarinets?

Jared De Leon: My two passions were eventually combined into creating virtual model 3-D objects into a physical object that you can hold in your hand within a few hours and immediately saw the potential in that technology and wanted to utilize that into building my own musical instruments and accessories.

 

ML: How do you feel about competition from other companies that are manufacturing 3-D clarinets and accessories?

JD: I think that’s absolutely fascinating that other companies are stepping on board and don’t find competition as defenders in fact I am impressed that other developers are breaking ground in the field of instrument manufacturing. It’s not my intention to sell as many accessories as possible. With the rise of affordable 3-D printers we are seeing a lot of smaller shops making their own mouthpieces as well as smaller accessories that give the clarinetist a wider variety to choose from which is always a good thing.

 

ML: In the late Renaissance Era a low-pitched early brass-wind instrument called the “Serpent” with a trombone-like mouthpiece and key less tone holes (later with keys) was developed and named for it’s long conical bore and made from wood has a similar connection to 3-D key less bass clarinets that are in the beginning stages of development. How do you incorporate 18th and 19th century manufacturer technology into 21st century 3-D printing?

JD: I actually use a lot of ideas from 18th and 19th century clarinet manufacturers in the design. Even though we don’t use those techniques in traditional clarinet manufacturing, I found those ideas to be useful in improving our ability to modify key work. For example a modern bass clarinet has posts compared to older clarinets that had blocks which were cut directly from the body of the wood to keep the keys in place. When I am printing an instrument it’s much easier to have it as one piece.

 

ML: Modern clarinets have pads which either are a thin membrane wrapped around a flat piece of felt or leather. What type of material do you use for pad construction?

JD: I use a foam called neoprene and I model it to fit the tone hole depth and width. It’s impervious to water and heat so there is never a need to replace a pad.

 

ML: What is your current set up regarding mouthpiece and what is the difference in weight of your 3-D printed bass compared to the traditional Buffet bass clarinet?

JD: My Vandoren B44 mouthpiece was refaced by Arnold Weinberg. The G bass clarinet weighs 3lbs 3.3oz. The standard B-flat bass clarinet to low E weighs 4lbs 11.4oz assembled.

 

ML: Are there any wood components in your 3-D clarinets or are they all silicone based?

JD: That’s actually a good question. Most printers use a type of melted plastic called PLA made from corn and the good thing about that plastic is that it doesn’t have to be pure so you can mix it with anything. For example the neck of this instrument is around 80% plastic and around 20% mixed wood powder and what that allows is that you can sand that material and finish it much like wood. Smooth it out and give it a nice wood-grain finish semi-gloss semi-gloss.

 

ML: Do the polymer products have similar properties of wood and density as well or are they completely different?

JD: In 3-D printing you don’t need to print a solid object so there is a 2-3mm wall on the outside and a lattice structure on the inside so you can mimic the grain-like properties of traditional wood clarinets and so there is room to experiment with differing lattice and make it sound as close to a traditional wood clarinet.

 

ML: So let’s talk about precision. If you were to compare it with some of the older Buffet clarinets of the 70’s or 80’s, would the essence of precision get in the way of the warmth and quality of wooden instruments?

JD: Plastic has different flow properties that are very complex so the machine has a little variance and I think a big part of 3-D accessories should be hand finished. The smaller accessories are always hand finished which requires additional detail to ream them to match the quality of wood.

 

ML: The density of polymer is similar to boxwood. The boxwood clarinets were very light and porous and so for example the wooden period instruments by Delmar has a close resemblance in dimension and weight. Did you take your ideas from that or a separate entity?

JD: I have seen a lot more historical instruments that are 3-D printed in comparison to modern instruments and that makes a lot of sense given that context.

 

ML: After you do the final stages of polish, does that set up a transparency allowing it to vibrate a bit more or is that for heavy wear acrylic that is applied?

JD: I use a rub finish and I carefully work that finish into the material and is not necessarily air tight finish which allows it to breath but not in the same sense as wood. For example you don’t want water to build up on certain parts of the clarinet that would cause mold.

 

ML: Do you believe this technology will eventually replace traditional clarinets?

JD: I am going to say that it won’t replace traditional wood clarinets. I still personally prefer the feel of my Buffet clarinet. I think we are going to see more composites in the future however nickel/silver key work is here to stay.

 

ML: Anything else you’d like to add?

JD: Overall very excited and feel there is a bright future of 3-D printing and of clarinet accessories. I thank you very much for this opportunity

 

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