#WednesdayWisdom: The Wilmington Clarinets

In keeping with this week’s #ClarinetFest2019 theme, today’s #WednesdayWisdom gives some insight into the manufacturing process of our Wilmington Clarinets.

Do you know why The Wilmington Clarinet 902 Model is manufactured from a composite of hard rubber and Grenadilla wood?

The answer is stability.

For various reasons, people prefer the sound of a wooden clarinet. Wooden instruments require special care and frequent adjustment due to the vascular properties of wood, seasonal changes and the natural inconsistencies of something that’s grown on a tree. Grenadilla is a very dense wood, but the tree itself is very gnarly and slow growing so finding and seasoning good blanks that are suitable for making complete clarinet joints is tough and a process with a high rejection rate.

A Grenadilla tree


Composite clarinets, like The Wilmington 902, don’t have these same issues. The 902 uses hard rubber compounds mixed with Grenadilla to make a clarinet that’s mechanically stable, rot free, crack free and still has the benefit of the acoustic properties of wood.

“That means they have the same bore dimensions, tone hole undercutting and tolerances.”

Because of the discerning tastes of clarinetists we offer three different types of material for the body, all machined exactly the same way.

That means they have the same bore dimensions, tone hole undercutting and tolerances. A player can choose composite (the 902) or ABS model (the 901) as well as our all Grenadilla wood model (903) and still get the benefit of a quality finish and design that usually comes with a intermediate or pro level clarinet. All of our Wilmington Clarinets are manufactured with the same extra steps usually reserved for more expensive clarinets.

Going to #ClarinetFest2019 this week? If so, please stop by booth 314 and play-test one of our Wilmington Clarinets. See the quality & hear the tone for yourself!

Click here to learn more about The Wilmington Clarinets.