Here's another article I found on cryo - though it pertains to flutes I found it interesting:
>>>>A rather long post from Joseph S. Wisniewski Ok, Here's what we "really" do know. 1) The walls of a flute do not participate measurably or noticeably in the sound production. Benade aside, still living acousticians such as Coltman have done much to validate or dispel statements about gold or silver or platinum or various alloys of these metals. Coltman did some fascinating double blind tests of different metals against each other, and against some oddball materials (including cardboard and concrete). No contribution to the sound making process. 2) People who have done work on other woodwinds (including sax, which has the highest ratio of enclosed airspace to metal mass of any woodwind) and brasswinds like trumpet and English horn (Fletcher, Nedervee, Coltman, Rossing, sorry about the spellings) have gotten similar results. Including some published papers utilizing nearfield acoustical holography and vibration sensors mounted on the walls of the horn. 3) The measurable change in physical properties (hardness and modulus of elasticity) produced in cryogenic treatment is much smaller than the tolerance variations introduced by variations in wall thickness produced by tubing manufacturers from batch to batch, variations in hardness and elasticity produced by tolerance drift in the metal drawing and forming processes, contamination of the alloys, and variations in machining and soldering processes. 4) Everything that the Miyazawa web site [http://www.miyazawa.com/tech3.htm] that you pointed us to, as far as metallurgical effects that can actually be measured, indicates that cryo treatment has exactly the same effect on the metal as heat hardening (increased strength, hardness, and stiffness of silver, no noticible effect on gold). Although 50 hours of cryo treatment looks like it would cost about 100 to 1000 times as much as a four hour heat hardening. 5) Cryo treatment (and heat hardening for that matter) can't be done with the pads in place. Any time a competent instrument technician dismantles and reassembles a flute, you either replace or at least readjust and reshim the pads, as well as adjusting (regulating) the mechanism. The end result is exactly the benefit that is quoted for the Cryo treatment "Virtually all the instruments treated have an increased capacity to play softer and louder, by as much as 30%. (This is based on substantial anecdotal evidence, not a decibel meter.)" Plus other stuff about increased pitch stability, cleaner attacks, and evenness of tone, all widely acknowledged benefits of repadding and readjustment. What's more, we have measured, on a good sound meter, the effects of a competent repadding on a flute, and it's way more than 30% louder or softer. This even includes most brand new, freshly padded flutes. So, unless they can show us some measurable results, with a really masterfully padded and regulated flute as a starting point, I'd put the claims of the Cryo folks over in the shallow end of the credibility pool.>>> "Just Put Your Lips Together And Blow...." U.S. Dealer: Ricco Kühn and Dietmar Dürk Pope Instrument Repair 80 Wenham Street Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 617-522-0532 _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
