With todays modern buildings fitted with Radiators and Air
Conditioning, these dry our the air in the rooms. The Dampit comes supplied
with a Himidity Indicator showing you the humidity in the room along with what
it should be to best prolong the life of your instrument.
Click here for more information and
how to use the Dampit. |
| Description |
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| For Bassoon Wing Joint |
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| For Bass Clarient |
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The Story of the
Inventor
Ralph Hollander was born of musical parents
who gave him an early start in both violin and piano. By the time he was eight
years old he joined with his two young brothers to form a child prodigy trio
(violin, cello and piano) which toured extensively in the eastern United
States. At the age of fourteen, he was admitted to the Juilliard School of
Music. Following his graduation three years later, he was one of the very few
artist students accepted by Adolfo Betti of Flonzaley Quartet fame with whom he
studied for the next five years both here and in Italy. Later he returned to
Juilliard for further work with Albert Spalding and Ivan Galamian. Ralph
Hollander was a Concertmaster of the Longines Symphonette (1955-1956) and the
N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the Casals Festivals in France
and played under Leopold Stokowski, Arturo Toscanini, and Otto Klemperer. He
was a concert violinist performing into his eighties. |
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The Story of the
Dampit
The nightmare of any
musician is to wake up one morning and find their instrument cracked or warped.
That condition is caused by weather conditions that threaten the safety of wood
instruments. Although problems with dryness have caused repair bills that run
into thousands of dollars each year, the trouble is even more serious today due
to central heating and air conditioning. With air travel, rapid changes in
climate have become yet another source of difficulty because such changes are
hard on the instrument.
The inventor of the DAMPIT, Ralph Hollander,
began his search for proper humidification of his own instruments by hanging
his violin in the bathroom over a tubful of water, keeping his instrument
surrounded by half-drowned plants, and setting pans of water on
radiators.
None of these methods got to the heart of the matter the
inside of the instrument, unprotected by the varnish that coats the
outside.
One morning, Hollander experienced his own nightmare when he
awoke to find his valuable old Italian violin cracked. The repair bill was
stiff and he was determined never to let such a calamity happen again. He
decided to research the problem by asking two questions: What happens to thinly
cut wood that was originally seasoned in an area of high humidity but which is
put to use in an area where the humidity is low? Also what would happen to wood
of this kind if the seasoning process and the place of use was
reversed?
In answering these questions, Hollander realized that it was
the raw inner surfaces of the instrument that are particularly susceptible to
absorbing and losing moisture. He figured that the humidification had to reach
inside the instrument to be truly effective.
Hollander began to
experiment with different instruments, different sizes of sponge and the
punching of different sized holes in the covering for continuous but controlled
release of moisture. After much testing, he produced a product that he called
the 'DAMPIT' which keeps an atmosphere of humidity just high enough to maintain
the optimum conditions for the instrument.
the DAMPIT's first customer
was Jacques Francais, master violin restorer of his time. Although this
prominent person supported the new invention, other musicians laughed at it as
if it were a gimmick. With time, however, musicians approached Hollander,
asking him to make the dampit for their instruments.
Eventually, master
musicians all over the world began to sing praises of the dampit because it
provided the first real solution to the dryness, cracking and warping of wood
musicians had battled for centuries. |
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