Klarinet Archive - Posting 000848.txt from 1995/05

From: Steve Fowler <sfowler@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Martin Freres? Please?
Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 18:10:06 -0400

You wrote:
>
>I sent a message last week asking about the possible value
>of a Martin Freres clarinet with serial number A1642 and got
>no useful information. Can't the vast power of this list
>turn its attention from crystal mouthpieces and V12 reeds
>for a moment to help me tell my friend's friend what he
>has on his hands?
>
>Thanks,
>Claudia
>
Claudia,

Questions like yours are very difficult to answer with any accuracy
which probably accounts for the lack of reponses. Anyway, I'll give it
a shot. Let me see . . . < crystal ball > . . .

Anywhere from $150.00 to $450.00 depending on condition, how it
plays, intonation, sound, color of the wood, plating condition, time of
the year, (it _does_ matter due to parents being more apt to purchase
in the months of June, August, and at Christmas) and many other things
that determine the value of any instrument.

With instruments that are made and sold today, the answers are
easier. You can say,"A Signet Model 100 is $356.00 used retail.",
because there is a Blue Book for current instruments. Even this does
not take into consideration many variables, but it gives us a place to
start from. Needless to say, Martin Freres, or Freres Martin for that
matter, does not appear in the Blue Book.

The bottom line is this; the instrument is worth whatever the
market will bear. If in your area, old wooden clarinets that play okay,
but are not well known go for $350, then it's worth that. If they bring
$100, then that is what it's worth. There is no magic formula.

good luck,

Steve
--
Steve Fowler (sfowler@-----.com)

   
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