Klarinet Archive - Posting 000313.txt from 1995/06

From: David Gilman <dagilman@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Selmer clarinets
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 16:11:27 -0400

>
>The first clarinet I bought, in 1971, was a Selmer B-flat. It was
>a horror to me: out of tune, and an absolutely unusable mouthpiece
>(from selmer's own make, if I remember right it was a *). When I
>called the company, to complain about it, the owner of the company,
>who was also the importer (I hope that 's the correct term)
>answered me that a Selmer out of tune was an impossibility. He
>promised me to give me another selmer of a better type, if I were
>right. I got the "better" instrument.
>
>That was even worse. So much out of tune that even people with
>"wooden" ears noticed it. And the mechanism was no less then a terror:
>after playing ten minutes my fingers started aching, whereas before
>I could play on forever.
>

Rien,

This fascinates me. Most of the Selmers I have tried over the years have
been fine. The original 10G from the late 70's was known as difficult to
play in tune, in part because of the large bore size. But all I've come in
contact with have had beautiful keywork and perfectly decent workmanship.
They can be heavy: my Recital weighs almost twice as much as an R-13.
Overall, however, I am more satisfied with them than with any other make.

Your experience sounds like mine with Buffets. I have yet to find one that
plays in tune throughout its range with a good, consistent response. The
workmanship strikes me as very uneven and the keywork stultifyingly
ordinary. [My teacher, who plays them, admits that you have to try at least
ten Buffets to find a good one.] Plus, the standard nickel plating drives
me out of my mind. They do have a nice tone color, though. Maybe the RC's
you have over in Europe are better than the R-13's we have here. I'd be
interested to find out.

Groet [I picked that up from Stany],

David Gilman