Klarinet Archive - Posting 000083.txt from 1997/02

From: "David C. Blumberg" <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Plastic clarinets and matched pairs
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 23:46:40 -0500

I agree that spending $900 on a step-up clarinet is not advisable. My
students get the Buffet E-11 for under $500, silver keys and all. A lot of
stores will sell you a plastic horn for that much. I also never let a
student get a wooden clarinet for the sake of it being wood unless I try it
first, and approve. And the E-11's hold their value quite well also.
I have found the E-11's to have vastly improved over the past 12 years
(especially during the last 5-6)

At 10:56 PM 1/28/97 -0800, CLARK FOBES wrote:
>---- Begin Forwarded Message
>
> I have to jump into the fray re: Plastic clarinets for the moment.
>I strongly disagree with David Blumberg that students should start out
>on wood clarinets and here is the reason. Basically any wood clarinet
>that is not a professional grade instrument is not worth the money. I
>have been repairing clarinets for over 20 years and the only
>non-professional wood instrument that I could ever recommend was the
>Noblet 41. This instrument is no longer made. It is absolutley nonsense
>
>
>to think that a plastic clarinet cannot compete with a student grade
>wood instrument. Point in fact is the Buffet student model clarinet. My
>
>
>son (9 years old) just started clarinet and I purchased a Buffet
>plastic clarinet and was EXTREMELY impressed with the mechanism, sound
>and intonation. Purchasing a step up wood instrument makes no sense at
>all when there are so many good used professional grade instruments
>available. I would much rather see a student purchase a 20 year old
>Buffet in good shape for $1,000 than to pick up a new step up wood
>instrument for $900. Good pro instruments will always have a good
>resale value and they are inherently better instuments. Also, I have
>seen many, many no name or off name wood clarinets that students have
>purchased just because they are wood when they were better off just
>staying with a well made plastic clarinet. I would be willing to bet
>that a good player with a good mouthpiece on a Buffet plastic clarinet
>at a distance of a few feet would sound just fine in an orchestra. It's
>
>
>design that makes the basic sound, not material.
>
>
> On matched pairs.
>
>
> There did exist at one time such a thing as a matched pair of
>clarinets. I have worked on two such pairs. One was a very unusual pair
>
>
>of Silver Haynes Clarinets. Each had the same serial number. They now
>reside at the Library of Congress. These two instuments were
>remarkable, not only for their tone, but for a truly matched resonance
>and similarity of tuning. I have also worked on an old pair of Leblanc
>clarinets (A & Bb) with the same serial # and were also sold as a
>matched pair. Perhaps in the days when instruments were individually
>hand crafted it may have been possible to insure that two instruments
>were made of the same branch (although this seems highly unlikely to me
>
>
>and really unnecessary). I think that the "matching" was done by the
>maker as he worked on the two instruments jointly. The only possibility
>
>
>of obtaining such a pair of clarinets now would be to contact Luis
>Rossi or Peter Eaton.
>
>
> However, matching clarinets is very important and fortunately we do
>
>
>have some ways of doing this today.
>
> First, I would recommend that the performer purchase A and Bb
>clarinets from the same maker. I would also recommend buying the same
>model and if possible purchase them within the same year of
>manufacture. Having instruments of the same brand and model keeps
>intonation patterns somewhat similar.
>
> The greatest difficulty in matching Buffet clarinets is the
>sometimes drastic differences in resistance between A and Bb clarinets.
>
>
>Generally Buffet R-13 A clarinets tend to be much more resistant than
>the Bb's. Some of this difference will be mitigated by purchasing
>instruments at the same time so that at least initial resistances can
>be similar. Generally, the Buffet A clarinets can be improved with a
>reverse cone tapered barrel. Usually several tones on the A clarinets
>can be fraised to help with sound emission. ( I do think that Buffet
>needs to put serious attention into improving the R-13 A model
>clarinets. Tuning is deficient and there seems to be radical
>differences from clarinet to clarinet which I do not find in such a
>great percentage on the Bb clarinets)
>
>
> Clark W Fobes
>
>
David C. Blumberg
reedman@-----.com
Principal Clarinet Riverside Symphonia
Adjunct Woodwind Instructor Univ. of Penn,. Bryn Mawr College