Klarinet Archive - Posting 000271.txt from 1997/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Selmer repair
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:41:33 -0400

Roger, I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this subject.
Your highly skilled, high-priced woodwind wizards may be just the guys to
put the finishing touches on instruments for you ivory-tower types,
full-time professionals, and well-heeled diletantes. But for junior
high/high school students, two-hour-a-week amateurs, and those of us who
spend our extra hundreds of dollars on silly things like food and clothing
for our kids and agonize over whether to buy Vandoren or Mitchell Lurie
reeds on the basis of price, that kind of work is simply overkill. Local
technicians who can keep an instrument playing within factory
specifications at reasonable cost are all we need. Meanwhile, we all
aspire to some day join your ranks.

At 10:27 PM 9/5/97 -0500, you wrote:
>All the more reason to go to an expert like Bill Brannen...who has been in
>business longer than you have been alive....and studied with guys like
>Frank Casper. The comments, while well-meaning, are naive.
>
>Roger Garrett
>
>On Fri, 5 Sep 1997, Bill Hausmann wrote:
>
>> At 09:45 PM 9/4/97 -0500, you wrote:
>> >All good repairmen/ww experts get into the wood. If they didn't, the job
>> >would be pointless......
>> >
>> >Roger Garrett
>> >
>> I suppose that top technicians, seeking to tweak the last .0001% out of an
>> instrument for a professional client will make alterations to the wood, but
>> anyone who attempts such work without authorization to a normal Joe's
>> clarinet, especially if he doesn't know what he is doing, is a complete
>> idiot. Even if the surgery is successful, the difference will be too small
>> for a relatively unskilled player to notice. And the potential downside
>> makes it a very bad risk. You don't need your car engine blueprinted to
>> drive it to the corner grocery once a week.
>>
>> Note that I am talking only about "improvements" that the technician thinks
>> he can make. Several horror stories have been posted showing what can go
>> wrong when incompetent people bite off more than they can chew. Not that a
>> technician shouldn't do it IF the customer wants it, but he had better be
>> DA*N sure he knows what he is doing, and be prepared to eat it if he screws
>> up. If there are legitimate PROBLEMS, such as manufacturing defects or
>> physical damage, any competent technician should be expected to handle
>> that. All of the above IMHO, of course.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
>> 451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
>> Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
>>
>> If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.
>>
>
>
>

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.