Klarinet Archive - Posting 000702.txt from 1998/04

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Re: Request from the Clarinet Bulletin Board
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 12:59:21 -0400

Mark Charette <owner-klarinet@-----.us> passed on this message
posted Becky on April 14, 1998 at 11:14:49:

> My clarinet teacher has a student with arthritic hands and is looking
> for a clarinet "without holes" which is also affordable. She found
> one for $800 but too much for the student. If anyone knows of such
> I'll pass the information along.

What this student needs is called a plateau or plateau-key clarinet. One
source told me it might also be known as a kabinett or kabinet clarinet.
Whatever, I'd like one too, for the same reason. My sax technique is about
as good as ever, but my clarinet playing sometimes suffers from my fingers
being stiff that day, making it difficult to stop the open holes accurately.

A new plateau clarinet is expensive. Apparently few are made, and I haven't
found one for less than $2,400 -- and that's with a professional discount.
I've kept in touch with the used clarinet market as best I could -- and I
teach in a music store -- but I've had no luck finding one for less than
$1,200. The one for $800 would tempt me, but I keep hoping to discover one
for a lot less in a pawn shop, an antique store or at a yard sale.

Does anyone know whether their mechanism is otherwise like that of a
standard Boehm system clarinet?

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>

   
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