Klarinet Archive - Posting 000398.txt from 1998/12

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] A question of Clarinet Preference
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 06:01:21 -0500

At 09:21 PM 12/7/98 -0600, Dee Hays wrote:
>>i have only been playing clarinet for 1 year and i started off on a used
>>clarinet.my parents are going to buy me a new one.does anyone have any
>>suggestions on what i should get?
>>thanx,
>>rachel
>
>
>This is a really tough question actually. You (and your parents) need to
>sit down and think about your goals and ambitions.
>
>1. What is your current clarinet? Occasionally people have a very fine
>used instrument that would only require a some work to be better than what
>they could afford new.
>
>2. Will you be doing a lot of marching? If so, a plastic clarinet should
>be given serious consideration if you live where there are extremes of
>weather. If your current horn is plastic, consider keeping it for marching.
>
>3. Do you expect to play throughout high school but not continue past that?
>A low end wood intermediate or good plastic should be fine especially if you
>get a really good mouthpiece to go with it. You would be surprised how good
>these horns can sound with a fine mouthpiece.
>
>4. Do you expect to play after you get out of school as a hobby? A high
>end intermediate might be appropriate.
>
>5. Do think you might be studying music in some form in college? You are
>probably a bit young to have strong leanings for a career yet sometimes
>people do at your age. A pro horn (even used) is probably too expensive
>this early in your development, but if you pick one of the better brands of
>plastic or intermediate woods, you can sell it for a reasonable amount
>(although nothing near what you paid for it) and upgrade to a better horn
>later.
>
>6. Of course there is always the cost issue. How much can you and your
>parents afford? If you have some patience, you can mail order and try out
>instruments at a much better price than most of your local stores will have.
>However, it may take a while to go through the procedure of try horn, return
>horn, try next horn, etc. If you have someone qualified to help you select
>instruments, some used instruments can be outstanding buys.
>
>Basically, I would recommend sticking to one of the four major makers of
>clarinet. These are Buffet, Leblanc, Selmer, and Yamaha. They develop and
>build their own clarinets and all of them have models available for the full
>range of beginner, intermediate, and professional horns. There are some
>specialty makers also but they only produce pro grade horns. The bulk of
>the remaining makers do NOT do their own design and contract the
>manufacturing to factories around the world. Quality is markedly
>inconsistent because of this.
>
>Also instruments made by the major makers will hold their resale value
>better.
>
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said, except parts of item 6.
Mail order CAN be a good deal, but it is not the ONLY good deal. The
personal service you can get at a local store can be well worth the
difference. For example, someone came into our store just yesterday with
an R-13 they bought from us (the last one we had in stock from when we were
a Buffet dealer). The barrel joint had cracked. We will be handling
getting the new barrel and fitting it to the instrument for her (no
shipping charges), and also tweaked the girl's backup instrument on the
spot (at no charge) so it would play well in the interim.

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
ICQ UIN 4862265

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

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