Klarinet Archive - Posting 000492.txt from 1998/12

From: "Sheryl L. Katz" <slkatz@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] re: inferior instruments
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 17:34:03 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: David Blumberg <reedman@-----.com>

>Sherry, you''re 100% correct. It is a shame that poor quality instruments
>like that even exist. They help no one. The dealer should be ashamed of
>selling crap like that, but I'm sure he is not. You are lucky that he even
>took it back, as if he will sell junk like that, usually his policys will
>be similar. Those instruments (Monique?) are as bad as the Damark catalog
>instruments.
>David Blumberg
---
The flute indeed was a "Monique." However, I also have a soprano sax that I
got from the same guy and it is also a Monique. The soprano sax is made in
Taiwan and it is entirely different. It was cheap ($355 on ebay), and a
heck of a deal for a very acceptable soprano sax. I took it to my repair
guy, and we were both pretty impressed with it - it's not a Selmer or a
Yamaha mind you - but it plays nicely and seems to be decently made.

The seller told me that the flute was nowhere near the quality of the sax,
and he also noted that the sax was Taiwanese whereas the flute was Chinese.
He was very clear at the time of the sale that it wasn't a particularly good
flute. He still was willing to refund my money when the flute fell apart.

One of the problems with these instruments is that you can't really tell
from the name on them whether or not they are any good. I find the Selmer
Bundy clarinets to be acceptable student instruments, but the Bundy II saxes
are atrocious pieces of junky (my opinion) and I honestly think the Monique
saxes are better. I also tried a Selmer student flute and thought it was
horrid although it was better made than the Monique.

I think any inexpensive instrument made in China is suspect, but the
Cannonball, Winston, Jupiter and LASaxes (LA Sax is assembled in the US) are
made in Taiwan and are significantly better than the Monique flute that I
had.

Sherry

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