Klarinet Archive - Posting 000518.txt from 1999/02

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Post-Factory adjustment
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 14:53:40 -0500

HatNYC62@-----.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 2/14/99 4:13:51 AM, klarinet-digest-help@-----.org writes:
>
> << I never stop tinkering with my instruments, either, trying to get that last
> "molecule per millenium" of air leak out, etc. But something as major as
> undercutting needed to correct intonation just tells me they didn't do it
> right in the first place and arrogantly expect you to pay someone else to
> have it fixed right. At the prices charged for professional-grade
> instruments, that is ludicrous! You might as well save some money and go
> buy a Selmer 100 or a Normandy and have IT adjusted! >>
>
> This is just nonesense. Professional clarinets ARE cheap. VERY CHEAP. Compared
> to a handmade flute for $6,000+ (for which you may have to wait several years)
> or a $12,000+ bassoon, we have a great deal.
>
> When it comes to undercutting, there is a simple rule: once you take the wood
> out, you can't put it back. I have no problem spending a few hundred to
> customize an instrument to my taste, especially if it ultimately saves me a
> few thousand over what a handmade instrument would cost and satisfies my
> professional needs. If the clarinet were completely 'finished' at the factory,
> that would limit its appeal to those who pick it up and find it perfect as it
> is. . .you can't put the wood back in the holes.
>
> Every mouthpiece plays a different scale, as does every player. Two players
> playing the same clarinet, mouthpiece and reed will produce different
> intonation (though they might inherit certain tendencies from the setup). You
> can't expect a 'one size fits all' approach to tuning an instrument. If Buffet
> or anyone else took the approach "the instruments are perfect as they leave
> the factory, if you have a problem with intonation, it's you" THAT would be
> extreme arrogance, in my opinion.
>
> David Hattner, NYC

Dave,

About your statement, pro clars are cheap. Couldn't agree more. We
probably shouldn't call them cheap but rather, relatively inexpensive
and a bargain.
I just upgraded my plastic Fox bassoon with two of their new Double Star
bocals---$1,000 worth of bocals. And when you say $12,000+ for a
bassoon, you are being very conservative. $12,000 to $20,000 would
present a more realistic picture to the clarinet players of the world.

I don't entirely agree with your suggestion that top grade instruments
coming from the factory are ready to play as far as they dare finish or
refine a scale, and that going beyond this "one size fits all" boundary
is latitude purposely left in the instrument so that instruments can be
further tailored to individual preferences. I believe you are correct to
a point.

Two areas that probably qualify are the tunings of throat tones. (I
believe there was a post by a most distinguished gentleman who said that
he did change throat tone tuning on his new Howarths as a personal
preference). The other area where modification is commonly done and the
factory realizes that one size fits all will NEVER satisfy all of the
market is in the area of spring tensions. Some players like their
mechanisms fairly heavy while others prefer having everything as light
as is practical. I fall into the later camp.

Never the less, I get new instruments, Buffets, Yamahas and Leblancs
that have highly questionable tuning and playing characteristics. If I
think a given note is very flat, the buyer finds it very flat, all
others that the new owner has had play it find that note very flat and
the electronic tuner indicates that the note in question is very flat,
then there is a general consensus. While some notes cannot be messed
with without doing damage to many other things, fixing one note should,
in my opinion, be left to the tech who knows what can, can't, should,
should not be done.

In this regard, I would say that I've encountered many instruments that
did come out the factory in less than acceptable shape.

The problem for the buyer is having the knowledge to judge an instrument
on those playing qualities that make it superior to others of the same
kind, and be able to distinguish between those intrinsic qualities that
set it apart while momentarily discounting those anomalies that fall
into the category of being readily fixable by a fine repairman.

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