Klarinet Archive - Posting 000686.txt from 1999/05

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl]Hans Moennig's solution the Dark Clarinet Tone
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 18:00:58 -0400

At 10:19 AM 5/15/99 EDT, David Hattner wrote:
>
>In a message dated 5/15/99 4:15:01 AM, klarinet-digest-help@-----.org
writes:
>
><< I guess the question still hasn't been answered to my satisfaction.
>Regardless of the manufacturer, a deficient product should be corrected.
>Depending upon aftermarket people like Moennig and Brannen to do it is
>ludicrous. A company that does this deserves to lose its customer base. I
>am nonplussed by the continued loyalty some players show in spite of poorly
>made, or even poorly designed instruments. If I was the manufacturer and
>realized I was making an instrument that people loved despite a few KNOWN
>deficiencies, I would be killing myself trying to get it perfect. I'd then
>OWN the market! >>
>
>Whatever. . .a Brannenized R-13 is still very inexpensive, much cheaper than
>the top line Leblanc or Selmer, which themselves will need post-purchase
>adjustment. Fix those deficencies that are so well 'known' (as Leblanc and
>Selmer claim to have done) and you compromise somewhere else. That's why I
>don't play Leblanc or Selmer.
>
>There is no such thing as a 'perfect' clarinet. It's impossible. Every
>acoustic fine tuning is some kind of compromise. With an R13 the player gets
>to make those decisions with a technician. Maybe not as good as ordering a
>hand made clarinet and going over all the details with the maker, but much
>cheaper. Of course there are things any one individual would change in any
>mass-produced product. And some Buffets are awful while others are gems.
When
>someone else makes a perfect clarinet that satisfies everyone, Buffet will
go
>out of business.
>
>The R13 is not a poorly made or designed product. One listen to the top
>artists who play them will tell you that. Despite the so-called
>'improvements' in clarinet design over the last 30 years, I have yet to hear
>many players improve on what Marcellus, Wright, Combs, Brody and others were
>doing on their Buffets 30 plus years ago.
>
OK. Perfect was perhaps a strong word, but by it I mean, in a
professional-grade instrument, ready to play professionally without
modification (MINOR adjustment, such as re-seating a pad or something on
that order is OK). But I hear so much talk here about how this DESIGN
DEFICIENCY or that must be corrected by aftermarket technicians that it
raises questions about the way some companies make their products. With
the fixes so well known, why do the companies not incorporate them into
their production? Have they so little pride in ther work? That hardly
seems likely, so I am left wondering what really IS going on.

As far as I can see, the choice between major brands of clarinets is very
much like the choice between major brands of automobiles. I suppose you
could compare Buffet to GM, Selmer to Ford, and Leblanc to Chrysler (OK,
DAIMLER-Chrysler). Just because more people buy GM cars, that does not
make them the ONLY cars, just the ones preferred by the most people. Fords
drive differently from Chevys and Dodges, no question about it, and many
people either love or hate them for it. Many feel the same way about
Selmers and Leblancs. Personally I could live happily with a Buffet or a
Selmer, and probably with a Leblanc, too, even though there are clearly
differences in their sound and feel, but any CHANGE from the Selmer I have
would cost me money and be not more than an even swap to me as far as
playability is concerned, so why should I switch? I just get annoyed that
ANY manufacturer would put out a product with demonstrated, documented
deficiencies and leave it to aftermarket technicians to fix them. Let's
see an automaker try THAT!

You said, "When someone else makes a perfect clarinet that satisfies
everyone, Buffet will go out of business." Why should it not be Buffet who
MAKES the perfect clarinet? Especially since they are clearly so close, in
the opinion of so many?

(P.S.: No disrespect intended to Japan, Inc., and the Yamaha line, also
fine instruments. Things were just getting too complicated.)

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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