Klarinet Archive - Posting 000837.txt from 1999/05

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl]Hans Moennig's solution the Dark Clarinet Tone
Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 03:19:16 -0400

At 08:07 AM 5/17/99 -0500, Roger Garrett wrote:
...There is no need for
>rebuilding - unless you simply have ignored what people have been telling
>you for the last couple of days! They play fine out of the case.
>Once again *sigh* (in case you angrily deleted it before) - people
>rebuild/customize because they have a special need that they have in mind,
>or because they match a particular mouthpiece barrel with an instrument
>they like. So.....they take that instrument to someone hand have them do
>work on it.
>
Rather than add length on one end of a clarinet, shorten the other end, and
move and enlarge the tone holes, wouldn't it be easier to find another
mouthpiece? (Yes, I know, it was an extreme case.)

>On the other hand, you want to be able to spend $1600 on a horn hand have
>it do everything you want - or else, by God, you're going to make it clear
>that as a consumer you're just simply "not going to take it anymore"!!
>Then you take all that unecessary, unhappy, illogical and poorly concluded
>message and put it on a website for all to see. That's ok with me! But
>some of us think you are simply blaming a manufacturer because a piece of
>plumbing with holes and keys drilled/placed is often altered by a
>technician. You have rejected everyone's arguement that they like the
>horn they bought and get it tweaked in a way particular to them and then
>claim that it is the manufacturer's fault.

You are entitled to tweak all you want, but redesigning is a bit extreme.
Regardless of the relative prices of instruments, if I pay $1600 for what
is advertised as and generally regarded to be a professional-grade
instrument, I expect it to behave like one without excessive fiddling
around, or I will take my money elsewhere.

>After re-reading your original posts as well as the ones during the past
>few days, I can't agree with you on this Bill. You have strongly implied
>that the instrument manufacturers are building junk. Although, in your
>defense, you simply call the instruments defective designs - and you use
>people going to aftermarket techicians with a new horn as evidence of
>such.
>
I have also said that Buffet is certainly ONE OF the top clarinet makers,
and that the last R-13 I played sounded and played beautifully. The
specific alleged design flaws, like the register key misplacement, came
from other posters, not me.

...Not one of my Buffets has ever
>had a tone hole moved or resized - with the exception of my bass clarinet
>that I had Francois undercut a bit more. But I saw his tool - and it had
>marks on it that defined the tolerances to specifications by Buffet - and
>it was done within tolerance. Francois then posted why tolerances are
>sometimes left a bit short - and others responded to that effect. You
>don't mention if undercutting is acceptable in "your" definition. Perhaps
>you could elaborate on how much undercutting is acceptable before you call
>it rebuilding rather than customization. LOL
>
If the instruments are deliberately left borderline unfinished ("tolerances
left a bit short"), with the assumption that final on-the-spot adjustments
like a bit of undercutting are INTENDED and EXPECTED to be made to fit them
to the purchaser, at no additional cost, including transportation, so be
it. In fact, such attention to the customer would make a great sales tool.
(M. Kloc will be a busy man, though!) I think we have been here before,
but I get the impression that, while some of the pros know this, most
amateurs do not realize that such service is available (and admittedly, may
not benefit from it, but the offer should still be CLEARLY made to ALL
buyers).

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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