Klarinet Archive - Posting 000073.txt from 1999/09

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Bundy Wood Body Clarinet
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 18:16:03 -0400

Wendy Kirkland wrote,
>>I wondered if anyone had opinions on the Bundy Wood Body Clarinet. Being a
beginner, I don't know anything about it but I have been offered one for sale
at @-----. Is this a fair price? I know that the bell, barrel and
mouthpiece are plastic, how much difference to the tone does it make?
Also, I am told it has an "extra mellow tone" and "rich sound quality". What
do you all think of this?>>

The workmanship, not the materials, will determine the tone. How old is it?
Is it in playable condition right now, or will you have to put more money
into pads, corks and so forth? Has someone who is not a beginner tried out
this clarinet for you?

The hybrids of wood and plastic cost more than the all-plastic models, but
how good they are varies enormously -- and you need to make sure it's really
a hybrid wood and plastic, not a jumble of parts from two (or more) different
clarinets illicitly wed. Do you have any reason to take the seller's word
for anything? (Is the seller a reputable professional instrument dealer? A
flea market dealer? Newspaper ad? Someone you know?) I'm not suggesting
paranoia, just reasonable prudence.

Wherever you can find serial numbers, they should match. The lettering style
of the logos should match. Above all, when the instrument is put together,
everything should fit properly (across the bridge, etc.), so that the keys
actually work, because they're interconnected -- and the clarinet must end up
the right length to play in tune. Different models are jointed in slightly
different places. Rich sound quality doesn't matter beetle-drool if it's a
quarter tone sharp. That's something a beginner probably can't tell.
Therefore I would strongly recommend that if you do decide to buy, it be on
approval, with the sale not final until your teacher or some other "poison
detector" plays the instrument and either says it's delicious or starts
gagging and writhing on the floor.

I recently sold a saxophone to a student this way. I trusted the buyer to
leave me a post-dated check. (She's someone from my neighborhood whose
parents are good friends with my next-door neighbor.) Both the buyer and I
felt more confident about the sale when we had this clear agreement. Her
teacher okayed the transaction and we're all happy about it.

Gary Truesdail spoke highly of the Bundy *bass* clarinets. I'm not familiar
with the basses, but I own an all-plastic Bb Bundy soprano, circa 1990, that
I like well enough to use as a backup. (I'm an experienced adult amateur.)
IMHO these *newer* ones are appropriate for beginners and better than their
reputation. However, if this is a Bb clarinet, and especially if it's an old
one, but from the time after Selmer acquired Bundy (by "old" I mean circa
1950s through 1960s, since that's when a lot of those wood-and-plastic
hybrids appeared on the market), then it may be a truly ghastly instrument.
I've tried out some of the 1950s-1960s vintage (both all-plastic and
hybrids). A lot of my grade school classmates had them. It was not possible
to play them in tune. They were sharp overall (I guess on the assumption
that beginners with undeveloped chops play flat; but I had chops like a
crocodile from the get-go, probably from talking too much). At their best,
they were very free-blowing, but you could drive a Wide Load through the
twelfths. Pulling those clarinets out enough to get a good tuning note would
throw a whole lot of other notes out of whack. I would absolutely stay away
from one of these older ones if the wood had cracks or tone hole chips. Such
damage would cost more to fix than the instrument is worth -- and it ain't
worth much, certainly not $290 if it's pre-1970s.

Age isn't always easy to determine with hybrid wood-and-plastic Bundies
because they drifted in and out of the Selmer Bundy catalogue. They were
sold as step-up models for students, but in fact parents often bought them
for beginners. I have a 1958 Selmer Bundy catalog that lists Bundies only in
plastic, yet I started band in 1957 and I distinctly remember grade school
and junior high school classmates buying hybrids new. Maybe the store still
had "new old stock" for sale or maybe the catalogue came out dated a year
ahead, the way car models are actually available before the official model
date, to give customers that satisfied feeling of buying the latest. Is the
seller the original owner or someone who knows the provenance (history) of
this clarinet and can tell you the approximate age? Can you tell anything
from the case or the stuff left lying around in it (old repair receipts,
etc.)?

The Bundies were so memorable because we had quite a little neighborhood
scandal over them. The local public school music teacher pushed them so hard
that a few parents got suspicious, did detective work and discovered he got a
kickback from the only instrument shop in the area. The shop paid him a
percentage of the gross on Bundy clarinets and certain other instruments sold
to his students or to his schools every year, in return for him promoting the
instruments on which the store earned the largest profit. Nothing quite
illegal going on, but whooee, the moms and dads had a right fine dustup and a
good time was had by all, especially the pugnacious band teacher, who, when
dragged in chains before the PTA, stuck out his bulldog jaw, drew himself up
to his full height of a rather stout five-foot-nothing, clenched his fists
and barked, "Yeah, what's it to yas? Whaddaya payin' me in dis job, anyhow?"

As to price...in my large, urban area in the USA, a competive market
oversaturated with student clarinets, I see *dirty, unrestored* examples of
Bundy mixed wood and plastic instruments frequently at flea markets for
around US $50, often as low as US $35 when there are obvious condition
problems. If the one you're looking at is cleaned up and in fully playable
condition, so that you or your teacher can try it out, and -- very important
-- if it has no cracks or other major damage, then naturally you would expect
to pay more than those flea market prices. How much does an overhaul cost
where you live? Generally a reasonable retail price is the cost of the
unrestored instrument (up to US $50) plus the overhaul (up to about US $150
where I live, depending on what has to be done and assuming it doesn't
include anything major, such as pinning a crack), plus peace of mind (because
you and/or your poison detector already know what it sounds like) plus a
reasonable profit to the seller. In other words, is peace of mind, plus
reasonable money to a seller, worth about US $90? I think that's a decent
deal, but only IF your poison detector doesn't fall over dead.

Buyer beware, checks its teeth, see if it can be led on a leash, etc., and
good luck!

Lelia

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