Klarinet Archive - Posting 000567.txt from 2000/03

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] B12 local store vs catalogue
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2000 17:30:46 -0500

----- Original Message -----
From: "Leighton Bingham" <cassus@-----.com>
Subject: [kl] B12 local store vs catalogue

> Dear Friends,
> No doubt this has been discussed before.
> I have this catalogue that offers Buffet clarinets, the price on the B12
is
> $385. I have been renting one for some time and still owe more than twice
> that.
> I went down to where the music used to play and showed them the
prices.
> Well as you might guess there was a lot of hemming and hawing. There was
no
> service dept with the catalogue, Any repairs on horns not purchesed at the
> store was $50/hr. etc.

Run, don't walk, to a different dealer. What if you moved into the area and
already owned an instrument? Should you be penalized for that? Typically
repairs are done as flat rates. i.e. So much per pad for individual pads
if only a few needed. So much for a complete repad if this is needed. So
much per cork if only one or two needed. So much for a complete recork. So
much for a complete overhaul. And so on.

And of course any good store will give you an estimate of the work needed
before starting and if they find additional problems, will call for
authorization on additional work.

I bet he won't even come close to matching the catalog price either will he?
In addition, it sounds as if this local price was even higher than the
manufacturer's list and that is too much. I'd be really leary of doing any
business here. In my Woodwind & Brasswind catalog, it shows the
manufacturer's suggested list price as only $654 (note I am one catalog out
of date so it might be a little different now.

> We got off on the idea of buying a E11. And the
> salesperson showed me several clarinets/oboes that needed repairs. They
had
> cracked and pins had been put in them to hold them together. He also
showed
> me some other instruments with what appeared to me as serious flaws in the
> wood. He assured me that these too would someday crack. In fact he said in
> Utah all clarinets crack sooner or later! Did I really want to buy an
> instrument sight unseen?
> I thought to my self this will make no difference in a plastic
> instrument(?) but the advice on wood clarinets seems reasonable to me.
> Any thoughts?
>

You can't really predict cracking. Naturally it makes no difference on a
plastic clarinet but all woods are at some risk of cracking. The problem
right now is that all plastic instruments except the Buffet Greenline (and I
think an instrument made by Howarth) happen to be beginner level clarinets.
So if you want to get an intermediate level instrument or a pro grade
instrument (except for the two I mentioned), you have to go wood.

I seriously doubt that all clarinets crack in Utah sooner or later. I have
two clarinets that have survived the dry winter heat in the midwest for
decades. This dry indoor heat is just as bad, or even worse, than what you
will find in Utah. One of these instruments is 40+ years old and the other
is 60 years old. Now one supposedly had cracked and been pinned before I
ever owned it (the younger horn). However if so, it had been expertly
repaired and I have never been able to find it. This horn plays beautifully
and my band mates constantly compliment me on its tone. The other one (the
older) has never cracked. I have owned it for around 38 years and got it
from the original owner. All the time that I owned these, I have never had
a humidifier in my home and never used humidifying methods in my cases (note
this is not necessarily the recommended way to take care of a clarinet but I
think maybe the alternate swelling and drying over short times may be a
bigger risk but that is just an opinion and I have no facts to back it up).

By the way, I don't think I'd be willing to trust this guy for anything
major like a crack repair or tenon replacement.

Dee Hays
Canton, SD

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org