Klarinet Archive - Posting 000900.txt from 2000/03

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] New member with Buffet quality question
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 20:08:19 -0500

Shouryu,

You're off base and out of line.

Shouryu Nohe wrote:

> On Mon, 27 Mar 2000, James D. McLeod wrote:
>
> > through the tone holes. He is meticulous about his care of the
> > instrument, yet he still has had this unfortunate luck. Purchased
> > through WW and BW, he is past the warranty by a few months (although
> > they did replace the joint once before). Now their replacement joint
> > has cracked after only 3 weeks! They are understandably unwilling to do
> > anything more (out of warranty and all). Is there a regional Buffet
> > rep. for the Michigan area?
>
> Now suddenly I'm not surprised...I think the case here may NOT be a
> problem with Buffet clarinets, but with WW&BW...I do not do instrument
> business with WWBW, mainly because I have been strongly advised not to do
> so through outside sources. I don't believe them to be a bad firm; I just
> don't think they are as meticulous as my preferred choices, Muncy, then
> Weiner's. Perhaps it helps that my preferred choices are primarily owned
> by clarinet techs...

If I had twenty Buffet clarinets to sell, brand new ones, how would I tell
which ones were inferior and which ones would crack.

>
>
> In any case, I have encountered three players in my area who have
> purchased clarinets from WWBW that have cracked, two being Buffets, one
> being a Selmer 10 series. Yet I know more people who have purchased from
> Muncy who have never had a problem (although I should exclude three of
> them, including myself; we bought Greenlines).

Not a scientific sampling.

>
>
> I live in a very dry climate, for the most part, that, during key weeks in
> the year, goes through a very drastic change, for perhaps only a few
> weeks. This usually occurs in the mid Summer and mid fall, when for
> three or four days, it will pour on and off rather suddenly and
> drastically.
>
> Most of my friends do not oil or 'protect' their instruments with the
> exception of in-case humidifiers. The only instruments that I know of
> cracking have either come from a local store (well...actually one in El
> Paso) or WW/BW.

Again, not a scientific sample. There are too many variables to say that only
clarinets from WW & BW crack.

> A friend who plays an Opus does occasionally find his
> tenon rings loosening, and his keys with lots of play, so he's constantly
> sending it in for adjustment...I -THINK- he purchased from WWBW as well,
> but I'm not sure. But he doesn't use a humidifier, either. (He also
> marches with the thing...don't try...we've all warned him numerous times.)
>
> One of the unlucky WWBW customers (who is no longer a student here) had a
> theory that in places like NM or AZ, WWBW probably sends their lower
> quality clarinets since the climate is so lousy anyway, so there is no
> hope either way. I don't know if its true or not; my best guess is simply
> that WWBW operates on a larger scale than Phil Muncy or Fred Weiner, and
> therefore doesn't select their instruements as meticulously.

Your "theory" is nothing more than unfounded speculation.

>
>
> Does some of the fault still lie with Buffet? I dunno.

You said a mouthful when you said, "I dunno." I think you're spouting off and
beating your chest. Try beating your head for a while. Maybe, in time you'll
beat some sense into it.

> I'd like to think
> 'no', because I know that Muncy tends to pick the jewels of the bunch, and
> so those of us who purchase get good instruments for certain. Nothing
> material is perfect, no matter how much you pay for it (anyone who owns a
> Lotus Esprit will tell you...or a DeLorean), and there is most likely a
> natural bell curve within ALL manufacturing processes that produces a few
> serious lemons, a few serious perfections, a large number of fine
> products, and then an amount that falls in between fine/lemon and
> fine/perfect. (Unless, again, you are purchasing a DeLemoian...er,
> DeLorean.) A lot that decides what you get from that bell curve is where
> you go to purchase the product.

What statistical evidence and figures do you have to plug into your "Bell
curve?" Like I said at the start, "You're out of line." And please, I do not
work for WW & BW. I am not a fan nor a foe of this company. I just happen to
think you're blowing smoke out of your shorts.

>
>
> At least, that's my theory.
>
> J. Shouryu Nohe
> http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
> Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
> "I don't know, and I don't have an opinion." - Jet Black
>
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