Klarinet Archive - Posting 000598.txt from 2000/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] taking up the clarinet again
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 14:03:31 -0400

At 07:33 PM 8/20/2000 +0200, Andrea Bergamin wrote:
>Bill Hausmann wrote:
>
>> Why isn't EVERY automobile built to the same standards as the Rolls-Royce,
>> or with the performance of a Ferrari? Because most people could not afford
>> them. Henry Ford figured that out a long time ago, and it made him very
>> rich. Different markets require different solutions to the price vs.
>> quality equation. If they DID produce a plastic clarinet acoustically and
>> mechanically equal to the Opus, they'd have to charge nearly the same for
>> it or it would destroy the market for the wood Opus. If they charged only
>> student plastic prices, that would reduce their incentive to DEVELOP such
>> instruments, stifling innovation. In fact, the student models by major
>> manufacturers are, for the most part, pretty decent instruments, often very
>> closely modeled on professional-grade horns, and the incremental
>> improvements you gain as you add thousands of dollars to the price are
>> simply not worth the money for MOST people. 99% of the population can
>> commute to work in a Ford Escort and get there just as fast as the boss in
>> his Mercedes, and will have some money left over for food.
>
>There is a problem.
>If you buy a Ford Escort you are quite sure it will work. You don't have to
>try 20 Escort to chose one. That's because there is an industrial standard.
>
>That's not true with clarinets.
>
>The same clarinet (same model, same price) can play or can only be used as
>firewood. This is something I don't accept.
>
Actually, you do occasionally find what they call here "lemons" in
industrial production of things like cars -- some that just don't work
right from the start. It is probably easier to produce consistent plastic
clarinets than wood ones, because there is less variability in the raw
material. It is true that the amount of handwork on instruments like the
clarinet tends to increase the variability, which is also common to
saxophones, and even pro-grade brass instruments. Even then, the worst
ones are seldom really BAD, just not quite as good as the best ones, and
even precise measurements will usually not reveal why there is a
difference, or they could fix the problem.

Bill Hausmann NEW ADDRESS: bhausmann1@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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