Klarinet Archive - Posting 000765.txt from 2000/08

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Plastic vs. Wood
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 08:53:54 -0400

Regarding the lack of plastic clarinets marketed as top quality instruments
for professionals, Mark Charette wrote that if manufacturers

>_do_ experiment and find that something is commercially viable, it
>may take many years before the results are public. They may also find out
>that it is too expensive to manufacture, but letting the results be known
>can backfire even then - everyone _says_ they want one, but no one buys >one.

I think that's a realistic concern, since image is at least as important as
quality in determining whether or not people buy things. The image of the
plastic clarinet as a poor-quality product for young beginners is deeply
imbedded in clarinetists' collective psyche right now -- enough to scare me
if I were in the instrument manufacturing business. First impressions are
extremely hard to change.

Sometimes that works in a manufacturer's favor. Manufacturers of other types
of goods have avoided the association of plastic with cheapness. Fountain
pen manufacturers, including Waterman, Parker, Schaeffer, Leblanc and I
believe *all* of the other major names in fountain pen manufacturing include
plastic fountain pens in their top of the line. The best are splendidly
constructed and handsome, with gold nibs and other high quality fittings.

Fountain pens have been available in plastic since the earliest days of
plastic manufacturing, when the material was considered new, exotic and
wonderful. The pen people entered the plastics market at the top and managed
to promote plastic pens as glamorous, right from the start. Today, the easy
availability of extra-cheap, serviceable plastic pens (such as Bic
ballpoints, sometimes as little as 10 for a dollar at Staples) hasn't
undermined the market for high quality plastic pens in the least.
Manufacturers sell plastic fountain pens as upscale retro design, and have
brought back many models from the early 20th century as collectibles. Some
sell for hundreds of dollars, with a few special models retailing for over
US$1000.

Clarinet manufacturers entered the plastics market at the bottom, *promoting*
these instruments as cheap (I even have Depression-era catalogues that *use*
the word "cheap"!) until the association was firmly fixed in the public mind.
I think it's possible to change such an image, but it's difficult. The
advertising could get interesting. Imagine a manufacturer making a
first-rate plastic clarinet to compete with the Greenline and advertising,
"We use the purest grade of plastic obtainable. We never add sawdust
filler!" >;-)

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sevareid's Law: The chief cause of problems is solutions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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