Klarinet Archive - Posting 000754.txt from 2000/09

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Buying Used Clarinets
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 17:29:39 -0400

Ooooh, one of my favorite subjects! :-)

Clark Fobes wrote,
>Mechanical considerations are also important. Wiggle the keys to
>determine how much wear or end play exists. If you can, take one of the
>pivot screws out. The amount of wear on the pivot screw will tell a lot
>about how much use the instrument has seen. Another visual check is to
>look at the chimneys of the tone holes that are presented to the
>fingers. If these are still nicely defined - good. If they are worn into
>deep bowls - stay away.

Similarly, heavy rust on the screws and mold or mildew in the case mean the
instrument was stored damp -- bad for the wood. If I also find dead bugs,
cobwebs, plant debris, general dirtiness and evidence of rodents, carpenter
bees, carpenter ants or termites gnawing into the case, I suspect storage in
a basement, garage or shed without temperature control -- worse for the wood.
The shape may have distorted, even if the wood hasn't cracked.

I also look for bent keys and rods. They signal heavy or careless use, and
they're not always obvious to the casual glance, if the keys are thickly and
unevenly tarnished (producing all sorts of optical illusions) and the pads
have deteriorated. Missing or rotted pads can create such a misfit that it
masks the fact that the key wouldn't lie on the hole properly even with a
good pad. Bent metal can be a miserable job to restore to the intended
shape. If it's been bent and bent back again more than once, metal fatigue
can make a rod or key snap, even if it's good, forged brass.

As an amateur, snuffling around with the bottom-feeders at the yard sales and
flea markets and then doing my own tinkering as a hobby, I'll buy dirty old
clarinets with problems. These cost me so little that I'll happily put a lot
of time into restoring one while I watch sports on TV. I'd think twice,
though, if that time meant money, or if anybody else's playing depended on my
choices or my results.

When I'm assessing a used clarinet I can't try out because it needs corks and
pads, I give bonus points for a first-rate mouthpiece, on the assumption that
someone who would select and pay for that quality probably needed it for a
good clarinet.

Lelia
(flea market junkie delighted with my "obsolete" 1937 Buffet)

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