Klarinet Archive - Posting 000123.txt from 2000/10
From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Just wondering ...
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 09:44:21 -0400
Mark Charette wrote,
>>I've been thinking a bit about adding a new feature to Sneezy.Org for
>>those of you that restore clarinets or are running a business. Before I
>>spend the time & effort, I'd like to figure out if it's worthwhile ...
>>
>>Would an exchange area for parts for older clarinets make sense?
I'd *love* to have such an exchange available, though I'm not sure that I
would use it enough to help it turn a profit, because I'm not really in
business. I've sold a couple of restored instruments, but I don't run enough
clarinets in and out of here to be a steady customer for parts. I do think
that having a source of parts available, or a place to sell parts, would
expand what types of instruments I'm willing to buy.
Right now, I never buy incomplete clarinets or anything that's too beat up to
be worth fixing (parts clarinets, useful only for cannibalizing). I might
change my mind about that if a parts exchange existed. BTW, there already is
a small and slow-moving parts exchange. Some of the advertisements from
Ferree's Tools include "Parts Wanted" requests. I don't know how successful
any of those appeals have been. The catalogue and subsequent mailings are
available from:
http://www.ferreestools.com
In the Fall, many damaged vintage clarinets come out of the woodwork, because
people give their old school horns to their kids and their grandchildren to
take to beginning band classes. The school band directors look at these
wrecks and say, "Nuh-uh." So the parents spring for new instruments and
unload the old ones at the yard sales, after the music stores won't buy them.
I saw *seven* clarinets for sale at the Columbia, MD flea market last
Sunday! Only one of them had been there the previous weekend. They were all
beaters. I didn't want *any* of them. Four were Bundies that could probably
be cannibalized and combined into two or maybe three playable instruments,
though I'm not sure there's enough of a market to justify going to the
trouble and expense of restoration for anything that was student-quality to
begin with, especially if the case looks shabby. Is there really a demand
for restored 1955 Bundies? Probably not. My repairman, Peter Ferrante, has
taken some instruments on consignment from me (he just sold a 1960s-era King
Cleveland cornet for me, a decent student horn that was in mint condition),
but he warned me never to bring him student-quality clarinets to sell used,
because he says that he "can get them for next to nothing from the schools."
So IMHO, the practical value of the exchange would be for people wanting to
restore professional-quality instruments. I do see rising interest in those
now, though the demand is nothing like what it is for vintage pro saxophones.
For instance, a parts exchange might open up possibilities for the type of
instrument Anne Bell writes about:
>Mark- I'm glad that you brought this up. A couple have contacted me after
>buying a Silver King Clarinet without mouthpiece and without (I think) a
>barrel. They would like to get the thing in playing condition and I have
>no earthly idea where to send them for the barrel. It looks like there is
>a very long corked tenon and the barrel would have to enlarge to hold the
>mouthpiece- help anyone.... Lelia?
The Silver King is a high-quality metal clarinet made by H. N. White. It
takes a standard mouthpiece, but it does require the original barrel, which
was probably a tuning barrel. (Twist it to make it longer or shorter.) What
a shame about the missing barrel.
Alas, I have no idea where to find a replacement barrel. I don't know
whether a barrel designed for another metal clarinet might fit that one.
White also made an inexpensive student model, the Regency, which is fairly
available today, and which typically sells for under $50 at flea markets.
Maybe it would be worth checking to see if the barrel would fit a Silver
King. That's pure speculation -- I don't know if it would fit, or if it
would sound all right. Try before you buy.
Buying an incomplete metal clarinet is a big gamble, because the parts just
aren't available separately. I've *never* seen a barrel for sale separately
without a clarinet nearby. I put it that way because, just one time, I did
see the clarinet and barrel for sale separately, from the *same* flea market
dealer. He'd labelled the barrel as an "adjustable socket" (for a socket
wrench) and had put it in with his tools for sale! That was awhile back, and
I can't remember any more whether that was a clarinet I actually bought, or
whether I didn't want the clarinet, but talked the dealer into putting the
barrel back in the clarinet case (on grounds that the barrel was completely
useless for a socket wrench and that he'd never unload that clarinet without
it). I think it was the latter. Anyway, that barrel ended up with its
rightful body -- but I very often see metal clarinets with missing barrels.
I pass them up 100% of the time, because that's an impossible part to buy new
*or* used.
If I saw a metal barrel sold separately for a reasonable price, I would
certainly buy it, just to put it back into the clarinet-playing community,
even without a parts exchange, and even if I didn't have the clarinet for it
-- because somebody, somewhere, needs it, and the flea market dealer who
can't sell it pretty fast, and can't figure out what it is, will probably
toss it in the dumpster. That, I'm afraid, is where most of the missing
barrels and unsold clarinets have ended up: in the landfills. A parts
exchange might at least cut down on that sort of thing.
Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If it ain't broke, let me have a crack at it....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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