Klarinet Archive - Posting 000453.txt from 2000/12

From: Kenneth Wolman <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] WW&BW in Manhattan
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 09:46:42 -0500

At 08:51 AM 12/8/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>I dropped in two months ago to WW&BW in Manhattan (23rd Street), to find a
>new mouthpiece....
>They had many mouthpieces, I stuck to the under $100.00 set, and blew my
>brains out for 3 1/2 hours. I would call ahead to ensure that they have
>what you want, as this is stock that they sanitize and let you play, and
>then sell so the inventory is always rolling over.

So far WW&BW's Manhattan store SEEMS to be holding its own as a well-kept
secret. The last time I was by, a few weeks ago, it did not seem busy, at
least compared to the uptown joints like Manny's and Sam Ash. Thank
God. Maybe the out-of-towners can't figure how how to get down to 23rd
Street on the N/R from 49th Street? (Ken's Helpful Hint: Take the N/R to
23rd, go upstairs, walk 100 yards in an easterly direction, and there is
WW&BW on the south side of 23rd Street.)

It's a very attractive store, the personnel are helpful, spend time with
you, and even put up with customers who are loud and obnoxious. I was in
there one day last summer when some yo-yo was trying out trumpets and
mouthpieces, not bothering to use a practice room. It was clear he wasn't
planning to buy anything. It was also clear he couldn't play his way out
of a paper bag but thought he was channeling Dizzy Gillespie. I came in to
buy a mouthpiece and ligature that Ash never even heard of ("Pomarico? Is
that a brand of tomato sauce?"), went to the counter to pay for my stuff,
and it was clear the young ladies who did the financial transactions were
near hysteria and justifiable homicide from this guy's playing. If we had
looked at each other we all would have hit the floor laughing.

There are LOTS of instruments on display, all manufacturers, though I'm not
sure they stock everything you'll find in the Master Catalog. But they did
have a Vito bass clarinet on display. I didn't buy it. I'd just had my
Bundy overhauled, it has a one-piece body, so there's no weak center tenon
to crack:-).

Ken

----------------------------
Kenneth Wolman http://www.rio-cardoner.com
and http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=49340
"...perhaps we really complete those we love, fulfill their finally
unchanging essence, when they're gone from us, when we take into ourselves
their portions of them still available to us, to acknowledge them more
perfectly, more purely, and do homage to the fugitive, protean forms of
love of, and love from."--C.K. Williams, "Misgivings"

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