Klarinet Archive - Posting 000014.txt from 2002/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Crack personal experience?
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 09:06:28 -0400

At 01:41 AM 8/1/2002 -0700, Kelly Abraham wrote:
>I might be unorthodox in my proposal, but here goes.
>
>You have a one year crack warranty with Buffet. USE IT! Play the
>tar out of the instrument from the beginning. My thought is that
>if it cracks one year and one day from the purchase, you might
>as well kick yourself, when you could have gotten that joint
>replaced in warranty if you had found out the wood was unstable
>sooner. If it is going to crack it will, and it would be much
>better to get the joint replaced when it cracks because it was
>in warranty than if it is over a year, and not in warranty,
>meaning you will have to pay to get it repaired or pay for a new
>joint. Neither one is very cheap, and the repair might leave you
>with a scarred instrument that will lose 1/2 of it's resale
>value if you go to sell it later.

I agree with you. Do like they do with electronics: burn it in with heavy
use. If that does not expose any hidden weaknesses right away, then there
probably are not any and you can proceed worry-free.

>I have had my first clarinet (the one I DIDN'T choose myself) on
>the marching field in college in the pouring rain, in the
>Summer's 100+ degree sun, and in the below freezing Winter. I
>have left my first clarinet in the trunk of my car in the heat
>and cold, and have taken it from highly humid locations to very
>dry ones, and not had a problem. This is NOT to say instruments
>do not crack. What I am saying is that I have been very lucky,
>but also to say that I have taken the instruments to extremes
>when I first got them, as far as the weather and humidity
>conditions, in order to see if it WOULD crack while in warranty.
>After about a year, I breathed a sigh of relief, as most
>instruments crack in the first year if they are going to, and
>mine hadn't.

My Selmer Series 10 is about 30 years old, but it has survived several
summer seasons of weekly outdoor concerts where I take the instrument out
of the trunk of my air-conditioned car (and it feels cool to the touch) and
taking it out on the sun-drenched stage in 80-90 degree weather where it
warms alarmingly quickly. I figure it must now be pretty much BULLETPROOF!

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.net
451 Old Orchard Drive
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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