Klarinet Archive - Posting 000698.txt from 2002/10

From: "Forest E. Aten Jr." <forestaten@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Intonation on new clarinets and clarinet selection
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 12:18:34 -0500

Jeremy,

No way......on the quality-ship-to issue. The distributors line them up and
ship them out the door. If you have the time and money to try clarinets at
the distribution point you can have the pick-of-the-litter. You must have an
arrangement with a local dealer before you go to the distributor....as you
will buy through the dealer.

F. Aten

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy A Schiffer" <schiffer@-----.edu>
Subject: Re: [kl] Intonation on new clarinets and clarinet selection

> On Mon, 28 Oct 2002, Joseph Wakeling wrote:
>
> > Rebecca Brennan wrote:
> >
> > > I've been looking at a beautiful Selmer clarinet
> > > at a music store. It has unstained wood and gold
> > > keys. They let me play it and I think it was very
> > > easy for me to play. I had better intonation
> > > on my old plastic vito though.
>
> > The difference? The second shop had one of the best repair techs in
> > Switzerland and he'd obviously spent a lot of time preparing the
clarinets,
> > whereas at the first shop I suspect they were just straight off the line
> > from the Buffet factory.
>
> It can also be a difference in the quality of the instruments for sale.
> One of my old teachers explained to me, at one point, the way that new
> instruments are distributed (at least, in America), and that your
> geographical location will significantly impact the quality of the
> instruments available to you. In short, if you have access to one of the
> importers, in NYC or LA, you can get a top tier new instrument. The
> further away you get, the lower the quality, as smaller stores and smaller
> markets are shipped the instruments passed over by the major importers. In
> Arizona, we were told to go to a specific shop in LA (can't remember the
> name, but I'm sure someone on the list knows) if we were considering
> buying a new R-13, because they were supposedly stocking much higher
> quality instruments than the ones available through the stores in Tucson.
> Sure enough, every person I knew who bought a new R-13 in Tucson from
> 1992-1995 (more than 5, less than 10, I think) had it crack within a few
> months. Clearly, there were some quality issues with those instruments!
>
> Of course, sometimes you just get lucky. A friend of a friend, when I was
> in high school, found a slightly used Yamaha 72cx Bb at a music store in
> Colorado when he was on vacation (he's a trumpet player). He bought it,
> thinking he could resell it. I heard about it and gave it a whirl, so to
> speak. I thought it sounded great, and took it to my then teacher, the
> late John Denman, who was a Yamaha concert artist. He played on the
> instrument, gave it a thorough inspection under a magnifying glass, handed
> it back to me, and said "if you don't buy this, you're an idiot; it sounds
> better than mine [a Yamaha Custom]" so I bought it, for probably half what
> it was worth.
>
> I guess my point is that it's always worthwhile to keep looking until the
> right deal falls into your lap. If you're not happy with the things you're
> trying out, don't buy them, or you will probably just regret it later. Oh,
> and tell your friends that you're looking to buy a new instrument; if I
> hadn't casually mentioned it to a friend who's a non-musician, who
> happened to know the guy with the used 72, I never would have found this
> great clarinet that I've been loving for the last eight years.
>
> -Jeremy Schiffer
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Jeremy A. Schiffer
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> Columbia University
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