Klarinet Archive - Posting 000000.txt from 2004/01

From: Rob C Chaney <robratc@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Moniqué Clarinet
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2004 00:09:43 -0500

Do you have any suggestions for good brands of clarinet? Also if you have
some names of some of the bad ones please let me know so I can avoid
those brands. My Bundy that I broke I've been playing for 7 years and the
owner before me had it over 10 years and they got it used. My band
director said the Moniqué was a foreign horn because the pivot screw fell
out and we can't find a replacement that fit correctly and it was not a
very well known brand. We took the one out of my Bundy to fix it an it
looks funny because of the huge head sticking out.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 18:36:08 -0800 "James O'Briant" <jobriant@-----.com>
writes:
> Rob C Chaney wrote, in part:
>
> > ... does any one know any thing about
> > Moniqué Clarinets without serial numbers.
> > I have checked everywhere and I can't
> > find a serial number.
>
> Unfortunately, Monique is one of the brands of cheap,
> inferior-quality
> instruments being made in China and exported to the USA. They are
> a
> dime a dozen on eBay, and similar instruments (under a variety of
> brand
> names) are for sale at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco, and other
> discount
> houses.
>
> I have on good authority from a repair technician whom I've known
> for
> more than 25 years that these Chinese-made instruments (and also
> brasses
> from Pakistan, often with forged major brand names engraved on them)
> are
> almost universally unrepairable. Keys, posts, and brass instrument
> braces are generally made of pot metal. They break easily, are not
> repairable, and no replacement parts are available. Plating on
> woodwind keys and brass valves often begins to flake off within a
> few
> months. There is no remedy, and once again there are no
> replacement
> parts available.
>
> If you have any influence over ANYONE who is considering purchasing
> one
> of these Chinese or Pakistani wind instruments, do everything in
> your
> power to dissuade them. They will only be wasting their money on
> an
> instrument that probably will not play well, and which almost
> certainly
> will not hold up under even careful normal use, and will not be
> fixable
> when it breaks.
>
> Instead of spending $200 on this garbage, spend a little more for a
> good, used, older American-made student-line instrument.
>
> Jim O'Briant
> Bayside Music Press
> Gilroy, CA 95020
>
> http://www.baysidemusicpress.com
>
>
>
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