Klarinet Archive - Posting 000400.txt from 2005/01

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] NEW $75
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 07:24:59 -0500

At 06:58 AM 1/25/2005 -0500, Rob wrote:
>Which brings me back to the $75 question.
>Is there any thing wrong with these $75 clarinets?
>Is there any difference between these brand new ebay $75 clarinets
>and the $300 clarinet that I paid $32 monthly on in the band instrument
>program when I got my daughters clarinet seven years ago?

Some $75 clarinets play well, some don't. The player is still 95% of the
equation, anyway.

The catch, however, is that almost all $75 clarinets break quite often.
Many cannot truly be repaired in the sense that the repair work will almost
never be permanent. I know professional repair people who will not work on
these instruments because they know the instrument will come right back
with the same (or worse) problems. Uninformed customers then blame the
repair work rather than the quality of the instrument which often leads to
a rather vicious cycle.

For an advanced player or someone with some basic repair skills of their
own, this might be a reasonable tradeoff (even fun!). An advanced player is
at least able to know when the instrument is broken (as opposed to when
they are broken!) and someone with basic repair skills may enjoy bending
(er realigning <cough>) keys from day to day.

For beginners (especially young beginners), these instruments can be a
disaster. Kids rarely look to their equipment first when they have problems
(perhaps a quality we adults could pick up on a little more!). Sadly, they
will often go on for years playing instruments in disrepair.

So, as always, there is a tradeoff.

-Adam

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