Klarinet Archive - Posting 000045.txt from 2006/03

From: "thomaswinds" <thomaswinds@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Buffet R-13 Played and Failed
Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 08:36:51 -0500

Personally - and this is just me - I would rather send my students to our
local Buffet rep or to Weiner's or someplace comparable. That way I know I
am getting a good deal, they do what they say they are going to do (like go
over the horn), and the salespeople are reputable. I would not buy an R-13
from a store unless I knew the person working the counter. There is one
local to me where the band instrument person is a clarinet player, and I
send a lot of my students to her. But other than that....

Remember, the factory just sends stuff out to the stores and catalogs (esp.
the big ones like WWBW) and they don't sit and try them out like a Buffet
rep would. A giant, faceless catalog is like shopping for your clarinet at
Walmart. You pay less, but you still stand the chance of getting what you
pay for!

Karl is right when he mentioned about how much a bow costs, etc. Then
again, those players don't have the expense we have of reeds over a
lifetime. (UGH!) Everything is relative. It's the same with flutes, if
you want a good tone, you have to have silver, good headjoints cost a lot
more than a $55 5RV.... We consider ourselves lucky that my son wanted to
play trumpet, lol.

But you can get a good Moennig barrel for less than $100 and it might fix a
lot of those intonation problems. And as for the mouthpieces, I put all
my beginners on Hite Premiers - it is a good consistent student model
mouthpiece made of plastic. If it fit into your student model Vito but not
into the R13 maybe that's why....of course, it could always just need a new
cork, which is a $5 fix.

Lynn
(p.s. yes I have a new email addy...)

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