Klarinet Archive - Posting 000412.txt from 2006/03

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] "Doesn't play or sound right" My thoughts on the
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 23:14:15 -0500

At 10:54 PM 3/19/2006 -0500, Rommel John Miller wrote:
>Truth be told, I would buy nothing OTHER than a Buffet, and even my teacher,
>Tom Puwalski finds me a bit myopic. But that's not the point I am trying to
>establish.
>
>The problem rests entirely with WWBW and whether or not they sell first-run
>production R-13 or if they, as I and others believe, are a reseller, or one
>who deals in factory "seconds" or those rejected from being first or top
>choice.

If they are selling "B" stock or "C" stock instruments, they must identify
them as such or they will indeed be guilty of fraud. They frequently DO
sell such instruments, but they are so advertised.

>And if this is the case, why would WWBW send me for the first Clarinet one
>with the serial number: 524162 -- a production-run serial number from the
>days not too long ago Buffet was owned and controled by the Music Group? In
>other words, this clarinet was produced in a run prior to the 2005
>independant break Buffet made from the Music Group, and the clarinet itself
>was well over 2 years old.

If is is still unsold, it is "new." If shopworn from people trying it out,
it becomes "B" stock. I bought my Selmer Series 10 in 1973, but now see
the serial number is from 1971, and I couldn't care less. Unless a
significant design change occurred in the intervening period, it makes NO
difference, even with the change of ownership. The factory personnel is
unlikely to have changed at all. And the additional aging of the wood is
often a GOOD thing. You would have been even more upset if you had bought
it brand fresh and two years LATER it cracked (out of warranty).

>The second clarinet WWBW was flawed, it was shipped with an unrepaired and
>un-noticed crack in the upper joint near the octave pipe. This was certified
>as being faulty by Morrie Backun who was in Baltimore that weekend for a
>clarinet workshop at the Peabody Conservatory. Morrie Backun also told me
>that the otave key was sticky and shouldn't be on a factory new Buffet.
>Then I told him where I got it from (WWBW) and that is when he, and many
>others in the room all asked me why I bought the Buffet from them (WWBW) and
>if they had known me before-hand they could've told of places like Marks'
>Music in Western PA, or Lisa's Clarinet Shop in IL (Lisa used to own and run
>International Music in IL, but sold it and went into her own "special" way
>of selling clarinets.
>
>So, WWBW "bamboozled" me in two ways, first of selling me a second rate,
>older Buffet with serious Tenon/Joint issues. Secondly, with their claim of
>"meticualously" inspecting each and every Buffet that they get they
>nevertheless let a cracked one pass through their hands undetected, or as I
>presume, they may have well known of the crack, but chose to sell an
>inferior product to me.

The crack likely caused the sticking key. And it is entirely possible that
the crack occurred AFTER they inspected it. And tenon joint issues often
crop up after the instrument has "climatized."

It feels a bit weird for me to be defending my competition, but I do not
believe it can be proven that they have done anything wrong. You've had
bad luck, to be sure, and so has WWBW. It is costing THEM much more than
it is you.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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