Klarinet Archive - Posting 000003.txt from 2007/11

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fbjacobo@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] pro horn suggestions
Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:26:43 -0400

Alicia,
I can't believe that a decently made instrument which is 'falling
apart' cannot be completely restored by a good technician. If you don't
NEED a better instrument, there is not reason not to send it to someone
on the level of, for example, Backun in NYC and a few hundred dollars
later, to have a completely restored instrument which looks and plays
beautifully. And look at the thousand-dollar-plus savings!
These older instruments were made to last a lifetime. In fact, many
use materials every bit as good as those of professional instruments
today! The keys didn't have the problem my Greenline Buffet has of
too-thin plating wearing off on the rings! Another thing: back then,
there wasn't alot of difference between the pro horns and the student
horns. For example, the old Evette & Schaeffer (sp?) was actually a pro
horn which, for some piddling reason (often a cosmetic flaw in the
wood) wasn't sold as a top-of-the-line horn. Many manufacturers only
made one level of instrument. If they needed a few student horns, they
simply stamped them differently.
I just hate to give up on older-but-excellent-quality items for the
lure of **NEW** in our materialistic society.

Fred Jacobowitz

Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
Ebony and Ivory Duo
On Nov 1, 2007, at 5:11 AM, Alicia Byer wrote:

> Hi everybody,
>
> I'm sure you get these kinds of questions all the time, so if this
> post is incredibly out of line, or incredibly boring, feel free to
> ignore it...
>
> I'm in the market for a new professional clarinet, and I'm wondering
> what to get! I just graduated with my BA in composition, and played
> clarinet throughout college, but never upgraded from my intermediate
> instrument that I used in high school, since I wasn't a performance
> major. Now, I've come into a little bit of cash and I want to finally
> move up to a real instrument. I've tried the Buffet R13 and one or two
> other Buffets (I can't remember which) and a couple of the Leblancs
> (Concerto and Opus I think?) at a music store that I worked at, and I
> really favored the Leblancs at the time because they seemed easier to
> play and less stuffy. I mostly play experimental/new music and improv,
> so I need something extremely responsive and even, but still flexible,
> and I prefer a dark, covered, centered tone. I'm not a fan of lots of
> "ring". I looked at the Concerto and the Backun Leblancs, the Cadenza
> seems like a good deal. The Buffet RC Prestige seems ideal but
> probably a little out of my price range. Does anybody have any other
> suggestions? The instrument I'm playing on now is quite pitiful and
> falling apart, it's a French intermediate instrument from the 1940s,
> so I probably couldn't jump to an instrument that required a lot of
> wrestling to get a good tone. I use Richard Hawkins mouthpieces and
> 4/4.5 Vandoren v12s with my more closed mouthpiece, and a 3 1/2 with
> my more open one. I also use a terrible $2 ligature that I dug out of
> a bin. So! Thanks for reading all this, and let me know if you have
> any suggestions.
>
> Best,
> Alicia
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>

------------------------------------------------------------------