Klarinet Archive - Posting 000132.txt from 2010/09

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] breathing problems
Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:59:14 -0400

Bill Hausmann wrote,
>>In the case of Buffet, their mouthpieces are nothing special --little more
>>than placeholders in the case -- because they assume someone who is
>>choosing a professional-level clarinet has already made a mouthpiece
>>choice. They just throw a student-grade plastic piece in for completeness
>>of the set.>>

I've come around to the idea that they're right to throw in a mouthpiece,
and that it's a good idea for the customer to keep the original mouthpiece,
no matter how inadequate it is, in case we need to sell the clarinet later.
Buying a complete set is important to customers, sometimes bizarrely so - or
at least *they say it is* - and the less they know about clarinets, the more
they want that set complete. At flea markets, I've had dealers tell me in
all seriousness that they're offering a clarinet at an especially low price
because, as one dealer told me, "It's missing a little wooden thing that's
supposed to go here." She pointed at the mouthpiece.

Apparently another customer had bullied her into lowering her original
asking price because the clarinet had no reed! I guess she hadn't dropped
the price far enough, since she still had the clarinet. I know this dealer
well enough to be convinced she told me the truth about what had happened.
She truly had no idea that the "little wooden thing" is disposable. She
thought she'd made a mistake by buying this clarinet, because now she knew
it would be hard to sell, because it would need expensive repair work to
replace the reed! Imagine if she'd been trying to sell the clarinet without
a mouthpiece!

So I reassured her, of course, and gave her some ideas about what to tell
the next customer who tried that line on her. (I suggested language that's
common at mid-Atlantic flea markets but somewhat more pungent than the
vocabulary we generally use here....) I've heard similar stories from
enough other honest but frazzled dealers to suspect that this sort of
nonsense goes on all the time. Easier to avoid the argument and keep that
set ready to sell "complete" if and when the time comes - with the original,
branded mouthpiece and a cheap reed or two.

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban

_______________________________________________
Klarinet mailing list
Klarinet@-----.com
To do darn near anything to your subscription, go to:
http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com