 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: drichart
Date: 2008-12-12 00:44
Help, our daughters clarinet has busted. Looking to buy a good intermediate clarinet. Looking for suggestions on what is good and what is not! Possibly a wood one. We found a Martin wood that has been refurbished that is being sold for $550 that she is going to try out. She is borrowing a plastic Yamaha at school that she hates.
Post Edited (2008-12-12 02:22)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-12-14 14:44
Some advise, be very aware of the possible flaws with an old wood clarinet. Just because it's wood doesn't mean it good. Old wood clarinets can have major bore problems leading to terrible intonation and tonal problems. If you're going to buy a used clarinet make sure you have some one that can play well try it out with a tuner or you will regret it for years to come. A former student had a bad experience with an old Buffet and spent more trying to get it fixed, my an expert mind you, than he paid for it and it still played out of tune. Buyer beware! ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 Listen to a little Mozart, live performance.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-12-14 18:20
I agree with Ed Palanker's advice. Another "buyer beware" when shopping for used instruments (from my personal experience in buying vintage clarinets): Make sure all the parts come from the same clarinet.
Dealers will sometimes discard damaged sections and fill up a case with a marriage -- the intact sections from two or more clarinets. That's a dishonest practice you're not likely to encounter in a walk-in music store, but I'd say at least half of the clarinets I've seen for sale at flea markets and junktiques shops are marriages. Pickers (aka cockroaches) buy wrecks in auction job-lots (discards from schools and music stores), pick through the bits and assemble anything that looks vaguely plausible. Sometimes a flea market or junktiques dealer who buys from the cockroach doesn't know enough about instruments to know these are bad buys, so don't automatically assume the face-you dealer is dishonest -- but don't get stuck buying that crap, either.
A clarinet cobbled together out of sections that came from different brands, or even different eras of the same brand, may never play in tune, because different manufacturers put the joints and keys in slightly different places, with different intonation compromises. I've seen flea market clarinets so ill-matched, with tenons of such different diameters, that it wasn't even possible to put the sections together! Any innocent parent who bought one of those "bargain" messes, without being able to test it to make sure it was really a playable clarinet, was in for an expensive surprise.
If there's a serial number on more than one section, make sure the numbers match. Usually, there isn't a manufacturer's logo on all the sections, but there are tell-tales even on the unmarked sections: The contours of the metal tenon bands and the keys themselves vary slightly from one manufacturer to another. Inspect those metal parts carefully and make sure they match. Make sure all the keys work and fit over the holes, because sometimes an enterprising dealer will take a key off a junker section to use as a cosmetic replacement for a missing key on a clarinet that otherwise looks pretty good.
Not all differences are bad. Some excellent clarinets have replacement (after-market) bells or barrels and aren't considered "marriages," since these replacements were made by experts especially for those clarinets, which may play much better with the custom replacements than they did with the original parts. Just make sure a reliable musical instrument dealer (in a music store, not at an auction or a flea market) or repair technician tells you the part with the difference really is an intelligent replacement, before you buy any clarinet with pieces that don't match.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-12-14 18:58
I'd recommend you having a look at www.clarinuts.com (unfortunately their site appears to be down, at least from here); they have refurbished instruments of all classes, including warranty and return period. This might at the very least tell you something about "market prices" for various makes and models so that you can compare.
(I have no business with them)
--
Ben
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2008-12-14 23:38
Ridenour clarinets are low priced and of good acoustic and playing quality. But, for any make and model clarinet, new or used, try before buy, or get a fair return/refund guarantee/policy.
richard smith
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2008-12-15 00:25
Too add to the recommendation for the Ridenours, he is currently offering (through December 31) both the TR 146 and the 576 BC models at 15% off with free short-term financing. At least worth considering!
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Sambo 933
Date: 2008-12-15 00:46
depending on your price range buffet E-11 is one of the best step up clarinets. It's not cheap though in less you could find a good one on e-bay.
Also wood wind, brass wind has an Amati step up wooden clarinet for under $700. I've never personally tried an Amati clarinet myself so I can't tell you much about them other than, from what i know, they have a good reputation.
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-12-15 00:59
I'm just wondering why your daughter hates the plastic Yamaha clarinet...
I was going to recommend the Yamaha 450, but maybe she doesn't like the feel of Yamaha clarinets.
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