 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-07-15 20:48
I continue to be amazed by the effects of marketing. A friend of mine currently has two R13s on trial. They are identical except that one is fitted with black Valentino pads and they want an additional $500 for that. I will admit that Valentino may be making a pad exclusively for Buffet, but that comes to more than $25 extra per pad. Might they be using a gold backing disc rather than cardboard? The salesman says "they last longer". Since I do my own repads, I have no idea how much it currently costs to have it done in a good shop. How much longer would they have to last in order to make up the difference? And, what about the other little things you can catch during a repad that might otherwise be missed?
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Author: James S
Date: 2015-07-15 21:01
For that price you can have custom pads with grenadilla resonators put in....OR you could ship the clarinet to Germany and let a team of master craftsmen put on some fancy-shmancy fawn leather pads and ship it back...
Tell your friend to not drink the Kool-aid.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2015-07-15 21:34
I continue to become a little less enamored with Buffet each year. This kind of shenanigan this don't help maintain my level of respect
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-07-16 04:55
My friend was shocked by the price of the Valentino pads. Since I do most of the clarinet repairs for our community band, she wanted to check with me on the actual cost of upgrade pads. I told her that price was outrageous.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2015-07-16 12:41
Do you mean they both come from the factory, one with bladder pads and one with black Valentino pads? Or both come with the standard bladder pads and the shop is repadding it with black Valentino pads?
If it's the former, I guess it's possible that the assembly line is set for bladder pads in some way and the Valentino pads change that. Either way it's hard to believe something like that would raise the price by that much.
If the latter, then it can make sense that completely repadding a new R13 and fixing everything that can be fixed and improved from factory can cost a significant amount. That depends on what is done, location, etc.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-07-16 16:49
I agree with Clarnibass on this. I've never seen a Buffet R13 come with anything other than the most wretched, cheap bladder pads available (and they even have the Buffet hallmark on backing of them!).
A decent repadding here in the States runs about $500. But for that price you could get all cork in the top and perhaps substitute the larger Valentino Masters for the bottom pads (a much more desirable scenario).
So get the cheaper one and have them do that (caveat: one of the "1 and 1 Bb" pads needs to be bladder or leather to have enough give to work best).
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: BartHx
Date: 2015-07-16 20:17
The only black Valentinos I find at J.L. Smith are the Greenbacks. If she wants to pay me to put those on for her, I'll do it for only $495!
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-07-16 21:14
Getting a bit off topic, but since some of us use clear nail polish on our keys- no reason not to go with a color. I've even seen metaliics- why not gold if that's what you like? Metallic blue or green might look snazzy. Makes me wonder how tacky you can make a fine instrument and retain any respect from your listeners.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
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Author: TomS
Date: 2015-07-17 01:03
Cork pads and some synthetic pads are less forgiving of tone holes that are not clean and level. It might be that a lot of work has to be done on the instrument to prepare it for synthetics. The quality of wood nowadays ... ??!!
I'd just as soon have leather pads ... I think they are more forgiving and if not porous, seal pretty well.
I had my vintage 1985 Yamaha clarinets re-padded with cork on the top joint, and the technician had to rework some of the tone holes.
And, actually, my Buffets did pretty well with factory originals ... not completely terrible pads. But, I nearly always have early failure of at least of least a couple ... after that, holds up pretty well.
We have an excellent shop in my Little Rock area ... and I think they get pull in stuff from all over ... they do a lot of student fixes, but are better than average on professional repairs. I don't think they have hand stitched pads made from shrew pelts, like you might find in New York ... but close.
Tom
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Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2015-07-17 01:55
Perhaps the upgrade was not done at the factory, but sometime after. The black pads would be the second set of pads installed in that clarinet, hence the extra charge.
Steve Ocone
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-07-17 04:10
I can imagine someone owning that "clown clarinet", along with several others in various decors- perhaps a white Dazzler- and one conventional black/silver. And their big audition is coming up for the symphony. And for whatever reason, the clown horn will sound the best and be most secure. (Perhaps it's a Libertas that was painted by your artist granddaughter when you weren't looking.) Dare you audition on it? You're supposed to be behind a screen, out of sight of the judges. Can you depend on that? Perhaps that day your good white shirt develops a terrible rip or 5 buttons pop off, and all you have is your hot pink one. You get the picture.
(So you get the job, but after a good look at you, someone says, "You sound great, but do not ever bring that clarinet, or wear that shirt, here again.")
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2015-07-17 04:14)
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-07-17 23:04
Is the clown clarinet for real or is the photo . . . artistically enhanced? I love it! (I'll admit I wouldn't be caught undead with it in public, but I'd cheer on anybody with that much chutzpah.) I hope the pads are as weird as the rest.
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: nellsonic
Date: 2015-07-18 00:21
I'd play that clarinet if it sounded good, but then again, I'd play ANY clarinet if it was a good one. I got to play a basset clarinet (Buffet) for the first time yesterday. Good times!
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