 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dave
Date: 2002-03-30 22:56
Hello, I've inherited a beautiful little clarinet made of silver (or silver-plated brass?) from my late grandfather. He used to play it in swing bands in the late 20's and early 30's (zoot suit and all! . It's playable, but it really needs a complete restoration to get it back to top condition.
Can anyone recommend a top-notch clarinet restoration/repair shop? Preferably it would be in San Francisco (close to me) but I am willing to ship it to another city if any of you know a really great place to have it done.
Thank you for any info!
Dave
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Author: mike
Date: 2002-03-31 00:33
Hi Dave,
There are several shops in the area. In Oakland, there are Best Music on Broadway and Best Repair/A&G music on 14th st. In SF, there is Union Music (owned by same folks as A&G music, so they might just ship it over to Oakland). In South San Francisco, there is Bronsteins. Lee Kramka has a shop in the city. He's mostly a sax guy, but he might do clarinets, too.
Note that, unless the horn has great sentimental value to you, or is one of the rater rare all-silver metal clarinets, then you are going to be spending far more than it is probably worth. Metal clarinets have long been out of fashion and seem to have little monetary value. If it seems to play in tune, then it might be worth fixing up, if you're going to play it. You could probably pick up a used student or intermediate instrument in reasonably good condition for about the same as the cost of an overhaul here in the Bay area. The last time my clarinet (wooden) was overhauled, it was done by Ken Spayd, who currently works at Best Music in Oakland. He did a good job at a cost of about $400 (and this was several years ago).
If you are thinking of selling it for the $$$, you're probably going to be disappointed...
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Author: Dave
Date: 2002-03-31 04:35
thanks, Mike. you've answered all my questions. I don't want to sell it (would rather keep it as a family heirloom) but not sure if I'm ready to spend that much on a restoration. Maybe though. I will think it over. Thanks again for the info!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2002-03-31 06:19
Sacramento has some pretty good shops, Northridge and Tim's are the two major ones and there are some other lesser known, but competent, techs in the area. They all charge far less than four hundred dollars :| Complete overhauls were in the 150 to 170 dollar range last time I checked, about two weeks ago A metal clarinet would probably be somewhat less.
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-03-31 13:08
I have heard from a good source that you can get the job done for about $100 u.s. including silver plating....in Brazil. No, I'm not kidding.
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Author: Jack
Date: 2002-04-01 04:52
There are a number of Sneezy-ites out there that do overhaul/restorations. Dave Spiegelthal (spiegelthal.dave@orbital.com) has done some great work for me (imho) and is certainly very reasonable. Walter Grabner is also very good, does a great moputhpiece--not sure if he does overhauls for customers.
Best of luck,
Jack
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Author: Dave
Date: 2002-04-01 06:42
thanks everyone for the info. this helps. I'm going to shop around a little bit now.
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