Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2003-01-23 21:03
Ron, you're absolutely correct that in an ideal world, all clarinets regardless of price would be correctly adjusted, regulated and balanced. But remember a few things:
(a) Setting up a clarinet 'just so' is a very time-consuming, laborious process that can only be partly automated --- even today much of the task can only be done by a human-type person --- and the larger clarinets (anything with plateau-type mechanisms) take three times as long to set up as soprano clarinets.
(b) Even a perfectly-regulated clarinet will eventually go out of regulation in some ways, because of wear, slow bending of the keys, mechanical damage if the owner is careless, etc. So Brenda's perfect clarinet, even if found, will only be perfect for a limited time.
I don't believe it's cost-effective for manufacturers of student (and probably even intermediate-level) clarinets to do such time-consuming setup --- if they did, then yes, finicky buyers such as yourselves would appreciate their efforts, but most buyers would be turned away by the extra $100-$200 (I'm guessing) that the manufacturers would have to charge to cover the extra labor! It all comes down to economics, after all. I will concur, however, that any new clarinet marketed as a "professional" instrument should be properly set up in every way prior to sale.
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