 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2003-01-29 14:21
I am no expert in clarinet repairs after playing one clarinet (my second one) for over 30 years and needing no repairs. Recently I had to utilize the services of several repair folks to prepare my old standby for passing on to my daughter and to service several potential replacements.
One of my "new" clarinets came back to me after an overhaul and was a nice player but with dissapointing problems. While practicing I had a critial spring fail and was unable to repair the damage myself. I selected the tech who seemed to have done the best recent work for me and had the quickest turn-around time.
What happened is that I received a note about the condition of the horn... some of the work I had contracted for at another shop appeared to have been neglected even though it had been paid for. Other work had been done, but did not reach my modest standards. I had the recently overhauled horn gone over again and a few things re-repaired.
The clarinet came back playing better than ever in short time and I am quite pleased with it. The tech I used even improved the voicing and intonation, a thing which the other tech said wasn't possible. In the end I have gotten what i was after, but it required more money and time than I expected.
So the point of this all is how do you pick a repair person if you are not linked to the "clarinet community" and are not in a large city? I finally ended up in the shop of a woodwind.org sponsor in Texas. Although the shipping is a bother, I found it well worth the hassle. I am not going to go back to the tech who first handled the repairs and won't name the shop, but I will recommend the most recently used shop. John Butler did a fine job and is quite pleasant to deal with. I am sure that many other shops would also be excellent, but if you have to start somewhere John is a good choice. Although I haven't used other sponsors ... yet ... I suspect you would have similar experiences with them.
Many of us may not have the ability to adaquitely evaluate a large repair job so it is nice to have somewhere to turn for good help.
Thanks "Sneezy" and John.
Terry
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Author: Bob
Date: 2003-01-29 15:23
You are right on target Terry. It's just like trying to find a good dentist or doctor. Shipping costs to a good repair person are nothing compared to the grief from poor repairs.
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2003-01-29 15:26
I sent John an alto boat anchor- eBay folly that I was quite stuck with. Surely he shuttered when he received it. I got back, in short order - a very playable horn that has continued to improve with playing. John is a nice fellow and his fees were fair beyond my expectation.
Joe Vacc
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-01-29 16:06
It's nice to hear good things about the sponsors ...
I don't select them - they select me, and I feel honored for that - and somehow I think that vendors who go through the trouble of finding this site and asking how to become sponsors are conscientious folk.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-01-30 00:52
>You are right on target Terry. It's just like trying to find a good dentist or doctor.
Shipping costs to a good repair person are nothing compared to the grief from poor repairs.
I ship your teeth off to a good repair person? It must make it hard to practice your clarinet ;~)
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