 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: masterket
Date: 2003-11-18 05:01
Hi! I teach clarinet privately and usually have nothing to do with the purchasing end of things as far as beginner instruments go (my experience is much more in stepping up to wooden clarinets). I am trying to help someone find a good student model clarinet (plastic), preferably new. They really don't want to shell out $300+ dollars for it if they don't have to. I have run across many clarinets that I have never heard of, and I'm really curious about them. Have you ever heard of these?
- BandNow
- BandFolio
- Elexus
- Helmke
- Wurzburg
- Bestler
- Rhythm
Has anyone had any experience with any of these brands? I am curious about these and am finding really good deals on them, but I am hesitant to have anyone buy an instrument I've never heard of, new or not. I know plenty about the obvious: Selmer, Buffet, Vito, Bundy, Yamaha, etc. Thanks for your help!
Laura
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2003-11-18 05:32
I've heard of Elexus, but only because I was browsing eBay the other day and saw about 30 of them for give or take $30 each. I was (and still am) seriously considering buying them for some experimental cut-and-paste (not a metaphor) "modern" clarinetting, e.g. a mouthpiece attached to a bell, which is attached to another bell... applications where tone quality doesn't matter and I don't mind if it breaks.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: lycfmtkl
Date: 2003-11-18 05:49
I have a friend playing the BandNow clarinet. I can hear that it plays in tune without forcing, no worse than a Yamaha. Its selling price is rather low, about US $170. Of course, what you paid what you get. That's up to you to decide if you buy it or not.
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Author: KENOLD
Date: 2003-11-18 05:58
You may be interested in reading these threads:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=93936&t=93731
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=121043&t=121043#reply_121043
Ken
Learn to perform even the things you don't like, as if you love to do them.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-11-18 06:05
I would seriously steer clear of the Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean, and Indian imported clarinets. They are a major headache to repair (repairs will be frequent), are stuffy, tune poorly, and are made with the lowest quality of materials.
Many techs will not touch them. Replacement parts? Not likely.
I have seen the Bestler clarinet first hand and it was a nightmare. I pity the poor beginner trying to start his clarinet studies on such an atrocious instrument. The "Bestler" should probably be renamed "Worstler".
Perhaps prophetically:
The anagram of: "clarinet by Bestler" is: "lyric treble? absent!!" ...GBK
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Author: Wayne Thompson
Date: 2003-11-18 07:18
GBK, I'm not arguing, I'm truly curious.... Do you mean it about Taiwanese clarinets? I don't know but I assume that Taiwan is working through it's growing pains and is making better instruments. I assume that Jupiter clarinets are respectable. I have heard that Unisyn Sax's are ok, and from inspection I assumed that Jupiter makes the Evette Sax's. I know that all this drifts away from clarinets and from the list of instruments Laura started with. Still, isn't your argument with Chinese, Korean, and Indian instruments mostly?
Wayne Thompson
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-11-18 07:34
If you are a teacher you should insist on students purchasing a decent quality instrument. Poor quality instruments discourage music making, which is why we teach in the first place, and usually end up in the rubbish because nobody will fix them. US$300 is probably a reasonable priced student instrument, anything cheaper is false economy! GBK is spot on.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-11-18 08:03
Wayne...The Taiwanese instruments are, for the most, to be avoided. The notable exception would of course be Jupiter, which has markedly improved over the years.
However I would not bother with the dirth of Heimers, Maxtones, Steubens, Parrots, Top Tones, Larks, Palatinos, Elkhart Series, Johnsons and their many clones which are flooding the market ...GBK
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Author: Tom A
Date: 2003-11-18 10:00
I involve myself a lot in the purchasing for students of clarinets of all levels. As a teacher, and in this part of the world, I tend to have experience only of the better-known student models, although through working in schools I know of some that I wouldn't touch myself.
To answer Wayne's question, I agree with Mark P. Some cheap brands have beeen around for a while and shown themselves in the eyes of technicians on this BB (and to me in my limited experience) to be mechanically inferior. They may be getting more respectable, but I'm not going to use one of my students as a proving ground. You should go with what you know is good until the others prove themselves. If this means thay have to shell out free samples in large numbers for some years to come, that's the consequence of their previous work.
By the way, something I often read on the BB is reports of certain inferior makes "flooding the market" as GBK puts it. This raises the question, if they're flooding the market, who's buying them? Are there that many well-meaning relatives finding them in large US department stores? Or parents who buy cheaply without consulting their child's teacher? I make a point in a start-of-year mailout that I or some other person in the know should first be approached when a purchase is considered.
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Author: masterket
Date: 2003-11-18 13:27
Ken, I laughed my head off at the Wal-Mart clarinet thread!
I'm ready to chuck the whole no-name clarinet business, but there are a couple of clarinets I'm still curious about. I'm wondering about the BandNow clarinet because it is sold at the Woodwind & Brasswind, a company I respect. Here's a link:
http://www.wwbw.com/category/?d=9&dd=954727682&c=402&sc=954728291
Also, the Bandfolio clarinet sounds interesting. It can be found at www.bandfolio.com. I'm not so sure about it, though, because I don't see it for sale anywhere else (except Ebay, but that doesn't count!). Just curious!
Thanks, everyone!
Laura
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-11-18 14:01
Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because WW & BW sells a brand of instrument that it's good (or even acceptable). About ten years ago I bought a WW & BW house-brand soprano sax (Chinese-made, it turned out) and it was absolutely horrible -- nearly unplayable. I sold it as soon as I could find a buyer with low enough standards to tolerate it.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-11-18 17:13
William, we saw a report of one less-than-marvelous instrument from a student who said, "My aunt bought it for me." While aunts, uncles, and grandparents shop at Wal-Mart, Costco, and other purveyors of purported Clarinets, many be thrust into student hands.
Hey, items sold by such stores are of good quality, aren't they? Would Wal-Mart sell demonstrably inferior merchandise? Would Costco? With these products, the answer seems to be yes. MOO.
By the way, GBK, you left out Laval. Isn't that the stick with that clever Eefer design, avoiding the differential expansion problem on the L4 F/C key by simply not having one?
Regards,
John
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Author: KENOLD
Date: 2003-11-19 01:20
I'd like to point out that shelling out a few extra bucks for a decent beginners clarinet such as Vito or Bundy will get an instrument that can easily be resold a couple years later for about half of its new cost (assuming it has been taken care of). The sale-ability and resale value of the 'others' is remarkably lower.
If your student must go with one of the others make sure the seller has a return policy and acceptance of the clarinet is subject to YOUR approval.
Ken
Learn to perform even the things you don't like, as if you love to do them.
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