 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BassClarinetGirl
Date: 2005-05-20 19:58
Are the Woodwind brand clarinets decent quality instruments? Will most techs work on them? Basically, I'm wondering if they are a decent, playable quality or if they are CSOs.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-05-20 20:12
They are Taiwanese in origin and made by Blessing ...GBK
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-05-21 15:47
GBK, that doesn't answer the question.
The daughter of a colleague has a Blessing clarinet which she has played for several years and passed some exams on. I have never heard her play; I don't get the impression that she is particularly skilled, but this suggests that Blessing clarinets are not total rubbish.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: BassClarinetGirl
Date: 2005-05-21 16:22
Thanks, I was wondering because it seems they are for sale on quite a few websites, and my friend has a mouthpiece made by them.
Is it correct that Japanese/Taiwanese horns are generally thought to be of better quality than mainland Chinese clarinets?
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-05-21 17:40
I'm not sure why you want to compare horns to clarinets.... (Sorry, just my little obsession about misuse of the word horn.)
So far as I am aware, there is only one Japanese maker of clarinets, and that is Yamaha. Their clarinets and other instruments, both student and professional, are very highly regarded, in no way inferior to Western products. (Other Japanese firms include Yanagisawa saxes and various flute manufacturers, mostly with stratospheric prices.)
The best known Taiwanese manufacturer is Jupiter. They are generally considered to make adequate but unspectacular student instruments, much better than most, or maybe all, that comes out of mainland China.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2005-05-21 18:04
I wonder if the clarinet community is in for the same ride the saxophone community is taking? Taiwanese and even some Chinese saxes are beginning to be a serious threat to sax's major names. Are they as good as the best? No, they're not. But they sell for under $1000 for a tenor sax and blow away anything else in their price range. And the real clincher is that every new model line they come out with is significantly better than the one it replaces. You still need guidance, however, for paying an equal sum for a SSO.
The bottom line appears to be this: Taiwan and China entered the instrument market making junk, but apparently they have no intention of remaining an inferior producer. Their progress in enormous, and their manufacturing costs are very cheap. They will make an impact.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-05-21 18:11
David...
I thought my response about the Woodwind brand of clarinets was fairly clear. Perhaps not ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif) , so I'll elaborate...
I taught for many years in the public schools and saw more than my share of Blessing instruments. Although most were flutes and trumpets, a few were clarinets and saxophones.
Your friend's experience with these instruments was not the same as my impression. I thought that they were cheaply made, frequently needed adjusting and did not stand up to the rigors of use from beginners.
Rubbish? Perhaps too strong a word, but with the MANY higher quality beginner's instruments now available (at not too much more money) they are certainly not an instrument brand that I (or most music teachers) would be particularly quick to recommend.
BTW - There were a few techs in our area that did service them (however, I suppose they accept almost anything), but the repairs did not seem to last very long.
Just to show that I am not totally anti- Taiwanese instruments, I currently have a private student who owns a Jupiter tenor saxophone. It has a pleasing tone quality and seems to be made with care...GBK
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-05-23 17:54
This is somewhat off-topic, but partially relevant: I've found that I really need a low-A bari sax (been playing on a low-Bb Conn 12M for the last five years, great horn) so I took a major chance and just purchased a new, no-name bari sax on eBay from a distributor in Houston, Texas who says he gets them from Japan. The sax has some decorative engraving and a serial number, but no brand or model identification and no country of origin. I believe (from the circumstantial evidence of a catalog included in the box) that the sax was manufactured in Shanghai, China. It is a blatant external copy of the Selmer Super Action 80, but with many details altered to reduce the cost of manufacture. Scary, you say? Foolish purchase?
Well, guess what: This instrument plays very well indeed, for somewhere around 1/3 the price of instruments from Selmer, Yamaha, Yanagisawa or Keilwerth with comparable PLAYING qualities. Yes, the construction is cheap-ish and the instrument is going to be mechanically troublesome and won't last very long. Fortunately I'm a part-time repair tech and can keep the instrument in working condition, so for me it was a good purchase. The point is, even mainland Chinese instruments have come a long way and are catching up, in some respects, to the established European and Japanese manufacturers.
I do have serious questions and concerns about patent infringement, violation of trade agreements and laws, etc. with regards to Chinese musical instruments such as mine, but I'd prefer not to get into those in this thread.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-05-23 19:20
Good comments, Dave, yes, I have 2 friends who have bot "asian" saxes, a soprano which I did a bit of tweak to, and a silver-plated alto our 1st AS in band bot recently, fingered but not played by me. They both appear to be "reasonable-to-good" in both workmanship and tuning, costing far less than Selmers etc from which they are prob. copied. RE: your comments on legalities and problems, "its a jungle out there" BUT ! I've not heard of many [if any] recent patent suits, licensing disputes etc re: insts. Likely, most are "not worth it" to bring to various courts. My experiences [helping] in several patent litigation suits revealed that their costs started in the millions, and damage awards and collections were quite fickle. Ouch, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Burt
Date: 2005-05-23 19:36
There was a Woodwind company many years ago that made excellent student (and other?) grade mouthpieces. They were bought by Leblanc. I don't know whether there is any connection between this Woodwind company and the present one which makes instruments.
But don't use the reputation of the old Woodwind mouthpieces as a basis for buying a Woodwind instrument.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-05-23 19:42
Burt wrote:
> There was a Woodwind company many years ago that made excellent
> student (and other?) grade mouthpieces. They were bought by
> Leblanc. I don't know whether there is any connection between
> this Woodwind company and the present one which makes
> instruments.
The name may be same, but there is no connection between the two companies...GBK
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-05-23 20:20
Rite Burr and GBK, I was going to mention [in the above] the WW Co. mouthpiece maker which I visited in [? a building "loft" off BWDY in?] NYC back in the 50's for some mp refacings. WW like nylon etc prob. lost any "trademark status" many years ago, so is fair game for a "good" name. They made many good mps [ a G 8 was one of their best] for US cl/sax makers, Conn in partic, and I always wondered what connections they may have had with Penzel-Mueller [in L I], Pruefer, Pedler and Bettoney. I'm also sure , no relation to asian cl's and CSO's. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-05-23 21:02
As a rank beginner, my hubby was last year given a Vito bass clarinet to play in the community band (band owns it).
It was flat-out awful.
This year, with one season's seniority, he got to use the Woodwind bass clarinet (also owned by the band).
It was much superior to the Vito, in every regard.
We took both these basses to our local repair guy, who didn't sneer or sneeze at either one, and was willing to make necessary (very minor) adjustments to optimize the playing capabilities of each instrument.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
While hanging out at the repair shop, we discovered, for sale, a 1971 Buffet Professional bass clarinet that needed a little work. But even in less-than-perfect condition, it was clear that this was a dream instrument.
After hemming and hawing about it for six months, I called the repair guy and had him fix up the Buffet, and gave it to my husband for his (mumble mumble) birthday.
Wow! Who knew a good instrument could make THAT much difference!
Susan
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