 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Michael Kincaid
Date: 2000-05-25 11:13
I was in a small town outside Knoxville, Tennessee last week and I went into a Pawn Shop; I wanted to see if I could rescue any unwanted clarinets. I found a Chinese clarinet. It was plastic and the barrel was attached to the upper half of the clarinet. The "barrel" was made to look like it was a separate piece with a metal ring and all--I guess for cosmetics. The cost was $140 with a very nice case. I didn't rescue this one. Michael
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-05-25 15:53
When I was in Peking a few years ago, I visited the friendship store and played several Parrot brand instruments - western instruments. They were consistently awful. Anyone familar with a parrot natural sounds would see the appropriateness of the brand name.
In Hong Kong I played a yangching, pipa and bought some cheap flutes. They were not awful.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-05-25 16:46
I've seen brand new Albert system (!) clarinets at flea markets that an instrument dealer on the "klarinet" e-list identified as Chinese-made. They're cheap, modern replicas of clarinets from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These clarinets have no markings, but they stand out because they also have no corks. Instead, there's red thread wound around the tenons. The clarinets are very lightweight, matte-finished black plastic with cast pot-metal keys. Apparently the usual retail price is about US$99, but the flea market price can be as low as $25. They look awful and don't tempt me even at that price....
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: beejay
Date: 2000-05-25 21:39
Your Chinese clarinet would seem to be even worse than the dog of a Soviet-era Czech-made instrument that somehow ended up in my possession . I play it from time to time to remind myself just how good my Buffet Crampon RC sounds.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2000-05-25 22:04
When buying instruments for my daughters, the music school made two very definite recommendations:
- do not buy Chinese pianos
- do not buy Chinese violins
It appears that the same principle can be extended to clarinets.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Willie
Date: 2000-05-25 23:07
I've noticed a few of these new Albert system clarenets on eBay. Seems almost all were "found at an estate sale" and very "old" or "antique".
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: gRAHAM
Date: 2000-05-26 01:15
In a pawn shop down the street I found a Huang clarinet.
it was awfull. All the rings came off and the a key fell of when I tied t play it. The bore was full of burrs and never tapered.
GRaham
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jim lande
Date: 2000-05-26 03:32
All of this makes my $34 Lark (made in china) sound like a gem. The keys have the same shapes and placements as my R13 and once I replaced pads and cork, it actually played OK. (Better than the bundy I rebuilt. but then, my rebuilding is a variable.)
The keys are silver plated -- well, maybe plated is too strong a term. Most of them look like someone rubbed some silver on them. A blush of silver. The keys have some bend to them, so they may not be pot metal, which I understand is stiff. That said, the keys do not strike me as very strong.
Someone left this treasure in the sun for a couple years and it has turned army green. Except where I heated it while floating pads. Right back to black, drat it.
The case it came in either should be or once was used as a rat coffin. Not having a suitable rat, I trashed it and got a replacement.
Contact me privately if you are the sort of pervert that collects this sort of item and perhaps I can unload it.
It won't go too cheap. As they say on eBay "I have to protect my investment." (And maybe pay social security, so I can support some of those investors when the get older.)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-05-26 12:29
Eoin McAuley wrote:
-------------------------------
When buying instruments for my daughters, the music school made two very definite recommendations:
- do not buy Chinese pianos
- do not buy Chinese violins
It appears that the same principle can be extended to clarinets.
-------------
Same deal with Chinese saxophones. They're horrible. My husband plays violin. We buy violins in our usual disgraceful haunts and sell them through a friend who deals in them. My husband calls the Chinese fiddles "VSOs," which stands for "violin-shaped objects." He won't pick them up at any price, because they're close to impossible to sell used. The varnish is so thick and shiny that it looks like polyurethane. Even most innocent parents of young beginners can tell that these instruments are junk. However, our dealer friend tells us that a violin maker in China who wants to improve the quality has made an arrangement for employees to learn varnishing from a good violin maker in the USA. Maybe there's hope for the clarinets someday, too.
Jim, I chuckled over the description of your beauty. Sounds about as good as that 1950-ish "Carl Fischer" rubber duckie of mine. Readers take warning -- start collecting and, worse yet, repairing, and no matter how lofty your standards at the beginning, you're going to end up with a closet full of this stuff. I found one of those dreadful fake "Civil War" bugles (actually a copy of a British bugle) for five bucks at a yard sale last weekend and *bought it* -- couldn't believe I was actually doing that, but I said to myself that I needed to have one in order to show people what I was warning them about. No doubt I'll end up with a Chinese clarinet-shaped object the same way, eventually.... :-)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-05-26 17:03
Slightly off-topic, but marginally relevant: About a year ago I went to my friendly local music store which carries a pretty full line of "Jupiter" brand instruments (various sizes of saxes and flutes) . These are Chinese-made instruments, but traceable and reputable. The store owner told me he had visited the Jupiter factory and had come back favorably impressed with the steps they had taken to improve the quality of their instruments. From what I hear, their flutes are well-regarded, and I've seen a few brass players with Jupiter trumpets and fluegelhorns.
I tried a Jupiter low-A bari sax. Although the appearance and workmanship of the horn were commendably good, unfortunately the playing qualities were not. In a word, it played lousy. A shame, because it looked good and the price was right.
About 5 years ago, I tried out an Amati (Czech) low-C bass clarinet. Somewhat different story. Not only did it play terribly (stuffy and very out of tune), but the workmanship were horrible. The bore was rough and grainy, the mechanism was poorly designed, and the key plating looked like it had been applied by a high school shop class. Even though the cost was half of the name-brand horns, it wasn't worth it.
Moral of the story? Don't rule out any instrument from any country of origin, but look them over VERY carefully before you buy, and by all means PLAY them critically.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-05-26 19:26
The Jupiter saxes seem better than some of the other Chinese saxes, but one rumor I've heard about them is that they're not sturdy enough. I correspond with a guy (located on an island in the Pacific Ocean) whose college bought a Jupiter baritone sax last year that arrived from the factory in unplayable condition. It's been in and out of the repair shop ever since. So many different things were out of adjustment (apparently not all attributable to jostling during shipping -- there were some assembly errors) that the repair people have had a dismal time trying to sort everything out and get the sax working. The school initially thought the necessay adjustments were probably just little things, such as reseating a pad or two, and that it would be faster and easier to have the work done locally, since shipping to and from the island is a hassle -- but after *months* of hassles, the band prof is now sorry he didn't ship the sax straight back, as defective. My friend won't play this sax. He's 1st bari, so he foisted it on the 2nd bari and prefers an old Bundy instead! This story is hearsay, but I've been corresponding with my e-pal regularly for more than two years, and I trust his judgment.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: paul
Date: 2000-05-26 20:24
Now, now folks, let's not China bash too much. After all, we are soon to have permanent trade relations with them.
...and no, you can't have my Buffet Festival, either. I had pros want to pay me retail for it, plus dump their defective R-13s on me. No deal, no way.
Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. The large department stores sell musical instruments, almost all are made in China. The last time I mentioned this, I actually got a very strange Email from China questioning my judgement about musical instruments. I still think that the Chinese horns are junk.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b.
Date: 2000-05-27 01:09
I don't know much about Chinese western-type musical instruments except what I've been told. A couple of local repairmen tell me they will not work on them. Other people I've asked tell me they are the worst excuse for a musical instrument they've ever seen. I haven't personally looked at one to be able to make a knowledgeable statement. From what I hear, I'll be just as happy never seeing one.
ron b.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jim lande
Date: 2000-05-27 04:47
The tech at one local shop says that he won't work on the Jupiters and some others becuase the repairs don't last and parents naturally think it was a bad repair rather than a poorly made instrument. I don't think he sells much in the way of new instruments, so I don't think this is simply a dodge to get folks to buy his bundy or vito or whater.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Willie
Date: 2000-05-27 06:38
A while back, my wife traded an old oboe of mine and some cash for a piccolo that we thought was Japanese, as they do make some that are ok. Well after we got it home and started cleaning shining it up, we noticed some very faint letters that said "CHINA". A week after the purchase, the stupid thing just wouldn't play half the notes. I couldn't find anything obviously wrong with it, but I'm not up on these little peashooters. A friend who is a woodwind specialist did look it over couldn't find anything either. But he did state that it being Chinese he would not work on it as the solder joints are poor and break far too easily. Other repairpersons in our area would not even look at it. We only got this for the occasional outdoor concerts as my wife doesn't want to use her wooden Gemeinhardt for outdoor use. So far, of the Chinese clarinets and saxes I've worked on for the kids at school, the Jupiters seem to be the best, but are still below par for workmanship and quality of materials. For a tad bit more they could have bought a good ol' Vito or a Bundy. BUT, the music store wouldn't have had as good of PROFIT MARGIN. I think the people who sell these things should be forced to play them themselves. I'm seeing too many kids quit band because they think they have no talent when it's not the kid, it's the crummy instrument they got stuck with. If a learned and skilled musician can't play it, how do you expect a raw begginer to?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2000-05-30 20:44
Eoin McAuley wrote:
-------------------------------
When buying instruments for my daughters, the music school made two very definite recommendations:
- do not buy Chinese pianos
- do not buy Chinese violins
It appears that the same principle can be extended to clarinets.
-------------------
Regarding Chinese pianos, I was in China a few years ago. At the time, my Chinese sister-in-law was thinking about getting piano lessons for her daughters. While walking through a department store, we found some upright Chinese pianos. I struck a few keys on them to see what they sounded like. The tone was awful and I commented that trying to learn to play on one of these instruments would be nothing but discouraging.
On the other hand, on that same trip I heard a very accomplished elementary school student play on the school's grand piano. It sounded beautiful, but I don't recall noticing the make of the instrument.
Chinese dance clubs usually have a live band using western intruments. Although I am more amused than impressed by their playing of trite American songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Yankee Doodle," I wonder what instruments these professionals play. We must also remember that on an average Chinese wage, you would need to pay probably a half year's income for a $400 instrument.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
