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Re: Identifying & Repairing a Clarinet

Author: rsholmes
Date: 2007-04-09 01:13

One piece of advice I've heard for what *not* to do is to go to a big musical instrument store. They may have someone who does repairs, but they tend not to be that good. The good ones tend to be in business for themselves. Or so I have heard.

My suggestion would be to contact the band directors at a couple local colleges or high schools and see if they have a recommendation for a repairer.

I was in a situation somewhat like yours, coming back to clarinet after a long time away; in my case more like 30 years. I discovered to my surprise the man who was my band teacher in high school is still the band teacher at that same school, and I'm still in the area so I emailed him to (among other things) ask for a recommendation. The person he liked was also endorsed by the director of the community band I've started playing with (who also mentioned another possibility), so I dropped my clarinet off with him on Thursday and am looking forward to seeing the results...

Possibly worth noting, neither he nor the other guy who my band director recommended advertises in the yellow pages.

I didn't have many questions. He looked the clarinet over, said the pads didn't look bad, confirmed my feeling that the tenon corks needed replacing. I pointed out a key that sticks.

Obviously the cost is going to be related to how much work needs to be done among other factors. For my clarinet he estimated about $65 to $75, less than I was expecting.

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