 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2008-01-15 16:44
My dilemma: I have a clarinet being overhauled, and the repairman promised that it would be ready LAST November. Two weeks ago he said he'd finally located and received the parts (it's a early sixties R-13), and it would be ready LAST week. I've left messages on his answering machine, but have not yet gotten a call from him. Add to this that I'm currently practicing the Neilsen (which I last studied 40 years ago), and the clarinet I'm using hasn't been serviced in over 10 years, so that the keys are spectacularly unresponsive (its a clickety-clack monster to practice on.) As a result, instead of enjoying my daily practice sessions, they've become a battle with my instrument, a war against Neilsen.
I'm a law librarian and can imagine the nightmare that litigants go through (e.g. the complete waste of time and money, the anxiety, etc.).But I'm tempted to threaten this repairmen that if I don't get my instrument back this week, I'm going to put the matter in the hands of an attorney. It's the last thing I want to do, but what do you of the clarinet community think?
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2008-01-15 18:18
Here's the thing:
The delay for the parts is completely legit, Buffet parts are a LONG, long wait even if you can get/locate them.
Nielsen's been dead for a long time, he can wait another month....
If you trust the repairman from previous work or other referrals, let him know that you are really in a rush to get it.
I wouldn't go legal tree on it.
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-01-15 18:36
No need to litigate. Just tell him that if you don't get it this week, you'll require your clarinet back and will take it to another tech.
An overhaul shouldn't take more than a week, and the tech should have told you up front that there would be a delay for parts and given you an option to hold on to the instrument until the parts where at hand.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-01-15 18:58
Every tech worth taking your horn can make screws, rods, posts and even keys from scratch. IMHO, "getting stuff from Buffet" is BS. I suspect he has other work from people with bigger names or in a position to bring in business from their students. That certainly has happened to me.
On the other hand, unless you have a concert coming up really soon, you can work on the Nielsen on your Bb, or borrow or rent an A in decent condition.
Write the tech. Make your first draft really angry, with all the @#$% words and sarcastic asides. Then go back and take out the bad words, substituting neutral ones. This eliminates the insults while preserving the passion.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2008-01-15 19:42
Yeah I had the same problem needed a screw for my R-13 Prestige(old one) and I asked my repairman for it but he didn't have it so he had to order it. The screw wasn't there after a month. So I looked on the net and found Windcraft in UK and got 6 screws(3 older ones and 3 on current models) and got them after a week.
their homepage is www.windcraft.co.uk
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Author: jwiseman114
Date: 2008-01-15 19:51
What part(s) did he need to order? There are some parts that I would much rather order than make. Buffet is notoriously difficult to get parts on time from. They are also overpriced. I think if you made an R13 from their parts catalog it would probably cost about 10K!
This is a little bit evil but...I would call him...and again...and again. Don't be rude, but just a little squeaky. He will want to get rid of you. It's wrong, but it happens in our shop all the time.
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2008-01-15 20:33
Much thanks to you all for taking the time and trouble to answer this damsel in distress. (Perhaps I simply needed a shoulder(s) to cry on.)
David:
1. He's a good technician, but this is an practical/ethical problem, not one of professional evaluation (I just want to practice without battling the keys!).
2. I recognize that there was (might have been) a reason for legitimate delay, but not THIS MUCH.
3. Furthermore, isn't it part of his profession to know where to get parts, or at least be able to roughly estimate the delay BEFORE promising it to me in NOVEMBER (and a second time, two weeks ago)?
Alex:
1. You suggestion is a good one IF I could get a hold of him to tell him.
2. Unfortunately, the instrument was in unplayable condition.
Ken:
1. Undoubtedly, he has more important customers (i.e. professional or professional big name) than me, and if they have crises and their jobs are on the line, I certainly agree that they should have priority over me. (I have the same attitude toward my dentist, who occassionally cancels due to a medical emergency with another patient.) But he has failed to give ANY excuses, except that of his difficulty in finding the old screws.
2. Rental is a good suggestion.
3. I have already, in effect, written him a scathing letter in the form of my monologue on his answering machine.
Finally, I agree that litigation would be stupid (but not necessarily the threat of litigation, or the threat of telling the story of his admirable service on the Flute BBoard - JUST KIDDING.)
Thanks once more for your brotherly advice.
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2008-01-15 20:46
Cass, if the guy can't deliver, ask him for the clarinet back, pay him for any other work done, and then check to see if there is another competent repair person within hailing distance who could do it for you correctly, and in a timely manner.
I have had to replace a screw or two on a 1971 R13, and the tech was able to have the job completed same or next day. I don't know if the hardware is significantly different between our instruments, but the time lag is not something I would want to put up with.
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2008-01-15 20:46
Thanks Iceland Clarinet for the website!
Thanks, jwiseman114, but unfortunately I don't know about screws and simply can't get a hold of the splendid gentleman.
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2008-01-16 19:57
Happy ending! Just got the horn back and the technician took off $150 for my pain and suffering. For the first time in months I'll be able to enjoy practicing. As a measure toward healing, I left my other clarinet (the clickety-clack monster) with him to fix. Thanks again for your compassionate responses.
Cass Tech (leatherlip)
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2008-01-17 16:38
skygardener:
Sorry, but, as a mere amateur, I don't know anything about clarinet technology. Not that it's not a handy thing to know.
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: Jaysne
Date: 2008-01-17 17:26
Did he really promise it would be ready last November, even when he knew that the parts might be hard to find? And when he knew the parts would be hard to find, didn't he tell you it would be a while?
I don't think this wait is entirely unusual. If he said it would be ready last week, then it should have been. But waiting another week for a repair isn't unheard of, either. Repairpeople are always under the gun, and sometimes things don't go according to plan. They also tend to be extremely busy people and as much as they'd like to, unable to return phone calls as quick as we'd like.
It sounds to me like you are partly taking your frustration of the mediocre clarinet you're using out on him and the situation.
What I would do is call him at least twice a day until you reach him in person. Leaving messages on answering machines is not proactive; it takes away your ability to do anything because you will then sit around waiting for him to call. Threatening litigation will only put him on the defensive and ruin any kind of positive outcome. (If he's been around the block a few times, he'll know that
it's an empty threat and he'll never be able to take you seriously again. And you certainly wouldn't get what you want--your clarinet repaired. Then what would you do? Go to someone else who will have to order the hard-to-find parts again?)
Call, call, call. Sooner or later he will pick up, and you can explain to him that you're frustrated and that you feel you have waited long enough. If you do that in a calm and professional manner, he'll most likely respect that and you'll probably get what you want.
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Author: Jaysne
Date: 2008-01-17 17:29
Oops! Just read about the happy ending. See, he was a decent guy after all. I say always give people the benefit of the doubt.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2008-01-17 17:49
This is interesting.
I had a similar problem with a tech in VA who goes by the name of Tony Valenti (a LOT of people on this board are familiar with him and his service/tendencies). The man does incredible technician work but as far as timing goes, he leaves something to be desired. He took a year on my Eb.
I called him and told him after about 9 months that it became an urgent matter and that I needed the clarinet back. He finally put the pedal to the metal and got it done.
But the answer is to call, call call and if that doesn't work go to his shop and hound him.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-01-18 12:45
>>I had a similar problem with a tech in VA who goes by the name of Tony Valenti (a LOT of people on this board are familiar with him and his service/tendencies). The man does incredible technician work but as far as timing goes, he leaves something to be desired. He took a year on my Eb.
>>
LOL! Yeah, Tony Valenti restored my 1926 C. G. Conn bass sax. He kept it for more than a year. I didn't hassle him about it because I was getting the work done through Peter Ferrante at Presto Brass & Woodwinds (Arlington), who farmed the job out to Mr. Valenti. I figured I could leave it up to Mr. Ferrante (who does excellent work himself and is generally prompt with clarinets, btw) to goose the job along as necessary. Also, I figured that getting it right on a huge, extremely obsolete sax was not so simple. Glad I stayed patient, because Mr. Valenti did a fabulous job of bringing an extremely damaged instrument (the previous owner had accidentally dropped it on the floor) back to excellent condition. While I think that it's unreasonable for a technician to keep a clarinet for more than a year, when the clarinet is as modern as an R-13, sometimes a job is worth a long wait.
I also empathize with the technician's problem of getting the right parts, because before I retired my stained glass studio, I sometimes had the same difficulty with getting glass that matched broken antique pieces when I did restoration jobs. Acquiring hand-cast glass in just the right color and texture to match a 150-year-old window could take forever. I used to warn clients in advance that I might keep their lamps or windows for a year or even more, and I wrote the warning into the contract, because there was no way I could force the glassmakers to fork over. They had their kiln schedules and their color schedules, and if they didn't have what I needed already on hand, then they'd throw it when they'd throw it and I knew that if, meanwhile, I threw tantrums, I'd end up at the back of the line.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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