 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: claresmom
Date: 2010-03-26 20:25
I am contemplating buying a clarinet for my 11 year old. She is in the school band and we are currently renting a Music and Arts instrument for $35/month. It seems more cost effective to buy an instrument since she will continue to play next year.
I came across a thread (over a year old) about the LJ Hutchen clarinet, since I am considering purchasing that item, and the posters seemed to be very negative toward it without solid reason. I see that Yamaha is a desired brand, but we will not invest $800+ at this point, and a used instrument just sounds like trouble and one more thing I will have to add to my already exhaustive list of things to maintain and fix.
Can anyone give me a good reason, beyond brand sensitivity, that in my circumstances I should not consider purchasing a lower cost new instrument for my daughter to play in middle school? I doubt she will continue on in high school, and if she does, we will certainly upgrade at that point.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2010-03-26 20:49
Regardless of other people's reasonings, check out Clarinuts (a sponsor of this board). They offer refurbished instruments of proven quality, with trial and warranty periods.
Better invest $250 in a good Vito or Yamaha than say $150 in some unknown store brand (however good it might (or not) be). Remember that your child is probably subject to peer review (I avoid the term "pressure"), and in that case a more "mainstream" instrument might be beneficial.
--
Ben
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Author: GLHopkins
Date: 2010-03-27 00:14
You can pick up a pretty nice Buffet B-12 for about $250 give or take. This or Vito V40 are the student clarinets I think the most of.
LJ Hutchen sounds like a Chinese made instrument, and I in my opinion I'd look elsewhere.
email me and I'll give you links to places to look
hopkinsgl@sbcglobal.net
Clarinuts.com is a good place as well.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-03-27 08:17
If you find a used instrument from a reputable dealer that has been well serviced or fully overhauled by them prior to sale, it should play as well as a new one - maybe even better, so don't write off all used instruments as trouble as you're more likely to have a lot more trouble with a new Chinese one within the first few months.
A used plastic Yamaha, Vito, Buffet B12 etc. will have been built well, whereas Chinese instruments do suffer with poorly fitted keys, sloppy point screws, overbroached keywork, poor quality metal and questionable pads and finishing. And a beginner struggling with that (and a dodgy mouthpiece) will only end up being discouraged if they find it hard work.
Any clarinets you see listed as being 'Instructors & School Band Approved' are destined to be crap, so don't waste your money on them and stick with a well established make.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2010-03-27 15:12
Yet one more vote for one of the standard brands, and for clarinuts.com. The proprietor does good work and offers a trial period, after which you can return the instrument if you're not satisfied.
I strongly recommend the Yamaha 20, or its successor model, the 250. Well made, excellent intonation, very comfortable and sturdy key work.
Clarinuts has them for $244. A very good price.
I have no connection to clarinuts, other than as a satisfied customer.
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Author: jvaruzzo
Date: 2010-04-07 02:29
I apologize for the delay, I do not regularly participate in this board, but I do scan from time to time and saw your post.
I am the Director of Sales and Service for Hyson Music and LJ Hutchen Corp.
I had responded to the post you referenced about a year ago. I had made the offer on this forum, as well as a few others where I saw similar comments from people without direct experience with the LJ Hutchen line.
I won't reiterate the entire post about our product line, it can easily be found by searching LJ Hutchen in Google.
Basically, my post was to inform any potential customer that we stand behind every product we sell, from a $230 LJ Hutchen to $600 Yamaha YCL-250.
I also offered any band directors free evaluation samples of our product line a year ago, and unfortunately I havn't had one educator take us up on the offer.
For every $300 certified used YCL-20 we sell, we probably sell about 10 LJ Hutchen clarinets. We have less than a 1% return rate throughout the entire product line.
We have a 30-day no questions asked return policy, and in most cases will refund shipping both ways making it an absolutely zero-risk purchase.
Obviously, at a third of the price of a Yamaha it is not comparable, and we don't ever claim it to be, however we've proven it is a perfectly acceptable alternative to renting for the typical beginning student, and takes most students right into high school.
Most importantly, our 2-year warranty is "real" - unlike much of our competition that requires shipping an instrument to China, paying $50 and waiting a month for a repair. We have two repair facilities (with a full parts inventory) in New York, and repair most instruments (LJ Hutchen or not) within 24-hours and pay return shipping costs.
If you'd like to take the time to learn more, you can feel free to read my original post from last year:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=303270&t=302484
If you have any questions you (or anyone else) can also feel free to call me directly at 516-433-1107 ext. 106.
Thanks,
Justin Varuzzo
Director of Sales - www.hysonmusic.com
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