 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: golfnclarinet
Date: 2010-12-11 17:36
I see “Hand Selected” in the title of some eBay seller’s items. I agree that it should be human hand, not foot or machine. But I have a couple of questions.
1. Do they have ton of horns in their store and pick one they think it’s the
best?
2. If so, I think that it means horns are not same and horn manufacturer has severe QUALITY CONTROL problem.
3. What’s going to happen to the horns that were not selected?
4. If not, then someone actually went to the factory(or Distributor…) and tried bunch of horns and picked one?
Post Edited (2010-12-11 17:37)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2010-12-11 19:38
I think that the seller is just trying to tell you that you've got a better than pot-luck chance that his horn is a good one.
I know of at least two of the rejects that came to my studio. (NEVER again, he says.)
Bob Phillips
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-12-11 20:52
Everyone voices differently and uses different mouthpieces so one person may play the throat tones or the altissimo registers sharper or flatter then another person. One may need a longer or shorter barrel then someone else so when you "Hand Pick" a clarinet you're hand picking it for the player doing the picking not for someone else. That's the reason I never let my students have someone else hand pick an instrument for them so when they wanted a new clarinet I would always take them and try them out with the students and help them choose the one that sounded, and most importantly, tune the best for them. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2010-12-11 23:36
Ed,
I imagine that you went through the clarinet selection process a number of times with your students.
Would you be kind enough to tell us about those experiences? With all the talk here about the need to search through a dozen or two dozen horns to find one that is great (for you), and my experience of having bought two turkeys, I'm pretty scared to just buy a new clarinet.
My current clarinet came to me through Walter Grabner, who selected it for its previous owner. It is very nice --particularly its intonation, but it seems to take a lot of work to make it respond to my input; so I think a "more responsive" instrument in a comparison would have won out.
Did you and your students typically leave 23 out of a two dozen instruments behind? Did you find a few great instruments hiding under badly adjusted keywork, bad intonation or stuffiness that could be traced to pads set too close? Did you find some "pro" horns that were simply not worth fiddling with?
Bob Phillips
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2010-12-12 00:39
Back in high school when I actually took clarinet lessons, my teacher "hand-selected" a Buffet R-13 for me. I grew to hate that instrument, it never played in tune for me (maybe it did for him, I don't know). What I do know is that the day I got rid of it was one of the best days of my life.
"Hand selected" is marketing-speak, it means nothing.
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2010-12-12 14:08
With all due respect, Dave, it all depends on who is doing the hand selecting!
My buffet R-13 Bb was "hand selected" for me by my colleague Loren Kitt at the old Buffet location in Illinois; I'm very happy with his choice. My RC A clarinet was selected by me at the Quintette Musique store in Paris from several available at that (sadly gone) establishment.
"Marketing-speak"; "means nothing"? Maybe anecdotal experience is less than scientific!
I once got thrown out of a music store in Arlington, VA when I asked to try more than one Bundy clarinet I was purchasing for a student! Must have been Dave's doppelganger!
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2010-12-13 00:57
May have been, Larry -- my doppelganger is even more crotchety than I am! I wonder if you're referring to the old Zavarella's store -- there was a nice feature in the Post this weekend about Zavarella's son who gave up trying to sell restored instruments against the competition from Craig's List and eBay (pardon the digression, folks).
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-12-13 01:22
When I worked at Rico my horns were stolen. I of course needed something fast. I was lucky and asked Mitchell Lurie if he had a horn I could borrow. He pretty much gave me a spare horn he had hand picked from Buffet in France. I still play that horn. It was better than the one stolen.
About a month ago I bought a new "A" clarinet. I played several and fell in love with one. I actually like it better than that good Bb Mitchell Lurie horn. I'm now thinking about trading in the Bb!
My feeling is go with a hand selected horn, but make sure you can return it if it doesn't meet your professional requirements. Make sure you will be given a complete refund, no questions asked. Sometimes you can return a horn but the company will only give you store credit. You also have to worry about a restocking fee, up to 20 percent. Be careful.
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2010-12-13 10:24
Some interesting opinions here! I have a view that is quite the opposite to some: personally, I wouldn't DARE pick an instrument for myself! Mainly because I don't feel up to the task, but further to this if there's some major fault I discover later on, I only have myself to blame. All my current instruments are from Lisa's Clarinet Shop. I won't go into discussion about her here though and I beg of you not to but I've always had instruments from her that work really well for me, even in instances where I've ordered and not had several sent over for a trial; the ONE instrument she sends is great.
Key sentence from my post: "I've always had instruments from her that really work well for me". Read that several times before your tirade.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2010-12-13 13:18
I agree with Dave. After all isn't every clarinet "hand selected"?
Bob Draznik
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2010-12-13 15:56
I personally nose selected my clarinet, and do you want me to say which body part chose my bass...
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