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Re: Accents?

Author: CuriousClarinet
Date: 2011-05-20 22:33

I know that there has already been a discussion about this before, but I would like to add somethings about Accents that were not clearly added to the posts Ken Shaw mentioned.

There are three Accent clarinets,
-CL522P (student) This is a student model. It's made out of plastic, and I've heard from an instrument repairman who works at an 'accent dealer' music store, that they don't hold up well. They are cheaply made, and he has even seen a few used Plastic Accents come in to the repair shop with cracks, (yikes) something about the rings around the end of the joints aren't good. The rings are made out of loose plastic, if I remember right. I've seen these student accent clarinets, and the ones I've seen DO have the plastic rings, although the picture they post on their website does not, oddly enough.

-CL722W (intermediate) Accent likes to call it their "performer" version. It is a wooden, silver plated clarinet. I know a person who owns one of these, and I have played it myself. I had a chance to compare it to my E11 (don't confuse this with the R13), back when I owned one. I can tell you that they are IDENTICAL instruments. The key work and placement of the keys are exactly the same, right down to the same font used for the serial number and "made in Germany" engraving on the top of the bottom joint. However, that said, I don't think her Accent played as well as my E11. Perhaps it was just out of adjustment. I also think the silver plating is kind-a cheap. It has a very yellow-goldish reflection to it. The same repairman mentioned early has also worked on several of these clarinets, and claims that the pads they use are labeled as Buffet pads. But he also agreed that he hadn't played an Accent that played as well as the Buffet E11.

-Model CL922W (professional) Accent refers to it on their site as the "artist". This is not similar to any Buffet model that I'm aware of. The register key (again, not pictured correctly on their site) is a "wrap around" style, it goes around the instrument and closes a tone hole on the top of the clarinet. I don't know too much about these, unfortunately. But I know that the repair guy doesn't like these much, for the level they are advertised on, they aren’t the same quality as other professional level instruments. They don't play as well as the Buffet R13, for example.

I'm not convinced these are "Chinese"-made instruments. The intermediate Accent is manufactured in the German Schreiber factory-same place as the now discontinued German Buffet E11's. (Although I'm not really sure about that anymore, I haven't heard differently from anyone, but I'm curious as to what Accent is doing since Buffet bought Schreiber awhile ago.) They're very similar instruments. I don't know about the other Accent clarinets for sure, but I would assume they are all made in Germany. Probably Schreiber inventions, although the plastic student model MIGHT be a copy of the Buffet B12. Accent doesn't have their own factory or anything. They're just a little company that buys instruments from whatever factory will sell to them. I’m not saying the Accent clarinets are bad. The intermediate clarinet seems to play decently, and would serve its purpose for a slightly advanced high school (or junior high) clarinetist. Accent clarinets are “no-names”, meaning that not very many places are aware of the brand. I’m not sure how a college clarinet instructor would respond to a professional Accent clarinet, probably not as well as other, better known brands. They also will not have a high resale value (especially online), because no one knows what they are. Accent clarinets are not related to the higher end Buffet clarinets, such as the R13, though. Those are made from the Buffet clarinet factory in France.

Haha… I kind-a wrote a miniature novel on Accent clarinets. Oops.

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