 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2012-10-02 21:45
Why do cracks on a clarinet devalue the instrument yet when a wooden flute has cracks it does not.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-10-02 22:14
Cracks will affect the value on any wooden instrument if they haven't been dealt with well.
Who says wooden flutes don't lose value if they're cracked? They're far more likely to be affected if the headjoint has cracked through the embouchure hole, so that will be a considerable knock to their resale value.
Clarinets usually crack at the top of the top joint, either right down the front to the throat A tonehole, at the side through to the trill toneholes or at the back to the speaker tonehole - but in any case, they can usually be repaired so the crack doesn't reopen and toneholes can be bushed to make them airtight.
While cracks will have some negative impact on the value of a pro level instrument, they will have far more negative impact on the value of a student level instrument due to the price of the instrument.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-10-02 22:34
In a complete non-musical sense, the market value of anything such as instruments, food, people (as in the work force i.e. your salary), is a direct result of supply and demand. Simply put, if you have two hundred equal clarinets, and one hundred have a crack, the one hundred perfect condition ones will be worth more, because they are more close to the original product and are in better condition. In tone quality really doesn't have any bearing on price, it just happens that many highly priced instruments sound best, because there is a greater need for good sounding instruments than bad instruments, pushing up the cost of the good sounding instruments. The more demand you have, the more you can charge for your product. I'm not familiar with the wooden flute trade to go any further than that.
Drew S.
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2012-10-02 23:09
I know a flute restoration expert and he showed me his sales figures of flutes with repaired cracks versus flutes without any cracks and there is no difference in the value. But as we all know clarinets with repaired cracks are worth less.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-10-02 23:59
I have an exceptional Buffet RC that cracked. The crack has been expertly fixed, and the horn is still exceptional.
Sorry, no discounts.
Bob Phillips
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Author: DaveKessler
Date: 2012-10-04 17:33
It depends on many things, first and foremost, the quality of the crack repair. An instrument with an expert crack repair, sold by the tech/shop that repaired it and sold with a warranty on said repair is not likely to lose much value, flute or clarinet.
However, a private seller cannot personally warranty an instrument. So they will see a bigger percentage of value loss from a crack repair as a result, flute or clarinet.
Also add in the fact that there are also FAR fewer good wood flutes than there are wood clarinets. Supply and demand.
Dave Kessler
Kessler & Sons Music
http://www.kesslermusic.com
Post Edited (2012-10-04 17:34)
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Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-10-04 18:28
I would also second what Mr. Kessler said, there must be limited availability of good quality wood flutes.
Drew S.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2012-10-04 20:27
A really great repairman can almost make the cracks non existent.
Sadly I agree that I wouldn't buy a cracked horn.
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Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-10-05 01:06
I personally wouldn't call a repaired horn a bad horn, but I would consider it a different horn. I've heard that cracked instruments after repair can sound better than before it cracked. I do believe that they would be more prone to cracking again, maybe in a different place that the horn didn't crack. I think this would have to do with the structure of the wood used.
Drew S.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-10-05 01:11
Cracks usually happen at the weakest area, so if this has happened and has been dealt with properly it shouldn't crack again.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-10-05 01:17
Agreed, it shouldn't crack in the same area if properly repaired. What I mean is the structure of the wood used would be more prone to cracking. Maybe it's less dense or has flaws not seen by the naked eye. It seems some instruments just never crack, no matter what you do to them, and some crack, and they have to be repaired. But there is more than one place where an instrument can crack.
Drew S.
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Author: JHowell
Date: 2012-10-05 02:22
I've had several clarinets crack. All of them were well repaired, and none of them played worse after cracking. 100 percent of an instrument's value to me is how it plays. If a cracked instrument were offered for sale that played better than what I have, I would buy it.
Now, none of my instruments continued cracking. They cracked once, usually due to a particular event (playing an outdoor concert, cold rehearsal space) and did not crack again. When I was in New Mexico -- a very dry, wood-instrument-unfriendly place -- a colleague had an A clarinet that just cracked and cracked. I don't remember if he liked it or it was out of warranty and he couldn't afford to replace it, but the top joint had maybe six or seven cracks, no sooner was one fixed than another appeared. But that's the only instrument I've seen like that.
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