 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2013-04-18 00:51
I'm going on vacation with my family, and long drive times are part of the plan. I took out my old Malerne stenciled as a Chas Ponte made or sold in 1968, and played it back to back with my other clarinets. The instrument was overhauled over a year ago, the wood is beautiful and there are no scratches or cracks. The key work looks almost brand new and there are no leaks in the top section and only a tiny, minimal leak in the lower. (Two techs have failed to find it though). The instrument is very playable and I wouldn't feel bad about bringing it along with me the way I would with my Buffet or my Yamaha Custom. Still the horn is somewhat stuffy and the tone never pops nor glows the way my other two horns do. I can't believe I loved this instrument 40 plus years ago, but I did. The last time I took off two weeks, due to a horrendous cold sore cluster, it took me three days to recover and I enjoy playing quite a bit, so I want to have a horn I wouldn't worry about. I wouldn't dare lug my other horns, nor would I risk getting a crack in them. Sometimes I wish I could just find a deserving student who would give me $100 and love the Ponte as much as I did. Other times I can't imagine being without it. There is always the hope that some tech could tweak it enough to make it really sing, but I also can't imagine spending any more money on it than I already have. What to do?
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2013-04-18 02:26
If you decide to keep it, PLEASE don't make a lamp out of it!
B.
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Author: curlyev
Date: 2013-04-18 04:55
I can't part with my first clarinet, and it was just a plastic vito resotone 3. lol
Clarinet: Wooden Bundy 1950s
Mthpc: WW Co. B6 refaced by Kurtzweil
Lig: Various Rovners
Barrel/Bell: Backun
Reeds: Legere 3.75
OKC Symphonic Band (just started this summer)
*playing 22 years (with a 5 year hiatus) and counting*
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-04-18 06:41
It's just a tool. You've got better ones now. Sell it.
Tony F.
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Author: Mike Clarinet
Date: 2013-04-18 07:36
I can't bring myself to sell my first intrument either. It has so many memories. I would rather give it to a close friend or family member (if any of the next generation take up the clarinet) who's really going to appreciate a free instrument that just sell it to some stranger. It's a completely irrational point of view, I know. It is just a tool and not my offspring, but the sentimental value is priceless.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2013-04-18 08:52
Speaking to the leak, I had a major repair coup once finding a small hole protruding through the bore as a result of a post hole that was tapped too far. I found it by first taping all the holes shut......and the darn thing STILL leaked (a theoretical impossibility). Try that, and a really thorough visual inspection of the bore.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-04-18 09:25
When it has come down to being pretty sure that the leak is not a pad, I've had success by taking the keys off, plugging the holes with rubber laboratory corks and blowing into it after it's been dunked in soapy water. Just look for the bubbles.
Tony F.
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Author: Orlando Natty
Date: 2013-04-18 13:42
I still have my actual first clarinet, a Yamaha student model that currently has no pads (rotted away after years of marching band use). I mainly keep it just because no one else would want it at this point. I have toyed with trying to repad it myself just for the practice, but that always seems too daunting.
I did have some seller's remorse when I sold my first wooden clarinet recently. I had saved and saved my money and my parents pitched in the last amount needed for my first "real" (read: wooden) clarinet, a Buffet E-11 purchased my junior year of high school. I used my Buffet for two years of high school wind ensemble and all county band, my college audition, and four years of university wind ensemble.
It was all my parents and I could afford at the time, but I always made the best of that horn. I ended up switching out of my music major a year and a half into college, but I was still the only non-music major in my college wind ensemble for two years.
By the time I sold it for $200 to my repair person a few tenon rings were loose and the keys showed intense use (down to the base metal). It had taken me as far as it could and my replacement Selmer 10G is superior in every way, but I do still feel a little remorse for everything that Buffet gave me.
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2013-04-18 15:16
I could not, either, so I loaned it to beginners to decide if they wanted to continue, and finally,later gave it one who wanted and needed it. The clarinet was my $18 Greville Paris metal one, chromium plated.
richard smith
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2013-04-18 20:32
Give the instrument to someone who wants to play and needs a horn, but can't afford one. Pay it forward.
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: clarnibass
Date: 2013-04-19 03:46
My first clarinet is a Vito Eb and is worth keeping just to have an Eb clarinet.
My second clarinet (R13 Bb) was special and I chose it together with my teacher at the store and played it for a very long time. It was hard to sell it but I decided it's pointless to have just because of my memories, I have the memories regardless. So I sold it to a local student and it's better that he can learn with it than sitting here doing nothing.
Post Edited (2013-04-19 07:31)
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Author: eaglgenes101
Date: 2013-04-19 03:49
Put it in a protective case or put it up on the wall or something if you value it that highly.
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Author: gwie
Date: 2013-04-19 05:52
I donated my first and second clarinets to a charity that repairs them and loans them to students in school programs who can't afford them.
Better than having them sitting in the closet for a few more decades...
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Author: MoonPatrol
Date: 2013-04-19 17:11
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
Ha Ha Ha! I'm so glad I'm not the first person to observe this.
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Author: tarogatoman
Date: 2013-04-20 14:19
Before I got my first buffet, I played a very old albert clarinet. It has only 2 rings, a palm- key- like throat G# key and the upper most trill key missing, the tone hole having been plugged with some kind of resin. I couldn't sell it even if I wanted to. I still remember hiding away with it in the university music library/store room and playing Johnny Dodds solos on it to take the edge off the stress of university life. I majored in clarinet , became a pro and retired since. I still take it out when I NEED it. It's part of me.
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2013-04-21 04:04
I can't bring myself to sell my first two clarinets, a Vito 7214 and an original Normandy. The Vito is just too worn out to pass along, while the Normandy still sees regular use.
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Author: tims
Date: 2013-04-21 05:35
If it's not taking up space, keep it. Anything you could sell it for would likely be less than the sentimental value you obviously place on this instrument. My first horn fell apart (an old Boosey and Hawks from 1956), and I never really liked it anyway, but I got a brand new Signet Special when I started High School in 1966 and continued to play on it through my first year of college before I finally bought a professional quality horn.
I traded the Signet in on the new horn (I needed every cent I could come up with to afford it), but I always wished I kept it because it was the instrument I really began to learn and appreciate music with. It went to a lot of places with me and I won a lot of awards using it.
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Author: stevesklar
Date: 2013-04-21 15:43
I still have my 1978 Normandy 4 that I bought for $400. The first clarinet I bought at 12 yrs old from hard gained paper route money. I still remember standing in front of (RIP) Mr. Herb Couf after he went to the back of the store for a while and came out with this and told me it was a great clarinet for me.
I still play it from time to time. And my sons have used it as a beginner instrument too before going on to saxophone. I still have 2 kids to go through the beginning band years, so here it stays.
It's not worth much, but brings back memories of which are worth more than the instrument.
==========
Stephen Sklar
My YouTube Channel of Clarinet Information
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2013-04-21 16:27
Going from a psychological standpoint, those "first" anythings tend to leave more of an impression. A person's first car may have been the biggest POS, but it represented freedom and a method to get places and so it holds an emotional value greater than normal. A person's first credit card tends to be linked with being a "financial grownup" and so people who are getting rid of credit cards, changing banks etc, find it dificult to get rid of that card that they've had for x number of years.
So I can fully understand about the first clarinet. It led to many memories, led to you finding a passion, etc. I too have my first clarinet. And I won't get rid of it. Every now and then I start thinking logically about how I have other clarinets, how I rarely use it or play it, but from the amount of money that I would get selling it, it's not worth selling financially speaking, and it certainly keeps me happy to pull it out and play it every now and then. So with me it'll stay.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Guy
Date: 2013-04-23 03:40
I sold my first horn, a Normandy Resotone, to one of my wife's co-workers. I've regretted it many times since. It was much more than a tool, at least for me. My mom struggled to get it for me on a rent-to-own basis decades ago, so it was symbol of her sacrifice. The smell of the old case rekindled memories of my early music classes in elementary school. I never really thought much about that lousy old clarinet until I got rid of it. Only then did I realize how much sentimental value it really had.
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Author: Bill G
Date: 2013-04-24 19:04
Taragotoman, I feel kin to you. My parents bought me a well-used no-name Albert system clarinet (which I'm sure they couldn't afford regardless of the price) over seventy-five years ago. I was soon hooked, even without lessons, and it is a prized possession of my 86 years. No gift has brought me greater pleasure. I have given away instruments of significant value, but I could not part with this treasure.
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