Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2014-08-12 06:40
From conversations with Rossi, he made it clear to me that making money comes secondary to making great clarinets. He's been approached by companies wanting to mass-produce his instruments and offer them "off the shelf," but he's turned them all away.
(Whether a CNC machine produces better individual clarinets is another question. I, for one, doubt it.)
And yes, he suffers financially because he doesn't spit them out, but how many other makers with CNC machines would or could offer 5+ bore styles plus reformed Boehm instruments, customize them to individual tastes, then back up their instruments with individualized attention for years and years after the sale?
He does it for the love of it, not for money, that's clear. In fact, what he produces IS "unmarketable" in the sense that we think of it.
Between having to wait for a year or two for an instrument, and then not being able to choose from multiple examples of the same model, but buy the instrument based on the integrity of the maker, most players will go elsewhere. But, everything else being equal (which it certainly is not), who would you rather buy an instrument from, a maker like Rossi or Schille or a company like you-know-which that won't fix things when the plating on the keys starts flaking off after a month or the joint cracks the day after the (short) warranty expires?
In short, money isn't the basis for everything...as long as you don't want too much of it...and it shouldn't be. I'm glad that makers like Schille and Rossi stick to old ways.
Sorry for the ramble. It's my advanced age.
B.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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