 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Musikat
Date: 2017-08-28 05:00
I have tried searching but can't find much. My father purchased a Selmer Soloist clarinet as a backup to his regular instrument for about $250 last year. He just gave it to me for my son as a step-up instrument. I can't find much about this model. It is NOT the Signet Soloist, but is imprinted with Selmer USA and the word Soloist. The serial number is P0123671 and it does appear to be wood. It has metal around the tenons, which I don't know if they do for plastic.
Is this a good instrument? I know the Signets were considered very good, but does anyone know about this one? It needs some minor fixing so I haven't been able to really play it to see how it sounds, but am hoping this will do him for a while. He is going into 5th grade and may do a performing/visual arts magnet middle school for 6th, so a wood instrument would be a good idea. He currently plays a plastic Yamaha.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-08-28 06:26
First, if all the clarinet needs is some "minor fixing" you should be able to get a pretty good idea of how it sounds even before the repairs are made. Response may be compromised by a couple of small leaks and minor spring adjustments might make the mechanism easier to handle, but basic tone quality shouldn't be affected much unless a problem is major.
Second, a wood instrument is not automatically better than one made of plastic or hard rubber. That is to say that back in the days when they still made student clarinets out of wood, their quality was not necessarily better than the plastic clarinets that began to replace them and even today's entry level clarinets, IMO especially Yamahas, may be better than any of the lower level clarinets of 30 or 40 years ago. And today's non-wood student clarinets are in some cases very good. As you know from reading this BBoard there are now clarinets being made in materials other than wood that are marketed as professional quality instruments (a flash point for debate in several recent threads).
I'm not so sure his Yamaha, if it's in excellent playing condition, couldn't take him very happily through 5th grade and even through the 6th grade magnet program. I don't think I know any more about Selmer Soloist clarinets than you do right now - my memory of Selmer Soloist is that it was a brand of reeds back in the 1960s. If it turns out to play well, he'll have his choice, but don't assume the Soloist is the superior clarinet just based on its material. They're making plastic Yamahas quite well these days.
Karl
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Author: Musikat
Date: 2017-08-28 06:35
I don't think the instrument is that old. He was told it was bought new and only played for one year (of course I don't know how long it sat before they decided to sell it). The reason I can't try it reliably is the lower joint rings are loose and stick down, so I can't play anything below c or above Bb. I haven't had time to look to see if it is something I can fix myself, but was just wondering if anyone knew about this model.
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