Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2018-02-02 05:39
My experience has been that unless you are a qualified woodwind technician, it is hard to acquire any professional level clarinet in tiptop condition for less than $1000. For example, take the case of the older Selmers (Series 9 and Centered Tones) that I'm quite familiar with. You can often find them for <<$500, but they have flaws, repaired cracks, old keywork with screw heads damaged, missing or cracked original barrel, dead case. Each of these sorts of things either 1) reduce the value and the probability that you will get a lifelong horn that is trouble-free and/or 2) increase the cost of a total professional overhaul.
e.g. a $500 horn might require a $600 overhaul, a $700 horn might need a $300 overhaul, and any example >$1000 should be coming with a fresh professional overhaul from an identified, reputable shop with a guarantee and return policy.
A horn that just needs to be cleaned up, repadded, some keywork tightening, and you don't need logo restoration, 9-year soak in magic oil, etc...there are shops that can do a GREAT job for $400 plus roundtrip shipping if you don't live near one of these.
If you are willing to spend $1500 or so (still very cheap for a top level pro horn), you can often find spectacular deals...even on ebay. At this level I have seen the following recent, restored to like new condition from great shops:
- Leblanc Opus
- Selmer Series 9
- Selmer 10G
- Selmer Signature
- Yamaha YCL-72 and YCL-62
- Yamaha YCL-CSG
- more R13s than you can shake a stick at...pun intended
Here is a pointer to an eBay search that shows recent actual sales of clarinets
Post Edited (2018-02-02 05:41)
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