 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: xarkon
Date: 2026-03-05 20:57
Looking for an excellent clarinet tech in Colorado to work on my Selmer Signatures, including installation of a Kooiman Maestro thumb rest. Colorado Springs area would be most convenient but will go to Denver/Boulder. Thanks in advance.
Dave
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: m1964
Date: 2026-03-07 02:57
If it were me, I would look for a shop that specializes in clarinets. In my experience, people who focus on repairing a specific instrument (or a specific car brand) almost always do better work than a general “do-everything” repair shop.
For Selmer clarinets in particular, I would recommend NYC Woodwind. The owner is a Selmer artist and has an exceptional knowledge of clarinets. He is also a real perfectionist when it comes to any repair, regardless of how small or extensive.
He has worked on several of my instruments, including fine-tuning (undercutting and over-cutting tone holes), and the instruments played better.
I repair clarinets myself, so my standards may be a bit higher than those of an average player/performer.
Last time he worked on my Muse Bb after I grabbed the double case from the table not realizing that the latches were open.
Both A and Bb fell on wood floor, A survived but the Bb not- two of the three plastic pins broke and I did not have those pins.
Michael had those Selmers pins, but, after installing the pins, he found that the key levers got bent from the impact and it took him a bit of time to get everything back to like new condition.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: SecondTry
Date: 2026-03-07 21:12
Sorry for the long post.
I've come to accept some paradigm changes in clarinet repair since I fist picked up the instrument before the "invention of indoor plumbing."
Being from the NY metro area I was, and remain never at a loss for decent techs that I can, need be, drive to. Still more, I was always under the belief that any tech that wouldn't work with me in person, om site, to address my personal subtleties on fit--be it the tightening of some spring, or say adjusting of the height of some spatula was a tech not worth working with.
But even here in NY, let alone other areas of the country where good repair techs are far more dispersed, the classic brick and mortar model is somewhat challenged. For example, in my younger years West 48th Street in Manhattan was lined with music stores (and their in house techs) whose rents have become far to costly for their continued operation at this location, as these spaces are turned into apartments.
https://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/48th-street-music-row/
Even Sam Ash, the largest of them and with national presence, was forced to do away with physical stores this year, resorting to an internet only model.
This reality has caused even me, still able to drive to a tech, to rethink clarinet sales and repair in this "new age." And while the OP may still very much desire driving his instrument to a repair tech, as do I (and wouldn't blame him for), if for no other reason that it gives me a greater sense of control in that I can, need be (not that it's ever been the case) physical show up and scream at people in person (and their knowing that increasing accountability), even I have come to realize that in the world of overnight packages, and Amazon/Fed Ex/UPS, that buying or fixing your instrument by mail may be born of the necessity of operators running their stores in area with less exorbitant overhead costs, more distanced from population centers.
If the OP has a change of heart, two techs at the link I originally provided come to mind. One is Michael Norsworthy in Brooklyn https://www.nyc-woodwinds.com/ who is a meticulous repairman and Selmer dealer, or Miles Castro at North Country Winds https://www.northcountrywinds.com/ .
Miles is as meticulous as he is distant from many walk in customers in somewhat rural Potsdam, NY. But he teaches instrument repair at nearby SUNY-Potsdam's Crane school of music, hence his location there, and is Michael Lowenstern's (Earspasm) tech for all his new instruments prior to sale, to bring them into the "best they can be"--which in some cases is quite a distance from their limited capabilites having just left the manufacturer's factory "new."
I think it speaks volumes for both these vendors that they would work so closely and frequently, despite, quite literally, being at opposite ends of NY State.
Even I, 90 minutes tops from Mr. Norsworthy by car, also a Yahama dealer, whose wares I'm interesting in trying, makes me think that between difficulty in Brooklyn car parking, and traffic, that buying an instrument by mail on trial from him might be the way to go.
Post Edited (2026-03-07 21:13)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: xarkon
Date: 2026-03-07 22:57
Thanks all. Appreciate the feedback on looking for a clarinet-specific tech and considering mailing the instruments. For now, I'd like to find a local tech with the right qualifications; I've had good luck before but my original repair tech passed away a few years ago, and I'm pretty sure the other has retired.
Another consideration is that of being able to show up in person in case there is an issue. I have heard horror stories involving techs who closed shop without warning, creating a problem for people trying to retrieve their instruments. And, there are those, who, for whatever reason (illness, family issues, financial issues) suddenly go from underpromising and overdelivering to making excuses that stretch the repair time from days to weeks to months (even to years).
That said, I've certainly sent instruments cross-country for very specific expertise, so it's not out of the question.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2026-03-08 10:03
>> If it were me, I would look for a shop that specializes in clarinets. In my experience, people who focus on repairing a specific instrument (or a specific car brand) almost always do better work than a general “do-everything” repair shop. <<
This can be true sometimes, but other times it's completely not true. It depends entirely on the specific repairer and the local market. In some areas there is simply not enough "clarinet only repairs" to do, so a repairer can't do just that, though they can be as good as anyone.
>> For Selmer clarinets in particular, I would recommend NYC Woodwind. <<
Not anywhere near Colorado as far as I know, but a friend of mine recently had excellent work in NYC Woodwinds. Though they live in NYC...
>> Michael had those Selmers pins, but, after installing the pins, he found that the key levers got bent from the impact and it took him a bit of time to get everything back to like new condition. <<
For some reason Selmer uses pins that are even more fragile than Buffet pins.
Yes those levers can sometimes bend on the linkage side. With a very slight bend it's pretty much invisible, the pin linkage would push it to the "correct" position, but the springiness would push back and there will be some friction. Often it's not really possible to know how it is bent since the pin seems to align it, but in some cases there is a trick that allows seeing the bend.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
