 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jenny Jones
Date: 2002-01-15 23:06
I have had to buy five Bb clarinets ever since i've started playing, because I keep breaking them to where they can't ever be repaired...
I just broke my fifth clarinet and I don't know what to do. I don't have any money to buy another right now. My aunt told me she played a metal clarinet in high school, and that she would give it to me to play until I could buy another one. And you can't break metal clarinets, you can just dent them and scratch them. I don't know anything about metal clarinets. I've never even seen one before! Do they sound the same as a plastic one? Do they use the same reeds? Are the fingerings the same?
Thanks,
Jenny
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Author: LynnB
Date: 2002-01-15 23:13
Jenny,
How are you using them where a break would occur? Is it from normal wear and tear or do you play in an environment where there are accidents? Like, people dropping them or stepping on them?
I played a metal clarinet for my first year. It was in one piece except the mouthpiece was separate. They have the same fingerings, type of mouthpiece and reeds as a plastic clarinet.
LynnB
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-01-16 00:11
Jenny, sorry about the smart A--- answer but how the heck can you break 5 clarinets other than using them as baseball bats. I used a metal clarinet for years and even took it along into the service (WWII). How they play depends on your setup (reed/lig) etc, but they sound no worse than some plastic clarinets. Don't read that is being against plastics either.
Bob A
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Author: ~ jerry
Date: 2002-01-16 00:51
Pianos are also hard to drop, Bob.
I certainly hope these are not high quality instruments, Jenny.
I can't imagine breaking five clarinets in one lifetime much less in the time Jenny has been playing (excuse the presumption about the age). I wish I could suggest something ...........maybe a neckstrap would help.
~ jerry
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Author: willie
Date: 2002-01-16 01:50
Now that you have fired up our curiousity, ya gotta tell us how you broke all those clarinets. As for a metal clarinet, most all are built like tanks but can still be dammaged. Most were horrible when outfitted with stock mouthpieces. Some were not bad at all and a few were very good. All will usually play better with a good mouthpiece. It takes some experimenting as some of the mouthpieces that play well on my "wooden wonder" don't really work that well on the metal ones I have. If you decide to shine it up, don't use silver dips. They can eat up the springs and that is costly to repair. If the springs are still in good shape, try oiling them with a small Q-tip to protect them from rust. Good luck and have fun with it.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-16 02:37
Jenny,
Do you have some challenging mental or physical circumstance that you can't help?
I would like to know what to say to you next, and how I answer you has much to do with your answer.
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Author: Joe O'Kelly
Date: 2002-01-16 03:21
Wow! What brands are you playing on that are so brittle? My friend used to throw (hurl) his Yamaha atleast 20 yards and very high up and the only thing to break was the reed (don't anyone ever try this)
I passed out once on a flight of stairs while I had an r-13 with me. The clarinet aparantly came out of the case and flew down the steps. The only damange was cracked tennons that could be fixed but the insurance company replaced it non the less.
I've only seen a Vito and an old EVette sponsored by Buffet snap apart with little effort. It seems that instruments can take alot of heat which is interesting how that number of instruments broke beond repair.
Don't get me wrong, I am not accusing you of anthing. I, for one, also have pretty bad luck with instruments. My clarinets always develop cracks and I used to make the mistake of loaning out my instruments.
Did you buy these instuments used? If so from the same store? I know a store that seemed to get all the instuments that presented well but were the ones that needed serious attention. I got swindled by them more hat once too often. They once had an Evette wood (the sponsored by Buffet) that had a "complete overhaul" and was asking $550. The bell was completely cracked through and when I pointed out that their complete overhaul statement was invalad as complete attention was not given to this instrument I was thrown out of the store. These guys were worse than the bad ebay schiesters. I'd rather buy an indian army horn. It was also where that Evette that cracked in two was bought. buyers beware. I would seggest making sure that the next clarinet you buy is purchased from a reputable dealer and perhaps with a warenty.
Hope everything turns out okay.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2002-01-16 03:27
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Is the problem broken keywork? Many
modern student models are made with very cheap, flimsy keywork that breaks
easily. From your post, however, it sounds like the tenons are breaking. Guess
what, my son managed to break one and the guy at the local shop drilled it out and
glued in another and it worked fine. As it happens, I gave him a metal clarinet for
8th grade. It never broke. It got lost on a school bus, which is a little better, I
guess.
Ask your aunt what type metal clarinet she has. Several people on this list collect or
have played several and will have opinions. If it is a Haynes, I will happily swap my
R13 for it (probably to the horror of others on the list, given your track record. OK,
I would throw in a Bundy and a working metal clarinet, too.) Some metal clarinets
were very fine instruments and better quality than current student models. Most
metal clarinets were student models and many of those are comparable to some
student models and better than others. However, many are so badly damaged that
they are not worth fixing up. Some of the damage may be obvious -- missing keys,
rusted up & frozen keywork, major bend in the main tube, etc. However you may
have to take the horn to a repair shop to find out. Many technicians, by the way, won't
work on metal clarinets. Call and ask before you drive all over creation.
I have not broken 5 clarinets. I am, however, working on it. In college, I kept
my wooden Buffet Master Model (intermediate quality) in an old leather holster type
case. It fit on my belt and looked like it held a sawed off shotgun. (Even
scarier than going Goth!) Then I slipped on ice and landed on the case. The bell
cracked into three pieces. Fortunately, the metal ring was OK and I 'repaired' it
with strapping tape. That worked surprisingly well.
I got a Buffet R13 after college. I once smashed a mouthpiece when I stood up gettung iyt if a car, but generally I was careful. Except for the time I put the case on the car roof while I
got out my car keys. Then I drove off. Fortunately, I heard the case smack to the
pavement. Unfortunately, keys were bent, and it never worked the same, after that. Then
someone stole it.
The first pro metal clarinet I got was a 1930 buffet. It slipped while I was
polishing it. All of the keys were off at the time, but a post snapped off. The solder joint had
failed and I figured this was an easy repair. I clamped the post on, got out the silver
solder and used my torch. It worked fine, except that this particular model was soft
soldered, not silver soldered, so by the time I had the one post back on, a few more
popped off. A professional was able to undo most of the damage.
Several writers are assuming that because you are breaking clarinets, you must be
young. Perhaps. I am over 50. I went to blues camp last summer and on Thursday
night, my student band played a very raucous set, The last number had the whole
crowd rocking and screaming and dancing and like a fool, I was shouting and waving
my horn. The bottom dropped off. This was a Silva Bet that breaks apart in the middle,
so by bottom I mean half of the instrument. Mental dope slap! What was I
thinking? Maybe this is why most high school recitals don't start at midnight or
allow beer. Anyway, the horn was fine. Maybe a wood or plastic horn would
have been fine, too. Maybe the next drop will be fatal. Maybe I am just luckier
than you.
best luck
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-16 04:02
Jenny,
You said in your next (separate) post titled "Reply to LynnB.":
"I am in a marching band, so them constantly being exposed to outside conditions i think may have weakened them, and then I would accidentally drop them or be taking them apart and then they would just break. The most comon break that has occurred in all my clarinets is the bell breaking off of the clarinet and taking a piece of the really long piece at the bottom? with it. On my last clarinet, the whole mouthpiece shattered and every piece except the barrel was broken.......it was dropped on its mouthpiece. (I am SO clumsy, lol)"
Well Jenny, I guess you have also answered my question when you answered Lynn B. in that next post you opened.
I'm saying this here because Mark already asked that only one post per subject be opened at one time.
Five broken clarinets due to your being careless with them? Then you "LOL" that you are so clumsy?
What should you do? Take up singing. You should not be given another opportunity to destroy yet another instrument, plastic, metal, or solid steel. There are too many kids out there struggling to learn, who can't afford sheet music, much less their first clarinet, never mind five in a row.
Do you buy your own instruments or do your parents buy them for you?
My son is in a marching band and I have been very involved with many marching bands. Although accidents do happen, they don't happen repeatedly. Not to the same person or to most individuals with half an ounce of aptitude to take care of something valuable, expensive and relatively fragile, which breaks when mistreated.
You are lucky you are not my daughter.
Sorry, but either you are just too much, or this is a joke posting.
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-01-16 04:16
Peter, Peter, back to your old chippy self:
"You are lucky you are not my daughter." I agree with you my friend, I'll bet she is. Ha! Ha!
Bob A
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Author: Neil Mac
Date: 2002-01-16 04:46
Metal sounds just the same as wood (or composite plastic). The sound of the clarinet depends only on the reed and the column of air vibrating - it is independent of the material used to make the clarinet.
Make sure your metal clarinet is of the correct pitch though. A few second-hand shops still have some of the old high-pitch B flat models for sale - they work OK but you can't play them in an ensemble or orchestra.
Better buy two - in case one gets broken <grin>.
Neil
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-16 04:52
Hi Bob,
Yeah, well, poor little girl. Breaks five clarinets and laughs out loud in the telling of it. Must be a cry for help. (What's the internet symbol for sarcasm?
I did have a daughter much like that. Poor baby had a tough time (what did you say the internet symbol for sarcasm is?) and so did I. It's a two way street. I too, am lucky I'm not her father.
Today she is 32 years old. She studies psychology and subscribes to the "positive reinforcement" theory. She would want me (and everyone else) to say something like, "It's O.K., dear, you did much better this time, it took you twenty whole days to break this last clarinet, you are improving so much! Now, let's get you another one and see if you can keep this one intact for at least a month!"
And I can't.
When I was a kid (back when they had iron men and wooden ships, as my kids will tell you) things were much simpler. If you couldn't add, subtract, or spell, it wasn't because your mother was traumatized by the dog next door barking at a cockroach one night while she was carrying you. You were stupid and you were going to dig ditches all your life!
Similarly if you were clumsy and careless. People kept knives, sissors, spud wrenches, welding torches and, yes! clarinets out of your way, so you wouldn't hurt yourself, others, or the items in your search for things to destroy.
I guess I'm about to be reviled yet again.
God help us all.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-16 05:03
Peter...Your postings get better and better as each week/month goes by. Keep them coming.
It must be like fine wine...something about the aging...GBK (your biggest fan)
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-16 05:21
Thanks GBK, I'm kind of a fan of yours myself. (We should petition Mark to re-name this BB "The Sneezy Clarinet and Mutual Admiration BB."
By the way, do you also need to know what the internet symbol for sarcasm is? :-)
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-16 06:00
It's my turn to LOL! You are too much! Are there any sites you don't know about?
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2002-01-16 13:55
This posting has inspired me to run out and buy two metal clarinets. We just learned our granddaughter (thus the clarinet"grammy" in my tag) is going to get a "sister." So, in case they both decide to play clarinet I want to be sure they don't each break 5!!!
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-01-16 15:59
"By the way, do you also need to know what the internet symbol for sarcasm is? :-)"
OK Peter, I give up. It's not on the list. Knowing you, it must be a great invention. %-]]
Bob A
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Author: Peter
Date: 2002-01-16 19:50
Hey, now, all may not be lost.
Jenny,
Is that metal clarinet your aunt is lending you a Silver King, by any chance? If it is, after you destroy it, the Clarinator could probably use the barrel!
Bob, my symbol for sarcasm can't be shown in polite company. You'd have to wash your eyes out with soap after looking at it.
I'm going to quit this before I get yelled at again.
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Author: ~ jerry
Date: 2002-01-16 23:19
Peter,
It looks like GBK has "...reached the end of the internet and must go back."
I like that commercial.
~ jerry
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Author: Katherine Lynn
Date: 2002-01-17 02:13
no effense.....but that is hallarious.
-Kat
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Author: Ashley
Date: 2002-01-18 00:44
Lordy, I can't believe that you broke so many clarinets. I thought breaking clarinets was reserved for careless children who leave their instruments on chairs and then sit on them. Or leave them balancing on stands, and then run by and knock it off. Well I think you've had enough scoldings for bulletin board. Back to the topic of this bulletin board- Metal vs Plastic clarinets. Metal all the way. I don't believe that ANY plastic clarinet sounds superior to a properly tuned and well kept metal clarinet. The difference is barely audible. And having witnessed a plastic clarinet being stepped on by a 225lb man and having the tenons being shattered, I can tell you that a metal clarinet is virtually indestructable. Well, I shouldn't say that because you have broken 5 clarinets in your lifetime. But there is a reason that we still see metal clarinets around...because they last forever. I own several metal clarinets, one having been made in 1929. It is in excellent condition with only surface abrasions and plays beautifully. It's a neat instrument to play too because most don't even know it's a clarinet. They are also great for marching bands as they hold up better than plastic ones. Plus if you step on a plastic clarinet it shatters, you only bend and dent metal ones. And that's something to consider in your "type" of playing.
Metal is better!
Ashley
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