 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bagel
Date: 2002-05-23 12:13
Are Amati clarinets good? I am getting one that my grandpa bought from a friend of his and it is made of wood and it is a professional model, I have not seen it yet , but am wondering if this instrument worth keeping.
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Author: Corey
Date: 2002-05-23 12:20
got to the "search" button up above your posting and type in "amati" (without the quotations)
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-05-23 13:39
There is NO substitute for play testing.
Dismissing the instrument, unseen, is the sign of brand fixation.
The horn will not make you a Hero, practice does that.
With proper adjustment, the Amati line are fine instruments.
Snob appeal has no place when such a gift is offered, gratitude is the appropriate response to such kindness.
You kids need to widen your scope of empathy just a little, don't you think? I believe the operative notion is; 'This is a gift'.
Perhaps parting with your own money for an instrument makes it more valuable to you, less valuable if the getting was easy.
S.B.
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Author: klarinut
Date: 2002-05-23 15:44
Mark and Quijote,
Could you be more specific regarding the basis of your reviews. Frankly I find one-line "Johnny Sophomore" unsubstantiated comments like:
"Just intermediate quality if it is an Amati Porfessional."
or
"Amatis are crap."
totally useless. I need some explanation and support. You give me no reason to regard you as experts whose opinion should be taken at face value so I must ask: How many Amati's have you played? Which models? How recently? Why should I regard you as informed, let alone expert in this area? Why should I be convinced that there is any truth let alone merit to your evaluation. Perhaps you are informed and qualified to judge, perhaps you have given the brand a fair trial (but I doubt it), perhaps you know something about what you are talking about but you will have to demonstrate it to me. I need to know that you put more care into forming your opinion than you have in stating it before I give it any weight.
Bagel,
Ignore these jerks and go back two pages to the topic:
"Amati ACL675 A clarinet - my review" (the thread was originated by GBK).
There you will find more thoughtful and informed comment than the two above-quoted responses which IMHO you should ignore. Ultimately, though, I agree with SB. You are asking the wrong question. The right question is "how good is the specific clarinet your Grandfather bought?" Give the instrument a fair trial, decide for yourself and be grateful for the gift.
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Author: 'nut (hey, I'm easy)
Date: 2002-05-24 11:38
Quijote's comments are crap.
Bagel, it's reliability, reliability, reliability, period. And Quijote's comments have been notorious for having problems with it (if some reader's could not recognize it, REALLY too bad for them).
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-24 21:09
Just remember: quod cibus est alis, alis est venenum. You pays your money and you takes your chances. I could only wish that Quijote's comments were argumentum ab auctoritate. Dixi
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-24 22:48
Oh, and Quijote, I forgot to add. You got your tenses wrone, its:
Res Ipsa (not ipso) Loquitur. (The thing speaks for it'self) But it don't, man! You have not proved your case.
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-25 02:38
Oh sir, that I only could cure myself. But back to the point. Your point is that you think you have proved your case, therefore you state, "Res ipso loquitur" ( a phrase which might be applied if Amati could be charged with negligent manufacture, or practices. Negligence also being the subject of the case pointed out in your citation) I don't think even you would wish to go that far.
My point, previously stated stands. If you doubt my usage and want several pages of references, "verbatim et litteratim et punctatim", you might do a "Google" search on the phrase.
Thank you for correcting the mistake in my spelling. I noticed it after I posted. Dixi
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Author: Fred
Date: 2002-05-25 13:31
Is there a possibility here that both sides of the Amati war are (or were) correct? I believe that previous threads have admitted that Amati in the past made pretty poor clarinets. It has also been reported by a good player that recent Amati work is pretty darn good.
It is very hard to shake a bad reputation, even when substantial improvements have been made. Quijote may be blunt, but he is not ignorant of instruments. I just wonder if he is judging by older production rather than new. I certainly trust GBK to evaluate intonation issues and other quality issues as well. If he says the Amati A was good, then it was.
I'm old enough to remember this country (U.S.) talking about "cheap Japanese junk" well past the point when Deming had turned their manufacturing quality around. The Japanese were making superior products and we wouldn't open our eyes to it until it was almost too late.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-05-25 13:40
What Amati is going to have to do to redeem its image is to have a few players in major orchestras around the world start playing their instruments in both orchestral and recital conditions on a regular basis. And that's going to be exceedingly hard to do.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-05-25 14:31
As the original instigator of the Amati discussion, (see my review):
http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=78073&t=78073 I feel that both Fred and Mark have assessed the current Amati situation quite well.
Yes, Amati has made a serious turnaround in their quality/workmanship of their professional line clarinet that I mentioned. Their intonation issues (at least on this instrument) have obviously been addressed, as they are now quite improved to the point of being impressive. The altissimo is slightly high on the model I purchased, but all other registers are precisely accurate. After a month of getting aquainted with the ACL675 I still feel that the upper altissimo is quite workable and personally have come to now feel at home with the slight compensations needed (fingerings, etc...).
Amati, at this point, for a number of reasons (size, marketing ability, advertising budget, etc...) cannot compete with the "Big 4", and thus their resale value (even on pro instruments) on the open market is still low. Thus, the newer used Amatis could present a serious "best buy" situation.
However, dollar for dollar, The new Amati professional line clarinets account themselves very well, and represent, in my opinion, the beginnings of a company that is most definitely on the right track in producing a quality product...GBK (owner and player of 11 Buffet clarinets)
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2002-05-28 13:30
I guess I'm more concerned about Granpa's feelings than Amati's corporate image.
I have always thought that people were more important than their things but hey; that's just me.
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