 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Joarkh
Date: 2009-10-12 18:53
Today, one of my students (she started playing last week) pulled out a new clarinet she had gotten from her grandfather, who runs a music store. It was made of rosewood, had silver plated keys, metal tenons and all in all looked like a decent clarinet. I tried it, but, as I unfortunately didn't have my mouthpiece there I only got to try it with the original mouthpiece as she had nothing better. However, I could say from playing it with this mouthpiece that it was a good clarinet; a full sound, evenness of registers, easy to play the higher tones... All in all a good clarinet (and much better than the one she previously played, provided by a school band...)
I cannot find any info on Jindao clarinets on the web (it might have been Jintao, although I probably would have remembered _that name on a clarinet) or here on the BBoard. I couldn't find it on her grandfather's music store's web page either, and I don't know how much it cost. Hence, I am not aware whether this clarinet is a student or professional model etc. Both Jindao and Jintao sound Chinese to me. Does anyone have any information on these clarinets? Are they Chinese? Do you consider them decent clarinets?
I was a little puzzled when I found myself with a decent, supposedly Chinese clarinet, as I never had heard one word uttered in favor of Chinese clarinets before...
Joar
Clarinet and saxophone teacher, clarinet freelancer
Post Edited (2009-10-12 19:09)
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Author: TianL
Date: 2009-10-12 19:15
Although I've never heard it, but from the name, it's definitely Chinese.
I think China-made clarinets are considered bad here mainly because all the internet-sold ones from China. There are, believe or not, big and legit music factories in China and they make good instruments. However most of those are not sold on ebay and you can only get them from stores in China.
I played a clarinet that I bought in China throughout high school. It played with a full tone and works extremely well.
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Author: Joarkh
Date: 2009-10-12 20:02
Yes, the negative statements I've heard about Chinese clarinets concern those sold on eBay and the like. Also, I believe the fact that no Chinese (or any other non-European or American for that sake) professional clarinets are being sold in Europe (at least not that I know of. I might of course be wrong, and I believe that if they are, they are sold in significantly smaller quantities than Buffet, Leblanc etc.) contributes to the bad reputation Chinese clarinets has here in Europe (again according to my own experiences). For this reason I also found it strange for a music store in a relatively small city in the north of Norway to carry quality Chinese instruments. (From their website, however, one gets the impression that they only carry guitars, drums, keyboard instruments and the like.)
Joar
Clarinet and saxophone teacher, clarinet freelancer
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-10-12 23:35
Although Chinese instruments are thought to be generally quite bad for a lot of real reasons, there are a couple companies in the past 2 years that have started to produce quite good instruments. Huge improvements over what was made only 5-6 years ago.
I played a Chinese made clarinet about a year ago that was a new model that had just come out. The wood was not the greatest, but it was a real clarinet, not a CSO.
I think that within the next 10 years there will be some great Chinese made instruments being played by some of the top professionals in major orchestras and chamber music.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-10-13 04:25
This year in Musikmesse I tried many Chinese clarinets and saxophones. Some were lousy, but some were good and could be a very good option for a student. A lot better than any Chinese clarinet or sax I've seen before.
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Author: Joarkh
Date: 2009-10-13 06:03
Yup, that's the one.
Joar
Clarinet and saxophone teacher, clarinet freelancer
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Author: buffetfan
Date: 2010-02-01 09:34
YEAR,
In China, many students would choose to import the clarinet, for example, BUFFET, YAMAHA. But I think the instruments made in China are not all bad, some good quality. Prices are cheap, can give students more choices.Joarkh wrote:
> Yup, that's the one.
>
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Author: Franklin Liao
Date: 2010-02-01 15:35
We must keep in mind however that... Chinese manufacturing has its limits.
One example with Chinese manufacturing limitation lies with the issue of plating. Generally speaking, Chinese manufacturers do not have all the chemical formulations that are available elsewhere, and as such cannot achieve the quality that one might get from Germany.
At any rate, I will definitely read up about Jinbao and see what I can find about them. Their quoted rate per horn is damn close to the material cost for us here to make anything out of billets.
EDIT2:
I have read an account about Saxes made by Jinbao just now (in simplified Chinese moonspeak) . Overall, Chinese instrument market is not clear at all, as there's too many brands popping out and saturating their entire market with offering of instruments done in various qualities. There are a few brands that have stood out nevertheless, although it'd be hard for us to make an assessment on the Chinese brands.
The brands that tend to excel would be foreign invest firms... I suppose you can count Yamaha as such too, for the QC isn't done in China. J.Michael is one of such brands mentioned that seem to make decent instruments.
EDIT:
The Jinbao rosewood is claimed to be a Buffet copy. Apparently they do their own manufacturing (as in they have their own factory), which not all Chinese Clarinet brands do.
EDIT3:
The Chinese would rather opt a Buffet or the Yamaha if they're serious about playing the instrument, from what it appears on Baidu's own bulletin board. Their indigenous horns are mostly deemed as a "first horn" for children.
EDIT4:
Burring is a sore thumb mentioned by Chinese regarding their own indigenous made instruments. Deburring and edge finishing are often skipped out in China, which would leave you with the undercut toneholes that will cut straight into your flesh in more 'careless' cases. The other issue that have been mentioned is the quality of the finishing on the pads. It does seem however, that the Chinese made products are improving with the lifetime of the pads and the reliability of the glue used to secure those pads.
Post Edited (2010-02-01 20:36)
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Author: buffetfan
Date: 2010-02-01 17:20
Year，My Dear Friends.
As a Chinese clarinet enthusiast, I am very lucky to be here. See the point of view of you, I would like to express some of my heart. Of domestic product quality on the one hand it is worth looking forward to on the other hand, we also filled with anxiety.
From the big side, domestic production levels after the clarinet much better than in the past, although it still can not compete with foreign luxury brands. On the other hand because we do not trust their own products, which leads to our clarinet better in foreign than domestic sales. I am now the user BUFFET R13, I am also looking forward to when our own country's production can be used on the instrument.
My English is very poor, I hope you can understand what I mean.
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