Author: Eric Pao
Date: 2018-11-10 15:46
I really purchased the $300 Chinese rosewood clarinet recently. I have an 30 yrs old Buffer RC and ever played it for several years. My daughter starts her middle school this year. Teachers ask them to buy $1200 Buffet or Yamaha clarinet for the band. I gave my daughter the Buffet RC to save the expense. However, I was thinking to buy a cheap clarinet to play with her. I thought she would make a big progress if I do that.
Except my RC, I had another “king” brand clarinet from France. The king clarinet was poorly manufactured and hardly played compared. I decided to give it up.
I started to search the inexpensive clarinets on amazon and eBay. First, I skipped any plastic clarinet at the range $100. Finally, I bought the rosewood clarinet just depending on 2 positive reviews on amazon and lot photos on Taobao.
The shipping was very fast. 3 days shipping from China to Houston.
I did not use any device to test every pitch of the new instrument. I played it with my daughter. The sound of the rosewood clarinet is incredibly amazing. The high tone is bright and clear, but not harsh. I would say the sound like a young girl. I did not know the quality of the included mouthpiece. I use my old mouthpiece and Rico reed to do the test. And, the clarinet is very easy to play in all tones. For the price, I am very satisfied.
However, there are few issues on the clarinet. The keys are rigid, assembled well and very beautiful. When you take a close look, the polish is just acceptanle. Most welding parts are acceptable, but several welding ends are kind of sharp. I use a sandpaper to solve the problem.
The A key is too high to obstruct my left index finger when playing Fa to La. The A key is really a big problem. Finally, I unscrew the A key and bend it to fit my personal habit. I used sandpaper to polish its back side and cut part cork beneath it. Even though A key is very rigid, I could bend it little to fix the problem. Now, I am joyful to play the new rosewood clarinet as fast as I was used to be.
Chinese manufactured products is cheap and always have some minor issues. You have to fix them yourself. If could, they would be great with less expense.
The rosewood clarinet sounds beyond my expectation. If you are going to solve the problems I mentioned, I really recommend it for its good looking and satisfied sound. You may ask me why not buying an used clarinet. First, I could accept an used violin.. , but not any used clarinet. And the labor cost is very high, I would not spend money to replace leather pads .. on an used and cheap clarinet when I get them.
As I knew, the CNC is very popular in Chinese manufacture. Actually, Chinese would partly copy the best clarinets in the world. Because of benefits from modern CNC and lots new tools, they are easily to manufacture not bad clarinet. I ever talked to the seller to discuss the clarinets. He told me 70％ clarinets are manufactured in China, and 80％ of Chinese clarinets are from He-Be province. He said African ebony is better than rosewood clarinet at the similar price. There is big Chinese company in Africa to process the ebony for all the clarinets in He-Be. He guarantee the source of ebony is as same as Buffet. However, Buffet invests more processing on the woods before making clarinets. In my personal opinion, I think I am glad to buy a Chinese clarinet less than $400-$500 for fun. More than $500, I would like to consider others.
Post Edited (2018-11-11 07:57)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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