Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2017-07-16 01:53
I must've beem blindfolded or something, not noticing the sublimal, neverending debate on wether grenadilla is a decent material or not. Now, here in Germany, we have few excellent clarinet makers that will store their wood at least 5 years - given that in the "good old times" clarinet makers used store it much, much longer, this might be just the minimum to work with. I've already found the answer, at least for myself.
You see, I've made the mistake of buying a Buffet RC back in 2012. I'm not even unhappy, but every day I think about it more, I realise that Buffet (and some other big manufactures) are after nothing but mass-production and maximizing their margins, which I wouln't even critisise if it wasn't for the catastrophic consequences.
First of all, why do clarinets more and more sound the same? That, at least, is what my teacher claims and what I've come to believe too, especially as german and boehm can have such different characters, but this mostly applies to older instruments.
The answer would be computer-guided machining and extremely short production cycles, among with way too young grenadilla. Always. Maybe the Buffet Divine gets something better.
And while there is a huge variety, I could find my RC quickly replaced with some Yamaha or even some no-name wood clarinet, if it wasn't for the decent keywork and intonation, both of which are naturally expected from any instrument - otherwise it's not even worth considering
Secondly, why are there so many qualtiy differences within models, at least at Buffet? Playing a '15-16 RC from some girl whose teacher recommended it too her, I was quite depressed. Why was it much smother? In the end, I didn't have to regret owning my RC too much, as both instrument's tone wasn't stellar, but not terrible either, these instruments just showed too many differences for my liking. Well, it's no mystery any more that the "craftsmen" do exactly 0 real testing of their instruments, so you better go to a big store to do it for them.
Thirdly, what is the definition of a well-made instrument? Is it a flawless keywork, is it an excellent material, is the sum of the all parts more than one single part (sounds better in german, i guess)? Quality craftmanship will always have to live with a certain degree of creativity and compensation for flaws made during the long process of creating a clarinet. This is were mass-production fails, but wouldn't - and in fact didn't - have to, if it wasn't for the continous profit maximiuation. Many companies might have had people specialized in selecting and fine-tuning instruments, but apparently companies can do without them. Am I exaggerating now? I'm afraid no.
My teacher and I are terrified by the "Schreiber" epidemic (a company belonging to Buffet, making german clarints). These instruments have no character, there is 0% soul in them, at least their intonation and keywork are ok (notice something?).
And this, I'm afraid, is the main reason why grenadilla can't express it's beauty any more. So many people are fooled into buying an expensive, wooden clarinet because of their expectations and teacher's recommondations, but does a name make a beautifully sounding instrument? It doesn't, and I won't care anymore whether my clarinet is made in china or out of hard rubber, as long as it plays well. It took my years to be able to discern different grenadilla qualities and timbres of different instruments and the only exceptional instruments I've seen were of small, individual make (i.e. Wurlitzer, Leitner & Kraus) - small businesses with no huge technological possibilities - and still they don't take 3x of what I pay for a "professional" instrument from a bigger company that can easily produce at half the costs per unit, probably even less.
Most people will just recognize the big name and the fact whether or not the instrument has certain features and then, way too quickly spend their money. I did the same mistake.
Also, R&D for more innovative materials is hindered by a terrible conservatism among clarinet players. Tom Ridenour might be changing the game to some extent, at least in the USA.
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