Arbiter Bb Pro Sound

Clari-Netty

Clari-Netty

hiya,

i'm new to the forum this is my first post, so sorry if its in the wrong place. i am also new to the Clarinet. i played for two yeas many years ago (about 15) and have decided to get back into it as i loved it so much then. i have just bought a second hand clarinet from ebay, that seems to be in good order i am waiting for it to arrive to give it a full once over. although the seller assures me its airtight, good corks, pads and everything

anyway its a Arbiter Bb pro sound ebonite body, i've not heard of "Arbiter" have any of you...??and what is it likly to be like. the honest truth. i'm not to bothered that its not top of the field as if i stick to it i have full intentions of investing in a quality buffet R13 but didnt want to throw money away if i give up(which i sorely hope i do not)

if i've done this right you can se a pic of it here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=260499565475

anyway thanks again any comments are welcome
 
Welcome to the forum!

A better link might be http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260499565475

I've not heard of that make/model and the picture is a bit small for me, but it was only $45 US. That's not bad, if the horn is otherwise in good shape.

Just remember that ebonite = plastic = student model. Now, there are lots of nice plastic clarinets out there and I've owned quite a few, but they were still ... student horns.
 
Thank you and Yeah thats the one, i know its a plastic student model but i didnt want to pay too much for a quality instrument straight of the bat and then find 6 months down the line its in the attick:oops: looking around this and other forums tonight i have found that arbiter i think primarily make sax and arent particularly well rated, :emoji_rolling_eyes: but for that money it was hard to pass up.

do you have any tips as to how to clean it up, maintain it etc. make sure its all in good order. (i know about wipe throughs and the general daily stuff) but is it poss to restore this myself.? what about sanitiseing it? oiling keys? speaking to the seller it appears to be in good order he says its been played daily and recently had new pads and corks. i can see the keys are tarnished is there any way to clean this up? i dont think i'm experienced enough to try to take off the keys so if i sent in in for a service how much would that cost me? if its too much i may resell and get a new one

sorry for all the questions i am all excited regardless cant wait for it to arrive and get my hands, and lips on it lol
 
Welcome aboard. I've seen the name ARBITER before . . . on a low-end soprano saxophone, but not on a clarinet. So, I'm assuming some company imports those clarinets from Asia, slaps their brand name on them and sells them at a low price. No harm in that, though. Many folks do that.

Maintenance isn't a big deal, really. You can swab it out after every playing, but I'm one who doesn't think it nis necessary except with wood clarinets. No sanitizing issues either as long as you are the only one playing it. The mouthpiece is what needs to be cleaned routinely.

Keep the corks on the joints lubricated and play it until it blows funny, then have atech check it for leaks. Other than that, enjoy it. DAVE
 
After you've taken some lessons, worked on your long tones, and start to develop your embouchure, your instructor will probably have you replace the mouthpiece with a decent one. I've heard people say that as much as 80% of your sound quality comes from you and the mouthpiece.

If the instrument is poorly made, you will find out rather quickly and once confirmed by your instructor, you might move to a better instrument. If you have to to put more than a hundred dollars into repair, the money would be better spent on a quality instrument.

Best case, you will only have to tweak the instrument a bit and playing will become a joy. Here's a tip. Start with method books from your local second hand book store and work from there.
 
I definitely concur with getting an inexpensive horn and spending the extra on lessons. As Gandalfe mentions, tho, if the horn you picked up needs serious repair (or "restoration", as you put it), I strongly recommend that you get something different, even if it's a Buffet B12 or Yamaha YCL-20 student horn: you can get these, overhauled, from a dealer for under $300 US and they're decent horns.

Check out http://www.musicremasters.com/clarinuts/pages/ClarinetItems.asp. These are good prices and they're warrantied instruments.

Mouthpieces are also a concern and I found -- through hard experience -- a really good instrument will sound really bad and be difficult to play if you have a bad mouthpiece. I was fairly fond of my Vandoren B40 and that's all of a $70 US mouthpiece. I'm extremely happy with my Selmer C85, but that's a $125 mouthpiece. In comparison, the Rico Royal is a $18 mouthpiece: doesn't mean it's bad, but probably not the best. At least it's a name brand!

Reeds? My favorite have been Vandoren, just because they were the best quality ones when I played. All reeds are now much more simular than when I played, so I'd just go with a name brand that's inexpensive. Hey, get some Rico Royals! Strength? It depends on how you play. You probably should start with a 2.5.
 
pete said:
Mouthpieces are also a concern and I found -- through hard experience -- a really good instrument will sound really bad and be difficult to play if you have a bad mouthpiece. (...)

Reeds? (...)
Click to expand...
From own experience I can warmly recommend the Fobes Debut or Behn Ouverture Mouthpiece with Mitchell Lurie #3 (they run a notch softer than Vandoren, so it compares to a VD 2.5) reeds. Of all the 10-odd boxes I went through, I got maybe one or two duds, all in all; they play straight out of the box.
 
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