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$12,000 QC... not.

I posted on SOTW but thoguht to post here too. There are a few photos of the entire instrument there if anyone wants to see those.

Anyway, I recently repaired two Buffet basset horns. One of them had a not-that-tiny hole right through the wood. It looked like the tone hole cutter just got too low and being so close to the middle socket, it exactly got to it and had a hole there. When playing it was pretty obvious there was a problem (why it was brought) so a big miss in the factory...

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Perhaps...

...so few of these get made that they aren't subjected to the same scrutiny as are the mainstream products that pass down the normal "production line"? Just a guess, but it's odd that such a defect would have gone unnoticed during the short time that a typical Bb soprano horn would be played during "playtesting".

Then too, basset horns are unlikely to get much playing time except by those who "need" to play them. I'd venture a guess to say that 99.999% of clarinet players have never even touched one, much less played one.

I've used two basset horns in my lifetime, both property of Washington University "In Saint Louis" (as it is commonly called to keep the college football fans straight - the other Washington University ("Not In Saint Louis"?) is the one in the Pac 10 or whatever). Both were Selmer horns, both appeared to be virtually unplayed, both were over six or seven years old, and one was still in shipping mode (with polyethylene bags and wedges under the keys) when I first picked it up.

Now, here was a school with a serious music department (serious enough to stage a Mozart opera - see note below) with enough money to purchase two of the damn'd things at the same time, but which never even opened one of them up to make sure that they got a working piece of goods.

Go figure...

NOTE:

What puzzles me even more is why we pronounce the name of the wunderkindt as "Moat-zart" rather than "Mo-zart". It has been over fifty years since I took any classes in the German language, but I don't remember any pronunciation rules that specify "Z after A when before T". Does anyone know why this is the case?
 
NOTE:

What puzzles me even more is why we pronounce the name of the wunderkindt as "Moat-zart" rather than "Mo-zart". It has been over fifty years since I took any classes in the German language, but I don't remember any pronunciation rules that specify "Z after A when before T". Does anyone know why this is the case?

It's Austrian, not German, but that's close to irrelevant.

In German Z is pronounced with a slight t sound to start with. Not like the US zeee but almost tzz compressed into the time of a single letter. I guess it carried through, unlike the correct pronunciation of the o - which should be more like the oa of oar.
 
I would be interested in a description of the repair to fix the tone hole problem. Photos would be an added bonus as well.
 
I would be interested in a description of the repair to fix the tone hole problem. Photos would be an added bonus as well.
I'd second that.

Oh. Back to the earlier point SOTSDO made about the 99.999%, I wonder how many people can tell the difference between a basset horn and a basset clarinet. Without checking Wikipedia, that is.
 
Unfortunately, I do...

...having played the basset horn for about six jobs over the years. I've fooled around with basset clarinets on many occasions (sort of like having a transistorized bass clarinet), but never saw the logic in owning one.

One of the most satisfying jobs I ever worked was playing basset horn and getting paid for it. I didn't have to provide the horn, and they paid for an overhaul on the one I chose to use. Hard to argue with that kind of arrangement.

Of course, I'm the guy who would pile up all of those alto clarinets and make a big bonfire...
 
In German Z is pronounced with a slight t sound to start with. Not like the US zeee but almost tzz compressed into the time of a single letter. I guess it carried through, unlike the correct pronunciation of the o - which should be more like the oa of oar.

Is this different in Hoch German from what it is in Platte German? I think that my instructor taught the Bavarian style, but it's been a long time.
 
You would think their quality control would pick it up .. depending of course what "quality" control" is defined as. But with these top of the line, expensive instruments you would think each one would get a thorough review before leaving the factory.

I would really love to talk to a quality control inspector for Buffet or Selmer Paris
 
I know F A about basset horns and basset clarinets...

Chris

Oh dear, I am now worrying that people think I was just being a bit weird with my post above.

It was an attempt at humour...

Basset horn keyed to F
Basset clarinet keyed to A

It is never a good sign, if you have to explain your own jokes!......

Perhaps the next one will be funny.

Chris
 
Oh dear, I am now worrying that people think I was just being a bit weird with my post above.

It was an attempt at humour...

Basset horn keyed to F
Basset clarinet keyed to A

It is never a good sign, if you have to explain your own jokes!......

Perhaps the next one will be funny.

Chris

I thought it was funny :)
 
In German Z is pronounced with a slight t sound to start with. Not like the US zeee but almost tzz compressed into the time of a single letter. I guess it carried through, unlike the correct pronunciation of the o - which should be more like the oa of oar.

Is this different in Hoch German from what it is in Platte German? I think that my instructor taught the Bavarian style, but it's been a long time.

Round here the dialect is Bayrisch or Boarisch (Bavarian), not Plattdeutsch, which is spoken in the north east. Los of other dialects to mess with.

Local accent when they speak Hochdeutsch (High German or international standard Geman) is very different from further north. No sibilance, G is G, not ch and so on. More guttural, less singsong. Some say Austrian is closer to Bavarian that Hochdeutsch.

I'm no expert but as far as I know the local pronunciation of z is the same as in Austrian. And could well be different from the northern pronunciation.

Just the same as Texans and Bostonians, regional accents vary a lot....

And to crown it all, here 5 is not fünf, but fok.
 
You've never heard the one about what comes between "fear" and "sex"?


Fünf


I told this one to my stand partner once, at performance, as the conductor was taking the podium. She missed most of the first movement.
 
You'll not be surprised how many people around here choose a registration number with 666 in it.... Especially the young lads. The Biblical connotations seem to have been superseded.

I checked with the kids about Z. They're in their teens and grew up here. No alternative pronunciation given for Z, always with the leading t (like a grace note). Interesting was the O. If it has a T following it, the pronunciation is O as in hot. Otherwise it's much closer to the oa sound in oar (not the oa in boat) or the o sound in ore.
 
You'll not be surprised how many people around here choose a registration number with 666 in it.... Especially the young lads. The Biblical connotations seem to have been superseded.

I checked with the kids about Z. They're in their teens and grew up here. No alternative pronunciation given for Z, always with the leading t (like a grace note). Interesting was the O. If it has a T following it, the pronunciation is O as in hot. Otherwise it's much closer to the oa sound in oar (not the oa in boat) or the o sound in ore.

Interesting. So does a Z count as a T with regard to the pronunciation of the O? i.e. is it the letter T or sound of T that alters the pronunciation of the O?
 
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