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Help with which bass clarinet to buy

Hello

My daughter wants to start learning the bass clarinet next year at school. She is 12 years old. I've found two used clarinet for sale closer to us. I can't see them in person because they are still hours away. Which is better? Similar asking price.I don't know much about instruments. Will they need repairing since sitting for so long? The Selmer is 1980s and not used for years and years. The Jupiter is newer and not used last 5 years. Thank you so much.
 

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Does she play any soprano clarinet now? School bands often have bass clarinets to lend out.
Hi. They don't have one for her to borrow next year. They are taken, so we are looking for a used one over paying for a rental. She currently plays a small clarinet at school.
 
The pictures are a bit blurry. Do you have the model numbers? The Selmer is quite possibly a professional model. The Jupiter, probably not. Either way, depending on condition, you may be looking at $600 to $1,000 to get them in playing shape.
 
The silver coloured one looks like my clarinet which is a Selmer that had sat unplayed for 15 - 20 years. It had lots of discolouration on it and it took some elbow grease and Silvo to get it clean, but now it looks great. I actually enjoyed doing the polishing and then found out from the repair shop that it is better not to use Silvo as it removes metal, however the shop owner offered me all the work I could stand, if I liked polishing. ;) Cost me 160 or so to get it in tip top shape mechanically at the shop.

My completely wild guess is that a 12 year old girl might have a bit of trouble with the volume of air needed to play the Bass C.

The brass coloured one looks nice and I like the case more than mine, as it looks like the parts are not left to rattle around with each other like mine, but it is two piece which is just one more thing to break when assembling it. I suspect the one piece case would be heavier.

Just some thoughts.
 
> ... it took some elbow grease and Silvo to get it clean
I'll give my standard warning to anyone reading this that you need to make sure that you're using the right polish for the right plating. As an example, don't use silver polish on nickel-plated keywork. That Jupiter almost definitely has nickel-plated keys. You also want to use non-abrasive, non-tarnishing polish.

> The brass coloured one
There's a brass colored one?

> My completely wild guess is that a 12 year old girl might have a bit of trouble with the volume of air needed to play the Bass C.
Three things. First, Jupiter doesn't make a low C bass. Second, the Selmer looks like a low Eb horn to me. (If I'm wrong, please correct me. I think I counted the tone holes right.) Third, I'm going to pick on you a bit, Flyboy.

I'll first mention that the comment is just off-topic for this thread. It's about choosing one horn or another, not whether the student is capable of playing the instrument. Second, if the student is really committed and has asked the Powers That Be -- which should be parent, teacher, and band director -- if she could play the instrument and has gotten approval, it's a tad insulting for some random person to say that the student isn't/won't be capable of playing the instrument.

Anyhow, answering Elaine's questions ...

* I don't have any experience playing Jupiter instruments. I have played a bunch of Selmer USA (I'm pretty sure it's a Selmer USA horn) and Selmer Paris horns and they're pretty decent quality, so I'd go with the Selmer. Again, I'm noting that I only have one picture of each horn to go by and that's it.
* I'd say that both instruments will at least need to have new pads installed, however it does depend on how well the horn was stored, etc. I can't see any show-stopping damage in either picture. I'll again mention that I only have two small, somewhat out-of-focus, pictures to go by.
 
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