Need Ideas for a Lousy Clarinet

[Gandalfe]

Alright brain trust, need some ideas. I purchased a refurbed Yamaha Advantage (student?) clarinet for the custom neck and bell the other day. I figured I'd gift the intact clarinet that is like new looking and with a wonderful case to a new student and keep the fabricated parts. So I finally got around to play testing it and OMG it doesn't play ... at all. Should I:

- trash it
- gift it to a tech to repair and sell
- give it to a mom for her daughter and have her get it checked out by a tech
- other ideas?

Note, I am not a tech, nor do I play one on TV. So me fixing it is a non-starter. Discuss.

 

[Tony Fairbridge]

If it doesn't play at all, as long as there is no obvious major physical damage it's unlikely to be anything major. Get somebody who knows their way around clarinet mechanics to have a look at it. It could well be a trivial matter.

 

[pete]

Yes, I'm avoiding studying for my next certification by posting here.

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Hmmm. "Custom neck."

Looks like the Advantage series has a student model that's plastic and an intermediate model that's wood.

If you've got the time and cash to have a tech just take a look at it and find out how much repairs would be, I'd do that. Then find out how much a replacement bell and barrel are. If it's not an outrageous amount, I think gifting it to the daughter of mom would be nice.

I hit ebay sold ads. Looks like most of the 400AD models are selling in the $300 to $400 range, with a low of $278 and a high of $744. The 200AD has a wide range of prices from a low of $137 and a high of $400. I think the prices are clustering around $200 to $250. I don't see any particular reason why the $400 one was $400. The $744 one was repadded.

 

[Gandalfe]

Spot on youse guys.

So, red-faced here, I tried the instrument with the mouthpiece that came with it rather than my fav and voila, it plays just fine albeit a bit stuffy. My mouthpiece was too loose on the instrument. I was surprised that it was so bad because the tech it came from is actually a really fine one. BTW, when I play my wife's fav clarinet it sounds stuffy to me compared the the R13 Festival she donated to me. So yeah, it's probably fine as a gift to an aspiring young clarinetist. Sorry for the noise folks.

 

[Mike M]

FWIW: I find leaky clarinets much easier to diagnose than saxophones as the pads/tone holes are easy to get to.
As far as a loose tenon connection I use "dental floss" to tighten it a bit. It's a temp fix but it works.
I tend to "geek out" a bit by attempting to fix my leaky (when one becomes) clar/saxes....mostly my "banger-horns".
I purchased a leak light from Music Medic and also use "tinsel" (you know, from an xmass tree) to check for leaks; tinsel: open a key pad, put a sliver of tinsel under the pad and close, pull out and feel for space or tension, go around the whole pad....)
Using both the leak light and tinsel I can find most leaks.