Clarinets? Clarinetters

[EscapeRoomToTheSun]

Aibu for posting in aibu? Yes.

Can anyone tell me if a boosey and hawkes brand clarinet is any good? My husband used to play and often reminisces, I would love to get him one for Christmas but definitely can't afford new. There's some on ebay for like £40?! Is that because they're shite?

It's because they're second hand, probably. All my makes had b&h clarinets at school, seemed OK. Don't forget to buy new reeds, and get it serviced/cleaned if possible. What a thoughtful gift!

They’re typically student makes so the sort of thing you would buy someone starting to learn. Not necessarily shite but you would typically upgrade to something better if you wanted to go on to study to grade 8 or at university or something.

So I guess it depends what you mean by “used to play” - if he was in the school orchestra then I’m sure it would be fine. If he went on to the Juilliard or something he’d probably want something better.

disclaimer: I played sax rather than clarinet and I wasn’t very good.

Another option would be to give him sone months of hire from someone like musicalinstrumenthire.com/clarinet-hire/

They hire good quality instruments, fully serviced and maintained, that sound really nice straight from the box. Then if he loves it you can get the initial hire cost off the cost of the instrument.

Ah he always wanted to play sax because it was sexier so at least you've got that going for you!

There's a yamaha as well, I'm sure our pianos at school were yamaha.

I still tootle away on my Boosey and Hawkes Emperor. Got to grade 8 on it many years ago. Opt for wood rather than plastic, also double check that it's a Bb clarinet before you buy (by far the most common, but other versions exist) and get it serviced, as lots of ebay models won't have been played for a while.

Budget for at least doubling that cost for a good service, and act fast as most woodwind technicians need booking in advance. You might be lucky and find that your local music service does repairs and service, as those are cheaper.