How much does a clarinet cost?

[MrsCurly]

A neighbour has a clarinet to sell - suitable for a beginner and nothing fancy. Have no idea what these things cost and how much I should expect to pay. Can anyone offer any advice??

Thank you!

look on ebay for similar - you can filter your search on sold items to show how much they go for... you can get a beginner clarinet brand new for about £100

£2-400 for something more reasonable...

bear in mind that if it is old / not been used for a while / wooden / etc. it might need work doing to it... If old it could also be of the old style with a different fingering etc.

unless it has been used recently I would be wary about buying it...

talk to the folks at a good music store local to you for more advice (or www.johnpacker.co.uk is a good online / offline store)

You wouldn't get much decent for £100 I wouldn't have thought?

Yamaha 'student' model is £460.

What model is it? The beginner's preferred model seems to be Buffet B12 (there is an Yamaha also on a similar price bracket). We were lucky to mention that we were looking for one to someone we knew and got one for £120 only used for 3 months. We didn't suggest the price, told the seller to give us their price and accepted what they asked for as it is around £350 brand new.

It depends on age and condition too. The plastic boosey & hawkes my DS is using is probably worth about £5 (most of which is the new reed). DD's clarinet model costs about £1300 brand new.
Have a look in a music shop, if you have one near you, to get a feel of second hand costs.

Thanks very much for this!

Buffet B12 new £460, good second hand just serviced £280. Watch out a service can set you back £60-80.
I ended up buying new for DD, because when we went and tried the clarinets the sound she made with the new buffet B12 was considerably better than a new Yamaha or any of the second hand ones. It can be a horses for courses situation.

I'd advise talking to your child's teacher and maybe negotiating loan of your neighbour's clarinet so the teacher can have a look. There's nothing worse than a child's first experience of an instrument being ruined by an instrument that needs to be serviced and is hard to get a decent sound from. If your child has lessons at a state school or is involved with music service activities, you should be able to buy a new instrument minus VAT thanks to the Assisted Instrument Purchase scheme - it saved us hundreds when DD1 needed an upgrade on her trumpet!

I managed to get an as-new B12 on gumtree for £85, but it was a risk. It did pay off though!

We paid £250 for a hardly used Buffet B12 for DD, shes in the school & council band & plays concerts.