Student Clarinet - To Buy or Rent?
Brenda LaFollette
My ten year old will be starting 5th grade band. Needless to say we need a
clarinet. My friends are talking pawn shops but I've seen good prices on
the net. The school is offering rental for $25 I don't know yet if it will
applied to the purchase price and if the price will be list or retail.
Please help with advice if you can.
Thanks!
Brenda
Mark Charette
In most cases, for student line horn (Buffet B-12, Vito 74XX, Yamaha
3X), it is better to buy via mail-order. The prices will be in the
$300-$400 (USD) range, and the horn will be under warrantee. If you
rent to own you'll most probably have to pay close to list price.
If your 10 year old doesn't continue you'd still be able to re-sell
the clarinet for a reasonable price; it'd still cost less overall
than the $25/mo for rental.
--
Mark Charette | "This is a very democratic organization, so let's
char...@mika.com | take a vote. All those who disagree with me, raise
MIKA Systems, Inc.| their hands." - Eugene Ormandy
Webmaster of http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet, The Clarinet Pages
D.B.
Is that $25/Month, or $25 for the school year? Some schools do the $25 for
the year as money towards the yearly checkup to make sure that the
instrument is in working order for the next student. $25 month is very, very
high if it's through the school. Go for the Buffet E-12 - very good student
instrument.
--
David Blumberg
ree...@erols.com
Brenda LaFollette wrote in message <6joh0j$f...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>...
>My ten year old will be starting 5th grade band. Needless to say we need a
>clarinet. My friends are talking pawn shops but I've seen good prices on
>the net. The school is offering rental for $25 I don't know yet if it will
>applied to the purchase price and if the price will be list or retail.
>Please help with advice if you can.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Brenda
>
>
Richard Fenno
My band director in the 7th grade--a remarkable man--told us that there
were NO student instruments. These instruments were designed to steer kids
to other outlets, by making music making too difficult to be worth the
effort. (Not to mention what happened to Conn! Oy!)
Now that it's 35 years later (yikes!) I have to agree with him. My advice
to parents of an aspiring musician is:
1. Find an older instrument with some quality to it. Take a pro with you
when shopping. Avoid the Bundy route.
2. Get the lessons. It's worth the investment, and it makes the kid think
that practicing is important to justify the price of the lessons. If they
start practicing just for kicks, the kid is hooked, probably for life.
RF
============
In article <6joh0j$f...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>, "Brenda LaFollette"
GFunk371
Actually, you can go both ways...lots of music stores have "rent with pay", so
you are actually paying off the instrument while your student is learning how
to play. If they don't feel like playing anymore, there really isn't any loss.
I remember when I started playing in 5th grade. My parents paid about $15-25
a month...I think it took about 2 years to pay it off. This is definetly a
good way to go if it's one of your options!
いいいいいいいいいい
Rob - TOB Chapter XIII (Group 3)
Middletown High School
Clarinet Section Leader
c/o 1999
D.B.
I meant the B-12 ($300 VS. $1000 for the E-12)!
--
David Blumberg
ree...@erols.com
D.B. wrote in message <6jpeg5$l2f$1...@winter.news.erols.com>...
>Is that $25/Month, or $25 for the school year? Some schools do the $25 for
>the year as money towards the yearly checkup to make sure that the
>instrument is in working order for the next student. $25 month is very,
very
>high if it's through the school. Go for the Buffet E-12 - very good student
>instrument.
>--
>David Blumberg
>ree...@erols.com
>
>
>Brenda LaFollette wrote in message
<6joh0j$f...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>...
Cathy B
I would suggest carefully reviewing any "rent with the option to buy" agreements. I recently discovered, after years of paying "rental" (and finally decided to "buy") that there was a "carrying" charge of 1% (of the "replacement" value) per month for each month of rental. Considering that the replacement value was arbitrarily assigned as the same amount for ALL used rental instruments and that the value was high, I was in for a shock when I asked for my "pay-off." For what I paid for this used instrument over the years, I could have purchased a new one. Unfortunately, I trusted the music store representatives to explain this aspect of the contract and didn't read the fine print on the back when I signed up. Needless, to say, I would have purchased a new instrument outright, had I known what this rental was going to cost me in the long run.
Cathy B
Reply to: Has...@email.msn.com
lec...@unicom.net
In article <6joh0j$f...@dfw-ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>,
"Brenda LaFollette" <lafo...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> clarinet. My friends are talking pawn shops but I've seen good prices on
> the net. The school is offering rental for $25 I don't know yet if it will
> applied to the purchase price and if the price will be list or retail.
> Please help with advice if you can.
I went through the same situation with my own "ten year old" a year and a half
ago. We bought a Bundy from Wichita Band. My repairman had suggested buying
one of the clarinets he routinely buys, overhauls, and resells, but said that
he couldn't come close to the price WBIC was offering at the time for a new
instrument. (I have no connection with them other than being very satisfied
with the purchase.)
Here's the point, though, of my chiming in on this thread ... If you go with
a student horn, seriously consider spending a little more to get a good mouth
piece. I had been planning on doing so in my daughter's case from the
beginning and then, before I could do so, she knocked the tip off that plastic
Bundy mouthpiece. I stopped by my repairman's shop with my own horn and picked
up a couple of good, used mouthpieces (a Vandoren B-45 and a Selmer (not a
Bundy)). I then let her try them out and pick the one she preferred. There was
an almost instantaneous improvement in her intonation and overall sound. And
that led in turn to more readiness to practice.
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