The keys are smooth, not rigid, under the player’s fingers. It’s responsive and relatively easy to produce a sound with. One reason the Buffet B12 is a great clarinet to start on is it’s highly playable. That’s why many students who begin with an instrument that’s not easy to play give up early in their learning. But when a clarinet fails you because it’s poorly made, that can be very discouraging indeed. Yes, it’s normal to stumble with technique in the beginning-some persistence is required when learning to play any instrument. Starting out with a hard-to-play clarinet can be a similarly trying experience. Those differences would probably discourage you from ever buying from IKEA again, or at least from doing your own assembly. And the instruction manual doesn’t quite match the product.

The screws bend when you try to insert them. Now imagine the same experience, but this time the components are poorly built and don’t fit together properly. Have you ever assembled a complicated piece of IKEA furniture? Let’s say you mistakenly used the wrong type of screws for part of the project and then had to disassemble that part and start again. Why does this matter for someone’s first clarinet? Some student clarinets, especially the cheaper variety, are harder to play than others. Play-abilityīefore you go shopping for a clarinet at the lowest possible price, there’s something you need to know about play-ability, or ease of play: Of course, if a few hundred dollars is more than you’re hoping to spend, there are several other decent student clarinets available for less.

This is one way to get a great instrument at a bargain. Expect a new model, if you can still find one for sale, to cost around $1,000.īut you may be able to find a Buffet B12 clarinet used and in good condition for just a few hundred dollars. When this clarinet was still in production it was priced at the higher end. If you’re at all budget conscious-and I know I am-then no doubt price is a major factor in your buying decision.Īnd not surprisingly, given the prestige of the Buffet Crampon name, the B12 isn’t a cheap instrument.

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