I was at a garage sale last year and my mom saw this clarinet. She rushed home to tell me the person was going to sell it for $50 dollars I went to look at it and didn't know what to say but that we shouldn't buy it because I didn't know weather it was good or not. As it turns out I asked my teacher about the clarinet and told him it was a Signet, he told me it was a steal and should of bought it. So now I want to know what the top brands are for clarinets. I know that Signet, Noblet, Selmer, and Buffet are great brands but what else is out there?

Posted the lisyt below in another thread earlier.

There are other old brands which either got brought up or companies went bankrupt.
see conn-selmer history page

Brands that don't exist any more
Conn, Beuscher, King , Martin, Boosey and Hawks, and lots of others

four main or largest brands - Yamaha , Buffet , Selmer and leblanc.

Selmer-Conn which is own by Steinway distribute Selmer Paris clarinets and leblanc clarinets in the US.

Buffet - Paris http://www.buffet-crampon.com/en/instruments.php?mode=productsList&cid=10
Yamaha - Japan http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/winds/ different ranges of instruments are available in different countries
Selmer -Conn http://www.selmer.com/
Leblanc - http://www.gleblanc.com/instruments/index.php

Then there is a range of other manufacturers like
Amati - Czeck republic http://www.amati.cz/english/production/instruments/Clarinets.htm
Juptiter - Taiwan http://www.jupitermusic.com/jbi_instruments.aspx?cId=21&lId=1&sId=1
Orsi - Italy http://www.orsi-wind-instruments.it/
keilwerth/schrieber - Germany http://www.schreiber-keilwerth.com/englisch/schreiber/instruments/zs_clarinets.htm
Blessing ??? http://www.ekblessing.com/prd_saxnclarinet.htm#clarinet
Weril - Brasil http://www.weril.com/ImageGallery/ImageList.aspx?id=c560967d-1db5-45a1-b971-70927d58061b&m=1&c=fd1b840b-ae5c-4e7d-9339-d10f3fbce2f5
Antigua - Taiwan http://www.antiguawinds.com/products/clarinets.html
Cannonball - Taiwan/USA http://www.cannonballmusic.com/piacere.php
Trevor James - Taiwan/UK http://www.trevorjames.com/2006/clarinets/index.htm


Plus an increasing number of shop brands (i.e a shop or company buys from Taiwan or China and gets the instruments badged)

Then a few small speciality manufacturers like
Stephen Fox http://www.sfoxclarinets.com/Intro.html
Howarth http://www.howarth.uk.com/
Bernard Eppelsheim a specialist of large instruments - makes a contra bass clarinet
http://www.eppelsheim.com/kontrabass_klarinette.php?lang=en

backun (sold by leblanc) http://www.backunmusical.com/clarinets.html

and a few others
plus a lot of Chinese factories churning out cheap plastic clarinets.
Few Indian factories turning out clarinets as well.


<Added>

Brands that don't exist any more
Conn, Beuscher, King , Martin, Boosey and Hawks, and lots of others

Forgot Wurlitzer, Evette and Schaffer(part of Buffet)


Sorry Wurlitzer still do make clarinets
http://www.wurlitzerclarinets.com/flash/home.html

I was looking at that Contrabass,they are also selling Contrabass Clarinets on wwbw.com by Vito, costs about 2-3 thousand dollars, and also some more expensive models that cost around 17 thousand.

I saw a beautiful used Boozie & Hawkes among other old instruments in The Wind Instrument Centre in Manhattan recently. Nearly bought it but I decided on the Noblet, instead. A gem. Made by LeBlanc, Paris.

if you run across any R. malerne's, buy them, especially if they say professional on them and have 4 stars! I own my great granfathers pro r malerne, and it plays beautifully!
beetlejuice