My daughter started playing the clarinet this year with the school band. I was given a very old clarinet, King brand. Has anyone heard of this brand? I've replaced the corks and pads on it and she doesn't have any complaints but I'm wondering if I should be looking at upgrading her instrument. I see Wesen brand clarinets for sale on E-Bay, is this an okay clarinet for a beginner? or is what she is playing good enough for her right now?

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Its a King Tempo clarinet, I don't know if that makes a difference.

hi, personally, i havent heard of a king clarinet, so i had a look on the web - it seems to be a reputable brand, so it should be fine - you dont really need a good clarinet in your first couple of years ~ i played on my student model clarinet for 6 years before i really needed to upgrade to wood, and thats when i needed it for tone, also, its much cheaper to upgrade to a better mouthpiece first. then you mention age - you replaced the pads and corks, and im assuming that the shop also made sure the keys were working properly, other than that, there is nothing wrong with old - i got a 20yr old r-13 and its great, plus, many professionals find a clari and stay with it for the rest of their life
finally every clarinet is different in some small way, so i would recommend trying a product before buying it - most music shops allow for this.

in conclusion... i'd say to wait a couple of years, see if she wishes to continue before hand, and she's not complaining. i would also recommend upgrading a mouthpiece first.
hope this has helped

Thanks kato. I was thinking I should just stay with what she had but having another opinion is nice.

I havent heard of the brand king clarinet if i were you if the school does instrumantal lessons go to the woodwind teacher and ask the centre to hire insruments - you can buy them from a music centre

King is much more known for the brass instruments they made.
Afair they also sold some woodwinds which partly were made by them and partly rebranded.

You can read a bit about the history if king here -> http://www.hnwhite.com/

Cheers
James

havent heard of king brand but it will become easier because i had a very hard trying to play when i start at just keep practicing

at the begining, pretty much as long as it works, it's fine. if she has issues with it, have her teacher or someone experienced play it to figure out if it's the clarinet or the player.

at one point in history King imported SML clarinets. Depending upon the model you have (it could or could not be a SML) it could be a very very nice clarinet.

check http://www.saxmaniax.com/snclarinet.htm for some basic infor about King / SML clarinets. Otherwise it could just be another Selmer USA branded clarinet, or some other brand.

If you have pics you could email me and I could tell your more about it too.

King was a good brand back in the day. However, if she is looking at sticking with the clarinet you might want to upgrade to a Selmer, or Yamaha student clarinet....or intermediate clarinet if she is further along in school (roughly 9th or 10th grade). Lessons can also help improve sound on any clarinet in the beginning.

-Dennis

If she's just starting out, I would stick with the King brand clarinet (even though I've never heard of it). If she gets very good or wants to play clarinet for longer, then I would suggest upgrading. My favorite brand of clarinet is Bundy, but they can be kind of expensive.

Ok...I don't normally say things like this, but you have to be kidding me on a Bundy. You obviously have to be a new clarinet player as once you play for a couple years you should really have upgraded to something a lot better than Bundy if you plan on playing a while. I am not trying to be mean, but there is a lot of misguided talk on this subject that I find on this forum. After you have your student instrument...if you plan on upgrading...don't "upgrade" to another student instrument. The next step would be intermediate level horns when the student is ready.

-Dennis

Thanks for the help everyone. It is greatly appreciated.

With Dennis on this one. Bundy makes beginner horns at low cost. They are fairly indestructible, but that's about it.