My daughter is 10 and she started playing the clarinet this year in her schools band. We rented an instrument through the school and we want to buy one now since she seems to really like playing and we think she will stick with it. I went to our local music shop and they had a Hunter brand Clarinet that looks like it was there forever and they want $200 for it. I cant find any info about this brand of clarinet on the internet.

I play the guitar and have bought a few guitars from musiciansfriend.com and the have a cheap clarinet made by Kohlert for $200 and I was thinking about buying it.

Can anyone offer a suggestion or recomendation.

I have a Buffet B12 and a Buffet R13, the R13 is arguably one of the best clarinets out there but it is quite expensive, The B12 is a really good student clarinet that plays marvelously.

I believe that the clarinet I bought from my school is a Buffet12, but I'm not sure... Regardless, I do know that Buffets do make a great sound. Just make sure it's not real wood... They crack WAY to easily. (Wow, stupid me... Of course for $200 it's not wood)

Real wood doesn't crack that easliy if you take care of it. It is much more fragile than the plastic ones though.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will check out my options and keep you posted.

Later

Another popular brand that isn't quite as expensive as the Buffets are Yamahas. Some people don't really like them (I actually play a Buffet), but they're good instruments, and I even know clarinetists who prefer them to Buffets.

Get a Buffet B12 if she's fairly serious about playing. If she's really serious and you know she will take excellent care of the instrument(trust me, that's crucial!!!), then you should consider a Buffet E11. They are wood instruments (these require good care, otherwise they will crack!) that should last her quite a while, perhaps into high school, and are good for the "advancing" player. Otherwise, she may outgrow her B12 in about 2-3 years. Go to www.wwbw.com, where you will find the Woodwind and Brasswind, a fine instrument and accessories dealer that sells for about half the price you'll see at your music store.

If your daughter is serious about playing, you should definitly buy her a Buffet. I myself use a Buffet International and it is splendid though a B12 works well too. Yamahas are good clarinets and they cost less too.

Since she has only been playing clarinet for a year
i would recommend some type of plastic
clarinet. Although it doesn't have the same
type of sound as a wooden one, it will
be much safer because the wood one's can
crack very very easily if dropped. When i
started playing i was 10, and i had rented a
plastic Yamaha 20 clarinet from my school and then
i later ended up buying it for $500 which
really wasn't bad. But when i was 10, i would
always drop my clarinet on accident and one time
it even fell out of my case. I would
get her a plastic one because then she can
see how she likes it and if see if she wants to continue
in high school and throughout her education. when she gets
older (high school age if still playing)
i would spend the money to get her
a wooden one because by then you will know she
is serious about it and she is responsible
enough to take care of a wooden one.
I'm 16 and i just got my first wooden clarinet, and
it is a lot of responsibility because
you cannot leave it in places that are too
cold or too hot because it may crack and the cracks
cannot be repaired.
hope i helped
-ash

Plastic, particularly the resotone Bundy plastic, is virtually indestructible except when exposed to extreme thrashing, like throwing it. However, wood can be repaired, in regards to Ash's comment about it not be repairable.

If taken good care of, wooden clarinets are way better, I have a plastic Yamaha and a Wooden Selmer clarinet and I can tell the difference in quality sound. Wooden clarinets are suppose to sound better the more they age, just like wine.

I think wooden clarinets are better too, I have an buffet R13, but most of my friends who aren't that serious about band, who will most likly quit band after high school have an E11. But I still think a wooden clarinet would be better just because of the sound they produce.

well did you know that some walmarts now have clarinets..i think they're only 200 dollars or something.. i've never played on them.. but if you're thinking about buying her a plastic one and a wooden one later then you probably want a cheap clarinet..

Sorry if this doesn't help..

P.S> does anyone know how the walmart clarinets play? i've been really curious because i play my dad's plastic clarinet (rofl from the 60's) and i've been needing a new plastic one for marching band..

Don't buy instruments from Walmart or Sam's Club or Costco! These are inferior instruments that are not made well and are extremely difficult to fix. They are just cheap crap!

Yea don't buy one from some department store.
I remember on my first day of band class my
teacher told us not to go buy one from there,
because theydon't play well and they're just not worth it.
You could always just buy a used plastic one
from somewhere else. Also, never by a colored clarinet
i talked to my director about it and he said
that when he was in college someone else showed up
to class one day with a green clarinet, and they sounded
like crap, so don't go for the colored ones
no matter how tempting the colors are!

yes, and wooden clarinets do have a better sound.
I just bought a wooden clarinet, and right off
the bat i could tell the difference in sound and
tone. Also, with wooden clarinets it's easier
to reach the high notes.
But you don't have to have a wooden clarinet
to get better, i've had my plastic one
for 6 years, and even though everyone else
had a wooden one i still made it in the top
when it came to chairs. so the playing ability
isn't really going to change, it just
sounds better.