Clarinet

Rosemary7391

OP, you might find this a useful guide -
http://www.richardbehrend.co.uk/repairs
It costs about £75 in your area to get a clarinet taken apart, cleaned and put back together. So a £70 new one isn't likely up to much, but between eBay and a repair shop you could get something very nicely playable and reliable. I'd expect a clarinet that hasn't been played recently to need a bit of work; it really depends on how well it was looked after though. You'd probably find they could do enough work to make it playable at a reasonable price, and then you can save up for the rest as and when. I bought a clarinet from eBay once - replaced one pad myself (so at the £15 mark in that link), played it in a concert, then had it fully overhauled for about £200, but it was about 100 years old and pretty neglected. I was much further south than you at the time as well. I think non wood clarinets are usually cheaper to work on - I guess because they don't have to worry about splitting the wood?

Keep an eye out for Boosey and Hawkes as well - I think Buffet bought them out? Quite some time ago but they're likely to be good instruments still. And any other reputable brands that have a student instrument.

kingfisherblue

The clarinet that I owned as a teenager was a Boosey and Hawkes. Thank you for your advice. I'm going to hang on until after Christmas, rather than buy the Glory from Amazon.