The Clarinet Web Site | Home of the Andrew Roberts Clarinet Service

Following the highly successful Clarinetfest 2024 in Dublin, we are pleased to announce we have new stock of Brad Behn’s Prescott clarinet mouthpieces, Bravo Bass clarinet models and adjustable barrels in Delrin at a discounted price!

We are delighted to have some stock of Royal Global products including the excellent Max Bass Clarinet, which will undergo the ARCS workshop treatment.

The ARCS Workshop is now fully booked until the end of October 2024, so please book early if your instrument needs overhauling or is due a service! The diary is filling up very quickly!

Message to all our regular customers

It is easy to forget to have your instruments regularly serviced. Once you have had our full overhaul, we strongly suggest returning it to us between 12-18 months thereafter so we can keep your instruments in peak form and add any updates! As our materials and systems are quite unique it is vital that we carry out any servicing to keep your clarinet playing at the highest level possible

Our specialist wood treatment needs to be re-applied in this time scale to continue to protect your clarinet. The service takes 3.5 hours and costs £161 (if extra work is required the cost may be higher) and includes swedging and replacing pad centres if required, as well as cleaning, lubricating the keywork and re-sealing the wood and updating to the latest improvements

One unfortunate customer wasn’t able to get their instrument to us in time for it’s service before the top joint cracked! This isn’t a disaster and we managed to restore it to its previous perfect air tight seal see before and after photos below, this included the addition of carbon fibre banding to re enforce the top tenon and our unique solution to repairing cracks

Latest Initiative – Free loan of Buffet Greenline R13’s B flat whilst your instruments are booked into the workshop!

We are pleased to announce that we can now offer, on a first come first served basis, free instrument loan whilst your instrument is booked into the ARCS workshop. We have a fleet of 3 Buffet Greenline R13’s available for loan, which have all been overhauled in the ARCS workshop. We advise customers using this free service to arrange their own insurance cover for the duration of the loan period. We may be able to offer cover for this in the near future- watch this space! Please be aware that this also applies to any instruments that ARCS ship to you on approval

*ARCS Buffet Greenline loan instruments*

New ARCS instruments in stock

New ARCS Clarinets stock new and Pre Owned

New into the workshop:

Buffet R13, Buffet E13, Buffet RC, Yamaha 650 in the workshop now

Yamaha YCL 650 new unused but updated to ARCS spec with Kooiman Thumbrest £1350

Recent arrivals in pre owned stock

Check out the pre owned section for more instruments

ARCS Buffet R13 Prestige Bflat (2012) £3200 ono

Now offered for sale due to the professional player changing to an RC Prestige. This instrument has been regularly serviced in the ARCS workshop for a number of years and has just been serviced. It has a historic crack repaired in our workshop with replacement tone holes fitted, this is barely visible and doesn’t affect the playing experience. It has had daily use in a major symphony orchestra for a few years and has an even scale and warm resonance. Supplied in a new Buffet single case it offers a great instrument at considerably less than a new one – list price £4115!

Ref McQuaid

Latest customers reviews

Dewi Davis -ex RAF Bandsman

“I picked up my Yamaha Custom 82 clarinet from the ARCS workshop last week. My clarinet is 40 years old and was in need of serious attention. I’ve known Andy for some years now and knew he was the best man for the job. My clarinet needed a tremendous amount of work, as the keys were not in the best shape not to mention the rest of it! I now have my clarinet home and Andy has done an amazing job on it. After over 50 years of playing, Andy is now undoubtedly the best clarinet technician I have ever known. Thanks Andy.”

Dewi Davis

Ebay can be a wonderful resource but Caveat Emptor-buyer beware. Matthew Dickman’s experience below is all too common

“After purchasing a Buffet BC- 20 Clarinet from eBay I was having problems and sent my Clarinet to Andrew. After receiving the Clarinet Andrew informed me that there were far more problems than I initially perceived. There was everything from worn pads falling out, excessive play in the key work, badly fitted cork tenons to a very poorly repaired crack in the top joint & barrel. This Clarinet was described in the eBay listing as ‘fully serviced and correctly adjusted’ this was clearly not the case.

Andrew was incredibly helpful throughout the whole repair process. He supported me through the refund process and provided a full run down of the problems with the Clarinet resulting in me getting a partial refund helping to cover repair costs which I was ecstatic about.

After getting the Clarinet back from Andrew it plays beautifully and feels better than new! I could not recommend ARCS enough it was a pleasure to do business with Andrew, a first class service.”

Matthew Dickman