Klarinet Archive - Posting 000240.txt from 1995/06

From: Jack Dannenberg <jackd@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: clarinet shopping
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 07:01:28 -0400

>
> >As for Leblanc, the Opus is very expensive compared to an
> >R-13. Obviously some people play Leblancs but, IMO, they
> >currently offer no clear advantage over Buffet, save the extra
> >a-flat/e-flat lever.
>
> I seem to have noticed that a lot of professionals are using the
> Leblanc Concerto model, which runs about $800.00 less than
> the Opus. This is what Eddie Daniels uses, and I imagine
> that if he thought the Opus was any better, he would use that.
> I've never tried either one. Has anyone out there compared
> Leblanc models with each other recently and with the R-13?
> Also, what's the difference between an R-13 and a Prestige
> R-13? Besides the price?
>

I had a chance about 6-9 months ago at a large music store in Texas to try
the LeBlancs, the R13 and the Prestige. It was my entirely subjective
opinion that the Prestige was better than the R13 which was better than
the LeBlancs. The salesman said that was the opinion of most people that
did this comparison. This was based on the personal opinion that I could
control the color of the sound better with the Buffets. I know dark and
light are not allowed here, is color? And just to make it worse as far as
being subjective goes I thought the sound was SWEETER on the Buffets. By
the way I say dark and light to other musicians in normal conversation
and we seem to communicate quite well with those terms. I would
hypothesize that a bright sound has more amplitude on the higher
overtones than a dark sound and therefore sounds different. Whatever it
is can certainly noticed. DISCLAIMER: I do not mean to start a new topic
or reopen an old evidently controversial one.
I have been playing about 8 years and in that time I have seen Eddie
Daniels advertise Yamaha, then change to playing Buffets and now switch
and start advertising LeBlancs. In another area of my life this is called
sponsorship and the person being sponsored receives free product and some
times MONEY for their endorsement of the product. I suspect this may be
the case with E.D. Which makes your question of why he uses a Concerto
instead of an Opus quite interesting.

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