Klarinet Archive - Posting 000328.txt from 1999/02

From: "Joe M. Rankin" <jmrankin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Horwath
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 16:36:43 -0500

Marty Marks wrote:

> Does anyone play or have any opinions about Horwath clarinets.
>
> Marty Marks

Marty, I am currently playing a set of Howarths & will share my thoughts with
you.

I first played a Howarth at the ClarinetFest in Lubbock a couple of years
ago. It was a Bb made of Kingwood & I was very impressed with it. In January
of last year, I began searching for a new set of Buffets. I sort of
accidentally ran across a Howarth Bb. The intonation was amazing. I couldn't
believe how much easier it was to play in tune than the R13's I'd been
playing for so long. Of course, I bought it. After playing it for 2-3 months,
I decided I wanted to get a Howarth A. That was a problem since there was not
a good supply of them in the US. My wife & I were trying to decide where to
go on vacation, so I arranged for us to go to London. I spent lots of time at
the Howarth shop playing all the "A's" they had in stock.

I'll give my opinion as to the good & not so good points of the Howarths. As
I mentioned earlier, the Bb is super as far as intonation goes. The left hand
notes above the staff are IN TUNE! The throat tones are good as well.
However, the e & f at the bottom of the staff are slightly flat. The are very
easily corrected by adding the left hand C#/G# key for the e & the right hand
Eb/ Bb key for the f. The only other problem with the Howarths is that the
left hand "pinky" keys, esp. the F#/C/# key feels much different than on
other clarinets. I had them bent on both horns to feel more like what I was
accustomed to. The sound seems to not have as many "highs" in it as some
other clarinets, which appeals to me. I've been told by someone that the wood
is thicker than most clarinets (I've never measured it) and that was the
reason for the difference in the sound. I really like the way they feel &
play. The key work is really beautiful. There are lots of adjustments that
you don't normally see on other makes.

The "A" is not quite as good as the Bb. (I've never played any A clarinet
that I like as well as my Bb's). It plays similar to the Bb except the
intonation is not quite as good. The third space c & the c above the staff
are slightly flat. I have been told that those notes can easily be brought up
in pitch by working with the tone holes. I believe part of the problem is
that most other clarinets are sharp on those notes which just makes it sound
more out of tune. When playing by myself & checking with a tuner, I don't
notice it. Also, the same thing is true with the e & f at the bottom of the
staff as with the Bb.

One other consideration is that spare barrels are not as readily available in
the US as they are for other makes. However, that hasn't been a problem for
me. Our orchestra plays on the high side, but the barrels I have work just
fine.

The bore is larger than many of the popular clarinets in use today, but I
haven't noticed any problems associated with that. I'm not sure what the
exact bore diameter is, but I don't think it's as large as some of the other
instruments that have been discussed on the list recently.

Also, they make the same instrument in another material which I assume is
plastic. I think they call it polyvinyl chloride (sp?).It is the same price
as the blackwood. They also use Kingwood & Cocobola. Another option is a left
hand Ab/Eb key.

I hope this provides some of the info you wanted. If you want to know
anything else about the Howarths, just let me know.

Joe Rankin

>
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