Klarinet Archive - Posting 000118.txt from 2001/10

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Buffet Festival Green Line (long)
Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 04:20:16 -0400

Tom Henson asked:

<<<If anyone has any similar experience picking out a clarinet, please let
me know what you found to work best.>>>

Hi Tom --

I just went though something like this myself at the ClarinetFest this
summer. They had a Big Room Full of Clarinets -- pretty close to paradise,
I used both a tuner and an across-the-room-tone-evaluator (i.e., my charming
spouse, an oboe and flute player whose ears I trust) to try a whole bunch of
horns, both in the Big Room and upstairs in my hotel room. The big benefit
to doing this at the Fest was that I could compare different brands and
different examples of the same brand side by side, not only with each other
but also with my own tweaked-up R-13 that I brought along for the ride.

Here's what I found at ClarinetFest:

Buffet

I was very impressed with Buffet's quality control -- the selection of
instruments I tried both at the booth and the vendors was *very* consistent
from clarinet to clarinet. As expected, the Festivals and Prestiges (both
wood and Greenline) played pretty much like my R-13, only with the over-wide
12ths of the R-13 ameliorated due to the higher register key placement. The
new R-13s played exactly like my old one.

I did notice a slight difference in tone between the Prestiges and the
Greenlines, on the one hand, and the wood Festivals and R-13s on the other.
I suspect that this was due to the increased weight/density of the Prestige
wood and the Greenline material as compared to the "normal" wood. If you
like that sound, I'd go with the Greenline Festival – same good intonation
and sound for a whole lot less money. My wife, OTOH, did not discern much
of a tone difference between any of the Buffet horns from across the room.

Bottom line = the new ones play as well as my old one, but not $2,000
better.

[An aside -- of the 2 clarinets you're choosing from, I'd go with the first.
A stuffy Bb is likely either a pad problem, or a register vent problem --
both easily fixed, but hey, why bother when it's new and the other one works
better? I suspect that switching out the vent on the 2d horn will make it
play just like the 1st one.]

What was *very* impressive at the Buffet stand was their new B10 model.
This was described to me as being the same clarinet as their B12 -- which is
one of the 2 instruments I recommend to beginners -- with about US$30 taken
out of the manufacturing cost. Consequently, the street price should be
about the same as a Bundy, so parents that shop solely on price can now get
a Buffet.

It was interesting to me how they reduced the cost -- no bell ring, to be
sure, but also in-line "jump" keys for the left index finger, and un-pointed
pad cups. Made me wonder about those new Leblanc horns with their "rondes
bombes" . . .

Eaton

Looked very nice, played badly for me. My guess was that I was using the
wrong mouthpiece for it; I don't think that this was the "International"
model, but the larger-bore style based on the old Boosey & Hawkes 1010.
With a narrow-bore Chedeville-style mouthpiece, one wouldn't expect it to
work well. It didn't.

Since I didn't have a bigger-bore mouthpiece (and I really like the
mouthpiece I have), I moved on.

Fox

Steven Fox had some *wild* horns on the stand. There was a Basset Horn From
Another Planet made of rosewood (?) with gold-plated keys; very
saliva-inducing. My wife wouldn't let me ask to touch it lest I feel the
need to flex the credit card.

Mr. Fox had 2 styles of Bb soprano that I tried. The first was a "French
bore"; played very much like a Buffet, with some slight intonation
differences/improvements. Very even scale. I'd consider buying this one.

The second was a production of Arthur Benade's NX. Mr. Fox explained that
it would not play right with a narrow-bore Chedeville-style mouthpiece, but
he offered a selection of altered Vandoren mouthpieces to choose from to
make the comparison. I didn't like the result at all, but I believe that
this was more likely dissatisfaction with the mouthpiece tried and not the
clarinet. If I had a whole lot more money, it would have been interesting
to get a mouthpiece made like the one I normally use to do a fair
comparison.

Howarth

People here in the United States have a stereotypically dim view of English
craftsmanship, almost entirely due to bad experiences with the electrical
systems of Jaguar and Triumph automobiles. This is misplaced; to those who
would apply the broad brush, I suggest examining a Saville Row tailored
suit, a Holland & Holland rifle, and/or a Howarth clarinet. The workmanship
of the examples at the Fest was astounding. Just holding the thing made me
go "Wow!" Fit, finish, attention to detail and the seal on the gorgeous
leather pads was just flawless.

. . . unfortunately, I found that the intonation wasn't up to snuff, almost
certainly a design flaw, given the evident excellent workmanship. I wasn't
bowled over by the tone, either. I prefer the sound of the French-style
instruments. (I won't try to describe it lest I get jumped on). The
Howarth didn't do it for me.

Leblanc

All of the instruments I looked at on the Leblanc stand were shop-worn. I
tried to play a Big Easy (the copy of Pete Fountain's horn) but it was
unplayable because of bent keys.

I tried a couple of Concertos and Opera at the Woodwind & Brasswind stand; I
was underwhelmed. Sounded like muffled Buffets to me -- very similar
intonation, stuffy sound.

Lots of famous players use Leblancs to great effect, so it's certainly
possible to play on one well. I just liked my old Buffet much better.

Nuccio, Mark

He's not a clarinet, but his Eb coaching session was outstanding. They had
a young gentleman from the Eastman school and a young lady from one of the
Louisiana universities play some the standard audition material (both did a
fine job). Mr. Nuccio then demonstrated some very helpful improvements --
staggeringly beautiful eepher playing. Wow.

Odrich, Ron

OK, he's not a clarinet either -- but he played at the Fest, and pretty much
blew me away. Inserting licks from Daphnis & Chloe No. 2 into Limehouse
Blues was very fun indeed. He's a dentist, too.

Patricola

I was completely smitten with Patricola's rosewood Bb. It played very much
like my Buffet -- it had the same pitch and tonal irregualrities as my R-13
-- but it was much lighter in weight due to the different wood. My right
thumb loved it. According to Nick Patricola, the rosewood doesn't crack;
they haven't had [m]any warranty returns, as compared to the mpingo horns.
Mr. Patricola attributed this to the wood being "more elastic." I have no
idea if this is true, but the warranty return info is a useful data point.

Ah, but the love affair did not last. The keywork on all of the Patricola
horns I tried tended to clatter -- I suspect that they keys bend too easy,
perhaps? The clincher came from my wife, who said that the sound didn't
carry as well as my Buffet. Upon reflection, she was right.

Bottom line -- nice horn which you should definitely try out. I didn't like
it $1,750 more than my current R-13, though.

Selmer

New horn -- the "Signature." I was excited to try it, since in the short
time it's been out a number of fine clarinetists have started to use it to
great effect. (Sean Osborne has raved about it; and on the opening night
concert at the Fest, Ricardo Morales played the snot out of one. Of course,
they could play garden hoses and . . . )

It has a very different approach than the Buffet-style horns; they're
apparently a new thing. The keys are closer to the body. I thought it had
a bit "smaller" sound, perhaps, but extremely even with great intonation.

My trepidation with buying one? It's so different from the horns I have
that I'd have to buy one in A, too. (My wife is *very* understanding, but
not that understanding).

Wurlitzer

The Wurlitzer people had a reform Boehm to try. I was very eager to give it
a go, as I love the sound that the folks in the Concertgebouw Orchestra
Amsterdam get with them.

Didn't like it at all. Very stuffy, uneven scale, truly ugly throat tones.
I asked the representative if this was due to incompatibility with my
Chedeville-style mouthpiece; he assured me that it was not. (I don't
believe that, though).

The workmanship appeared to be top-notch; I just didn't sound very good on
it. Again, as with the Peter Eaton, this is likely my fault -- with work
and a mouthpiece search, I'd likely sound better. As it is, though, not for
me. (Especially at US$4,500 a piece!)

Yamaha

By this time, my wife was getting pretty tired of hearing me play test licks
and chromatic scales, blindfold testing with the tuner (and listening to
nothing but clarinet music for three days). She was rolling her eyes at me
and insisting that they all sounded pretty much like the clarinet I have,
and generally getting irritable. Going down the line of demo horns was
getting old; she thought the whole exercise was getting pretty pointless.
Until

". . . wait -- what's that one?"

"That one" was a Yamaha V series. What she drew her notice was a simple
chromatic scale. Unlike the Buffets & others, no notes popped out with a
different tone -- the scale was very, very even. (She was delighted that
the throat tones didn't sound different -- maybe an oboe thing). The needle
on the tuner stood straight up most all the time, too -- a good starting
point. And the tone was pretty (at least as pretty as *I've* ever played).

So I spent the next hour or so having an animated conversation with Jim
Murphy, the Yamaha rep. (He's a pretty good clarinet player himself, I'm
told -- principal of the Air Force band for a long time). I liked the SE;
he suggested that the tone of their CS bore actually carried better. So we
again sent Julie across the room and compared them, against each other and
the R-13.

We also compared the silver-plated ones with the new nickel ones. Even
though key plating can't possibly affect the tone of a clarinet, these did
-- consistently over a number of horns. (Must be like the honeybee not
being able to fly thing?)

So I bought the CSV, with silver keys. The particular example had been
worked over by Tommy Nakamura, the designer of the CS bore and apparently a
super top-notch technician, too. It has some cork pads in the top joint, a
couple of Valentinos in strategic places and what appears to be white
leather for the big 4 in the lower joint. I am a happy camper!

(A public "thanks!" is due to Mr. Murphy – he spent a lot of time with me
making sure that I had the right horn, even though he had long since closed
the deal. Kudos too to Mr. Nakamura, who insisted that he go over the
clarinet again, even though there was *nothing* wrong with it.)

Turns out that my Yamaha A (thie one I left at home) is their "old" YCL72CS
model – without intending it, I have a matched set. (At least I think like
myself!)

Conclusion

Your mileage may vary. Of the room full of clarinets, I found examples from
Buffet (the Festival Greenline my favorite), Fox, Patricola, Selmer and
Yamaha that I'd be perfectly happy to play on every day. The differences
leading to my preference were, in the grand scheme of things, quite small.

. . . didn't come across any wobbly joints, though.

Best regards,

kjf

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