Klarinet Archive - Posting 000584.txt from 2002/01

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bassethorn
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 09:35:41 -0500

The much more recent Buffet is substantially cheaper, at least in the UK.
The Leblanc seems amazingly easy to get to grips with.
Roger S.

In message <3C4C204E.20304@-----.org writes:
> Both instruments you mention have spotty records. You may very well get
> a good one or it could be below their normally excellent production
> record. But you must also consider the fact that both instruments are
> wide bored and this has several consequences which speak to the
> character of sound that you are likely to get.
>
> On the positive side of the large bored instrument is the fact that both
> Le Blanc and Buffet use the larger bore to get around certain acoustical
> deficiencies of the narrow bored instrument. These deficiencies are
> real and problematic, not imagined. Actually, it is Buffet who switched
> from narrow to larger bore. Le Blanc always made the larger bore
> instrument and its popularity was due to the fact that it did not have
> the Buffet (and Selmer) problems.
>
> But this shift to a larger bored instrument requires a larger mouthpiece
> and the fact is that both instruments are actually alto clarinets in F.
> While there is considerable disagreement about the following
> statement, it has to be voiced: the alto clarinet in F with extension to
> low written C is not a basset horn, and, more important, to some its
> sound is not characteristic of a basset horn.
>
> More important is whether or not you are happy with the character of the
> sound that you have gotten from the instruments you played. If you like
> it, then it does not matter what theoretical disagreements exist with
> respect to the precise definition of a basset horn. But I will add that
> I owned two basset horns (both Selmers and both narrow bored) for 30
> years, sold them and then stopped playing. But the imminence of the
> Mozart quarter-millenium celebration (2006) caused me to buy another. I
> could have gotten any one that I wanted and the manufacturer I chose
> made the instrument in either a narrow or a wide bore. I chose the
> narrow (because of my personal preference) and have not been disappointed.
>
> Dan Leeson
>
> Juerg Fehr wrote:
>
> > I am planning to buy a bassethorn. I could get a Leblanc 315S right now for
> > a very reasonable price or I could order a Buffet, which would cost more and
> > would not be available until the end of the year. Has anybody compared the
> > two instruments? I remember playing the Buffet once and it played very
> > comfortably, but trying the Leblanc was not bad at all, it is well in tune,
> > has an nice and even sound through all the registers and responds really
> > well.
> >
> > Advice from experienced bassethorn players are much appreciated.
> >
> > Juerg
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > .
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> ***************************
> **Dan Leeson **
> **leeson0@-----.net **
> ***************************
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

--
By lions' jaws great benefits and blessings are begotten,
So our debt to Lionhood must never be forgotten.
--------- Stevie Smith ("Sunt Leones")

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