Klarinet Archive - Posting 000590.txt from 2002/04
From: David Naden <dnaden@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] Prestige RC vs. Prestige R13
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 17:19:26 -0400
Tom--
Au Contraire!!!!
After the theft of my clarinets, I obviously had to replace
them...immediately, as I was in the middle of a concert season. After
seeing what was available locally, and doing some research, I replaced my
set of Prestige RCs with Festivals. After doing the research, I came to the
following conclusions:
1. Festivals are NOT poor man's Prestige instruments (to paraphrase your
post). The materials and workmanship are in fact comparable.
2. The bore of the Festival is a derivative of the R13 bore, but with
different tone hole placements, etc. The sound is not as "bright" as the
R13, but not as "dark" as the Prestige RC...to my ears, using my setup, etc.
3. The cost of the Festivals was $2200+ less than the cost of the Prestige
RC set. In doing the research, I discovered that much of the price
difference had more to do with marketing and advertising, that the actual
physical differences and qualtiy.
I have been playing my set of Festivals for over a year now, and while I do
miss the Prestige RCs, I do not believe that the differences were sufficient
to justifiy spending an additional $2200 for the Prestige RCs. In short, I
made the right decision under the circumstances, and would recommend that
anyone desirous to buy a set of Prestige RCs consider the Festival as a
viable alternative. As you asked about the Prestige RC compared to the R13,
I did not suggest this to you, but you might consider this as an option. If
so, please note that the availability of Festival instruments is becoming
quite limited. This model seems not to have achieved popularity in the
United States.
David S. Naden
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom.Henson@-----.com]
Subject: RE: [kl] Prestige RC vs. Prestige R13
Thanks David for pointing this out.
I totally forgot the S-1.
I have heard 'opinions' (my emphasis) that the Festival is really a poor
man's Prestige, differing only in quality of materials and hand tuning.
I have a Festival Bb Greenline and like it a lot. I don't really know if the
bore is different from the Prestige or not.
I understand that the Festival and Prestige have a relocated register key
(slightly higher) for improved 12th's.
One comment that I can make in comparing my Festival to the standard R13 is
this.
Since I have started playing again after so many years, I spent a great deal
of time trying to undo a bad habit that I had in the past (I used to play an
R13 exclusively). That I would tend to play with a heavy finger motion and
'pop' the notes as some call it.
I felt I had made strides in improving this in playing with the Festival Bb
and have tried to always be aware of this when practicing. As soon as I
picked up the R13's to test, I noticed right away that it seemed to have
come back even though I was not playing with any heavier finger motion than
before.
That's when I realized that this 'popping' may be more related to the air
pressure in the bore and how this pressure was distributed through the tone
holes. I wish I could describe this in more scientific terms. That's when I
knew that bore design can make a difference in subtle ways.
Does this make sense to anyone here that uses these clarinets?
Tom Henson
David Naden said: << In addition to the R13 and RC bores that are currently
being discussed, there was a model S-1, Festival (R13 derivative, but
different), etc. The Vintage model is based on the original R13 bore
designe (to my
understanding) which is different than the current R13 bore. >>
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