Klarinet Archive - Posting 000381.txt from 2002/05

From: Tom.Henson@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] To Green Line or Not Green Line?
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 09:21:26 -0400

Joe,

I have gone through this same process as yourself.

As a matter of fact, I went through a selection process of wood vs.
Greenline about a year ago for a Bb.

I, like yourself, was concerned about the cracking possibilities of wood. I
had previously had two wooden Festival's crack on me and was very concerned.
Looking back on this now, I believe the instruments were improperly stored
at the music store and this contributed to this problem.

I ended up picking the Greenline as I found in practical sense little
difference in the sound from it's wooden counterpart. I did have several to
pick from though as the same thing applies here as to picking a wooden
clarinet. Try to pick from a selection for best fit to your playing style.

Someone on the list at the time suggested that when picking out a Greenline,
what you hear is what you will get. Meaning that the sound of the clarinet
should not change over time like a wooden one will as you break it in. So
you might consider this as well.

Overall I am very satisfied with my Festival Greenline.

I started looking for an A clarinet about a month ago. I wanted to purchase
a Festival Greenline to match my Bb. I also wanted to try the RC bore and
see if I liked it as well.

After talking with Lisa at IMS several times and her making some phone calls
to Francois Kloc, it appears that the Greeline machinery in France is broken
right now. With the anticipated sale of the company soon, no one seems to
know when this machinery will be fixed.

So the supply of Greenline instruments in the US is very limited. It might
even be limited to stock on hand at the store you are looking at depending
on the model.

I would imagine that the Bb models are in the best supply being the most
common. A clarinets are almost non existent unless you are looking for an
R13 A.

After writing off getting a Festival A Greenline, I decided to look at
wooden clarinets again and have finally been able to pick one out that I am
happy with, but that's another story.

Good luck on your selection.

Tom Henson

Joseph wrote << As I may have mentioned a while back, I'm in the process of
trying to buy a new pair of clarinets, and I'm just wondering about this
issue (having already settled on Buffet). Yes, I know, I'm making that big
fuss over equipment again.... ;-)>>

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