Klarinet Archive - Posting 000766.txt from 2003/02
From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Rebuilding NEW clarinets.
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 15:36:02 -0500
Al,
Sorry again for the delay. I kept marking e-mails to respond to,
and then got caught up in the sheer volume that the Klarinet
list had this past week.
I have a pair of Guy Chadash clarinets, and love them. I have
had the A for over a year, and the Bb for over 8 months. Both
are exceptional.
I like the keywork, and the extra adjustment screws so I can do
a lot of the adjusting on my own to save time and hassle. The
workmanship is wonderful. PLUS, if you get a set of his
instruments, Guy's policy in the past has been that he keeps the
regular mainenance up himself gratis, and also provides any size
barrels needed for different pitch considerations free of
charge, so it relieves you of maintenance and extra barrel
costs.
The instruments ARE expensive, and there is a waiting list, but
I haven't played a better set of instruments to date.
By the way, if you want the best bang for your buck, try
Patricola instruments. I have C and Eb Patricola clarinets and
they are really a great buy. They are not custom, but just
wanted to throw the reference in. I would suggest getting the
grenadilla models instead of the rosewood, as the instruments
change less with the weather. I have also changed to other
custom barrels instead of the stock barrels with the Patricola
instruments. The Patricola instruments can be had for $200-300
less than Buffet R13, Selmer Recital and 10G/10S, Yamaha Custom,
and LeBlanc's Concerto lines, PLUS you can get things like the
alternate Eb/Ab key, an articulated G#(that can be turned on and
off with a screw driver) and metal tenon rings, all features
that require you to go upwards of $500-$1000 more in the models
of the Big 4 makers to get these features (Buffet Prestige,
Selmer Signature, Leblanc Opus, etc.)
I still have a great Buffet Prestige Bb and LeBlanc L300 A that
are great, but they get a whole lot less play now that I have
Guy's instruments.
I was really impressed with the Rossi instruments when I tried
them at ClarinetFest in New Orleans. The one major drawback for
me in the Rossi instruments is that I like to be able to pull
out in the middle joint in certain situations, and you cannot do
that on a one piece body clarinet, like the Rossi instruments. I
also was really interested in the Viennese model Rossi
clarinets, but was not willing to go to a mouthpiece with a
bigger bore. The American/French style Rossis do not require
different mouthpieces, but they weren't to my playing tastes.
VERY nice workmanship. Keywork was very interesting and adapted.
Luis Rossi adapts the keywork to fit your hand, similar to some
of the choices the Wurlitzer keywork has, but in a more custom,
per-player fashion. Play on a few different bore types of Rossis
before making a judgement on whether you like them. The
different models are VERY different.
I unfortunately have no experience with Stephen Fox instruments,
as there wasn't enough time to see his booth and try out some of
his instruments at the New Orleans ClarinetFest, since he was SO
busy whenever I came by. He was ALWAYS busy with people at his
booth, wich is a great testimony to people's satisfaction with
his work, I think. S. Fox instruments are some of the most
reasonably priced custom instruments on the market, ESPECIALLY
with the exchange rate for US to CAN dollars. I will probably
look into S. Fox instruments specifically if I get an D clarinet
in the future, as he is the only custom clarinet maker I know of
that makes a D model.
Hope this helps...
Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - New York City
--- Albert Nemiroff <anemiroff@-----.net> wrote:
<<SNIP>>Would the purchasers of new
> instruments from
> custom builders like Guy Chadash, Stephan Fox, and Luis Rossi
> (alphabetical
> order) care to comment. In reading between the lines on this
> site, they
> seem to be very happy.
> Al Nemiroff
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