 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mrdi
Date: 2019-03-12 21:53
Bought a Backun Alpha to go along with the Backun Lumiere, so I had a clarinet with which to travel in varying weather conditions.
For a plastic clarinet it sounds pretty good, but my ears are less critical as a result of my longevity.
Has anyone had experience playing with the Alpha to "improve" it?
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Author: Mrdi
Date: 2019-03-12 23:38
The key pattern on the Buffet Greenline is not the same as the Backun instruments. Defeats one of my reasons for choosing the Alpha.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-03-13 00:17
Sorry, I was being flipant. What are the issues that need improvement on the Alpha?
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2019-03-13 01:06
I own a Backun Alpha. I also own a Backun Traditional bell in cocobolo with voicing groove, a cocobolo Fatboy barrel, a grenadilla MoBa barrel, and a Scott synthetic barrel, among others.
Some of these accessories really botched up the tuning of the Alpha and none of them did much to improve the response or timbre.
In my experience, carefully matching a mouthpiece and reeds to the Alpha is all you really need to do to get the very best from it--and its best is very, very good indeed.
Cheers,
Greg
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Author: Mrdi
Date: 2019-03-13 03:51
Thanks Greg.What mouthpiece/reed combo did you find that works well?A Grab=
ner CXZ K14 , 1.1 w/medium ramp and a 2.5 Vandoren is my current choice.
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2019-03-13 06:25
Your setup is really close to what I use: Grabner CXZ K14e, Vandoren V21 3.0 reeds, Vandoren Optimum ligature with the dual-rail plate.
Another combo that works for me on the Alpha: Pomarico Ruby Bright mouthpiece with Vandoren 56 Rue Lepic 3.0 reeds. There's a little more resistance and control with this versus the K14e/V21 setup.
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Author: gwie
Date: 2019-03-13 08:20
I took the time to match a MoBa barrel to my Alpha (66mm) and it works well.
Post Edited (2019-03-13 08:21)
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Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2019-03-14 22:14
I had an Alpha for a while, as I was curious about them and got one used for a pretty good price. I matched it with a Ridenour Ivorolon barrel and a Grabner K14 (surprise!). Also, I found that as received the throat notes were very flat and stuffy...the thick, black Valentino pads didn't help, so I replaced them with thin leather pads and raised the key height (including bending the touch on the A key a little) to open the notes up and tune them. Similarly, the register key was poorly vented, so I replaced the pad with a beveled cork pad. I don't recall offhand, but there were a couple of other keywork and tuning tweaks that made a difference.
For the price of these clarinets, I was not surprised that some setup was required. I bought this as a candidate for outdoor gigs and jam sessions where old wood clarinets are at risk. I decided that I liked the keywork on my Vitos better (V40, 7214) and sold off the Alpha, but the Alpha had nice sound and response.
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