 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kenabbott
Date: 2003-03-18 14:43
I'm toying with the idea of adding one of these to my collection. Which one? What is the consensus?
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Author: Mike_M
Date: 2003-03-18 15:22
I was really impressed with the new Custom model. Free blowing and great projection.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-03-18 16:13
I think that the only way to know which one is what is best for you. See if you can get some to try for a while. Get the feel of it. Tape yourself playing. Have others whose ears you trust listen to you. Try it playing out in an ensemble. Yamaha makes some very nice instruments, great sound, even, good tuning. Definitely worth considering.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-03-18 18:47
I got an email from someone asking why I was knocking Yamaha. Not so. Just wondered why you want a Yamaha Clarinet in addition to others. What do you expect of it that your other Clarinets (whatever they are) don't provide? Or, at least, what general sort of instrument would you want?
Regards,
John
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-03-18 19:28
The SE-V gets my vote.
It has a distinctive sound, nice layout and excellent tuning.
I wonder what the difference is between the SE and SE-V?
I've played a few CS models, and they're tightly tuned, but not particularly resonant... I like horns with a little 'jump' in the sound.
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Author: kenabbott
Date: 2003-03-18 19:45
"Just wondered why you want a Yamaha Clarinet in addition to others. What do you expect of it that your other Clarinets (whatever they are) don't provide? Or, at least, what general sort of instrument would you want?"
I am a collector who is a reasonably serious player. I have an R13, a 10G, a Rossi, and four Patricolas. I enjoy them all. I play them all. I would like to have a Yamaha and a LeBlanc.
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Author: Heidi
Date: 2003-03-18 23:17
Hello!
I have a Yamaha SE-V and an SE-A.....I think the difference that I, in my unprofessional opinion, can find is the cut of the bell. On the SE-V, the bell has a very cool, I guess, "resonator chamber" or something, cut out near the top of the bell. I think it is supposed to help with resonance. My SE-A does not have this feature. The SE-A is also a wonderful instrument and really matches the sound of my Bb very well. That's the only difference I notice anyway.
I also found the CS-V to be a more 'closed sounding' than the SE-V. But both instruments are very well made and very nice to play.
Good luck!
Heidi
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Author: Bass Clarinet
Date: 2003-03-21 18:21
I absolutely LOVE my Yahama Allegro! I wish I could let you play on it. I can't describe how it feels, but it's just great.
BC
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Author: kenabbott
Date: 2003-03-21 23:08
Where does the Allegro fall in the Yamaha hierarchy (vis-a-vis the SE-V and the CS-V)?
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Author: Pam H.
Date: 2003-03-21 23:13
The Allegro models are intermediate level clarinets with some of the same features as their professional clarinets. The prices range probably more toward an intermediate level. There is a chart on the Yamaha website comparing the features, unless they have changed it in the last few months. I haven't been there in a while.
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Author: Bass Clarinet
Date: 2003-03-22 02:54
It was explained to me as a professional instrument at an intermediate price. The Allegro series (there's only one clarinet, but there's also and Allegro trombone...etc) can only be bought in certain stores with some membership to a Yamaha cult or something. Or at least that's how it was when I bought mine.
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Author: R13A
Date: 2003-03-22 02:55
kemn
great for you to be considering adding to your 'collection'.
Although I have numerous R13's, I have a Bb/A set of Yamahas personally selected for me at the GR facility by my late friend and Yamaha artist, John Denman. (he did some tweeking) The 72A is equivalent to the CSA and my 82ll , the SEV. The bore sizes for the A and Bb are .577 and .580, respectively. And, I believe the .580 bore is currently used in the SEV model.
Both clarinets are silver plated (seemingly heavier than Buffet), have excellent workmanship and superb dark black tight, straight grained wood. They are free blowing and have good intonation. Yamaha's keywork was supposedly fashioned after the R13. Visually, this appears to be true and the 'feel' is quite similar (I think the feel of the silver plate vs my R13's nickel accounts for any difference)
I also have a yamaha 681 eefer and that too is superb and is at least equal to my 1959 Selmer eefer.. Like it's big brothers, the 681 has the same quality all the way around.
I can't exactly describe it but the Yamahas give a slightly different sound than the R13. Not better or worse, just a bit different.
In a discussion I once had with Linda Brannen some time ago, she mentioned that Bruce Yeh changed to Yamaha to get a specific sound that he was looking for and unable to acheive with the R13.
Like R13's, there are various used model Yamies around at much less than the original selling cost.
Well, so much for my 2 cents.
regards
dennis
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2003-03-23 05:37
I've played the Allegro and loved it. At least the one I played. If I could only sell my H.N. White Silver King. Then I'd get the Allegro. I found it to be a great clarinet.
john
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-03-23 19:31
Don't like the mechanism or the intonation tendencies on most of the Yams I have tried.
David Dow
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-03-23 21:57
"Don't like the mechanism"
That statement covers such a broad spectrum that it comes across to me as both meaningless, and misleading to the gullible.
Something like "I don't like Martin Luther King"??
Just which of dozens of qualities that a mechanism can have, is it that you do not like? are they ones that are alterable by some very quick tweaking?
Incidentally I find the Yamaha mechanism superb. In my repair experience production disappointments are more common in new Buffets than Yamahas, but usually correctable.
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Author: Clarence
Date: 2003-03-23 22:14
I tried the Yamaha Custom SE (ycl-sev) last weekend at a large Houston dealer. I found this clarinet to be the most playable as far as the mechanism is concerned. I had a slight preference for the R-13 sound and the Selmer Signature was 'so so'. I rejected the R-13s that I tried at two dealers. Looks like pad problems causeing uneven resistance between notes.
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Author: Dan Oberlin ★2017
Date: 2003-03-23 22:30
Ken,
If you've not done so already, you might search under
Yamaha SEV in the Klarinet archives. I switched from an
R13 to an SEV about a year ago. My impression is that
the finishing on my Yamaha's keywork is not quite as
nice as on my R13's (but still very good). I switched
because the Yamaha is easier for me to play in tune and
because the clarion register on the Yamaha has a
more covered sound.
Dan
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-03-24 19:05
To further elaborate, I find the metal used on the Yamaha clarinets to be much more brittle and pliable than on other makes. Add to this I also find for my own individual playing needs the tuning quite a bit lower than the competition and you have my reason...I would also say that I know some players who get fantastic results from their Yamaha instruments....
David Dow
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-03-25 01:02
"I find the metal used on the Yamaha clarinets to be much more brittle and pliable than on other makes. "
The engineering term "brittle" means that a point is reached when the material is distorted, where the material no longer behaves in an elastic manner, but SUDDENLY breaks, rather than permanently distorts.
Glass is brittle. Ceramics are brittle. Even rubber is technically brittle.
Do you really mean that you have experience of bending clarinet keys and having them suddenly snap on you? Having worked on over 110 makes, and far more models of clarinet, the only reasonably well known one where this occurs is B&H Regent where many have their keys made from pot ('muck') metal.
In my experience it would be VERY difficult to snap a Yamaha clarinet key.
As far as I understand it, "pliable" means the total opposite to brittle. It refers to a permanent distortion definitely taking place rather that the material breaking.
It is in the nature of the copper/nickel/etc alloys used for clarinet keys that they are pliable.
Perhaps you mean "easily bent", which is the only derogatory thing I think one could say about about key metal (apart from brittle) with respect to clarinet mechanism being unreliable.
'Easily bent' would refer to a low elastic limit. I think of solder, or lead as an extreme example. This is a major failing of many Chinese sourced instruments, such as Lark or Hsinghai. A repair technician, during adjustment processes, exerts far more force than a player ever will, bar accidents. As such, he is the best judge of the toughness of the keys. Personally, I find no problems with Yamahas in this respect either.
Intonation: Well I would have to take your word for that.
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Author: jez
Date: 2003-03-26 08:59
It's precisely because of the "intonation tendencies" that I choose to use Yamaha rather than anything else for Bb/A. I suppose each of us has his own individual requirements.
jez
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2003-03-26 09:13
When I tried the Yamaha custom, I found it's intonation and key layout excellent, it was very evenm throughout the scale.
However, the tone lacked that 'sweet spot' that I simply can't play without. Maybe a different setup would wield better results for me next time.
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