 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken
Date: 1999-12-03 14:30
As you know I just got my Leblanc L7. I have no idea of mpc which came with L7. But the table was not flat, so I sand it very carefully. Now it gives me very wonderful sound, even better than 5RV.
I found followings.
1. It is very hard for me to explain about wood quality, but
this instrument looks like a plastic clarinet. It has very nice wood. Is this one of the difference between pro and nonpro grade instrument?
2. Barrel of this L7 is 66mm. What kind of barrel is this?
What is your favorite SETUP for your L7?
Thanks
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Author: ted
Date: 1999-12-03 15:26
My Bb clarinet is an L7, made in 1974, and my A clarinet is an LX. Yes, the wood is very polished and "glossy" in appearance. The barrel I have is the one that came with the instrument. Does your barrel not have the Leblanc emblem on it? I had a problem with corrosion on some of the rings that the left hand covers, and had the keys replated about three years ago when I had the instrument overhauled.
I use a Portnoy BP02 mouthpiece. I also have a Vandoren B45 which works well also.
Here is some more information for you. The L7 was the top-of-line Leblanc during most of the 1970s. In 1974, the L7 was around $725 and the LL, which Leblanc still makes was around $625. I believe the LL now costs around $1600 at the mail order businesses. The L7 is comparable to the current LX2000 which retails for over $3200, which probably means it can be purchased for around $2000 at mail order businesses.
The bore of the L7 is cylindrical, not polycylindrical. The bore is 14.8mm I believe, which is a little larger than that of most current polycylindrical instruments.
I am often complimented on the tone that I can get using the L7. The intonation on my particular instrument is overall excellant though not perfect. The intonation on my L7 seems similar to my teachers R13 in that the same notes that have a tendency to sharpness or flatness on my horn are the same as his. It also seems very easy to cross registers smoothly on this instrument. The key action is great.
I've played on several instruments (Buffet R13s, Selmer 10G for example), and this one is still one of my favorites. The Leblanc Concerto was also very nice as well as an old Buffet A clarinet (very very nice tone) with an unsightly repaired crack.
Interestly, my teacher who plays an R13, swapped instruments with me during a lesson one day. His response was that I sounded much better on my L7 than on his R13. I also thought he sounded better on his R13 than my L7.
...hope this helps.
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Author: Ken
Date: 1999-12-03 15:50
My barrel has an emblem on it. When I bought this L7, there was corrosion on all keys and rings. But It's OK now after I polished with polishing cloth.
Are you playing with your Leblanc barrel? My brother has Mr. Scott's barrel and I'll try later.
I think my serial number is 32??? (I'm in the office at this time). Can you find how old is this horn?
My L7 sounds darker than my brother's Buffet E-13. Is this because of different mpc - my brother's and mine?
Thanks.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-12-03 17:14
Many thanx, Ted, for the L7 info, it helpfully supplements what I have found. As to serial no. [and date], mine is 43xxx, about mid '70's I believe. I have 2 barrels, 64 and 66 mm, so with modern 442+ pitch I use the 64 most of the time since "its a sin to be flat!". I was under the impression that the UJ bore had some taper, since the earlier Symp. 3 was advertised as such, but ours being 14.8 mm bore may have made cone or poly-cyl unnecessary, since the biggest bore Pete F and Hoven.[LeB-H] 15.0's are not advertised as such. This may have given us the minor pitch problems, which we compensate for successfully, as Lee Gibson has suggested in his book and ICA columns. If you have more info and thoughts on this please add. I believe the ease of register-break-fingering and response, as you so well pointed out, is the best feature that I have also observed. To help my reach of the rt hand LF to the lowE/B key, I inverted [raising] the thumb rest and use a rubber "thumb-saver" to compensate the curvature. To add my experience re: setup, Ken, most of my mp's play well on it, I like Bonade or Luyben ligs and Lurie or LaVoz medium reeds, of course I'm no more than semi-pro! Glad to talk more, Don
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Author: ted
Date: 1999-12-03 21:33
My serial number is 39370, which I was told dates it to 1974. The number I called at Leblanc a couple of years ago was 1-800-553-9421 to get information. I haven't tried it recently though.
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