 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: buedsma
Date: 2004-07-30 09:02
Anyone experience with those instruments : tone quality, intonation
Just looking for a not to expensive alto that is playable without to many obvious problems .
I'm playing selmer 10SII Bb , Leblanc Contra BBb (straight ) and Leblanc Bass clarinet.
Not a classical player but playing the Klose complete book regularly back and forth to keep in shape
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-07-30 14:48
The vast majority of Noblet altos play like the vast majority of Leblanc bass and alto clarinets I've tried --- they tend to be stuffy, resistant, fuzzy, and the lower clarion B and C will be quite sharp. They suffer from having reliable but acoustically-inadequate single-register-vent mechanisms and non-undercut toneholes. You may get lucky and find an exceptional one (e.g. George Lin's Leblanc Esprit bass clarinet), but for the most part the Leblanc/Noblet harmony clarinets are mediocre players, in my opinion. You now owe me two cents.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-07-30 18:17
From my experience, I agree with Dave S, having owned a LeB Alto and Bass, and a Nob Bass, I was somewhat disappointed in their "playability", so I ended up with Sel-Paris bass and alto. I did play-test a "high-pro" LeB bass [single reg key] at Wichita Band, and was very pleased with it. It speaks well for their repair/tweaking skills! Back to the Leb/Nob alto, they appear to be "large[er]" bore insts [my Sel is smaller, approaching Basset horn dia. {U J}] and IMHO, capable of greater volume, but maybe poorer tonality? Most altos I've seen are single reg key horns, but a few [Fr Ger made, and my old US Pedler] are DRKs, possibly a marginal improvement? The best most of us can say about our "Ugly Step-child" {i DO like mine] is that they are quite cheap on EBAY. Try and See. 2 cents, also Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: contragirl
Date: 2004-07-31 02:59
Attachment: noblet3.jpg (16k)
*gasp* I have a nice vintage Noblet alto and it's great! The tech who did the work on mine, and my musician friends, are all impressed on how well it plays. My tech apprentice friend is trying to convince me to sell it to him. :P
Anyway, I agree that it does tend to have some problems... mine, being the higher clarion to altissimo registers, which I believe is a problem with the register key mechanisms.
In reference to tunability, I think there will be problems with tuning in any alto... unless you buy, say, a brand new Buffet Alto or something. *cough* Jay Niepotter *cough* My Noblet has a tunable neck, but that doesn't help me because it's corroded together.... But it tunes better than the Bundys and my friend's Fontaine (haha), which I have played on many occassions.
I like my Noblet alto... I mean, as much as you can like an alto, which is not too much... but I like it more than everyone else's altos.
--Contragirl
who is always conned by the band director to play alto...
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Author: buedsma
Date: 2004-08-02 17:46
well, the man who did send me some pictures of A clarinets :-)
Any way , two cents is a bargain . Send all three of them
Seriously : still thinking about an A clarinet and an Alto . When someone has a selmer 10SII in A for sale ( used ) i'm the perfect candidate.
I'll rethink my alto strategy and wait for a Selmer Series 9 to show up on ebay
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