Author: Alseg
Date: 2006-08-23 23:12
DizKlaymer....I get no kick from Champagne, nor kickbacks from Forte or Dr. Henderson:
I got my Forte C today!!
Out of the box .......case is nice, durable, even handsome. Looks like the kind that expensive microphones come in --if they had black canvas coverings. Black legend swab and Omar's cork grease stick and a shoulder strap and warranty card tucked into a nice accessory flap.
Wood....unstained, tight grained, smooth. No ink.
Keys....solid. No wiggle. Reak cork bumpers. No clacking.
Nicely designed register key, kinda offset. Longish thumb hole tube seen in bore. Probably an acoustic reason for the extent of its incursion. Well machined metal tenon ends (a la Selmer). Intuitive SOFAS(r) linkage at the middle joint bridge.
Of course the pinky RH and LH keys will take a bit of getting used to because, after all, the horn is a different size from a Bb or Eb. My learning curve should adapt to it. Feels like....well, a quality horn
Plays?.....It is sweet. The sound is ....dare I say it....dark. Flute like, but not shrill. Perhaps more like Pan Pipes. Intonation is very even with the barrel I chose (comes with 2 sizes). The low notes are vented through a German style vent hole in the upper bell. F and E are in tune, as are the C and B a twelfth above them. The C and B long notes are perhaps slightly clearer than the low covered E and F, but then again, I made no special reed or mpc changes.
The mpc is my own Bb mpc (Behn) that I plucked out of my Buffet clar case, no special C mpc. is needed.
Overall, solidly worth its modest pricetag. I can only compare it to a prior Noblet C clarinet that I once owned, and the Forte is in most respects as good as, if not better, than the Noblet, and priced well below it. I can not compare it to "pro models" since I never played one, nor the Patricola, which is also priced above the Forte.
OK... I have one question.
No. Make that a threat:
If Dr. H does not make an eefer I will personally ride my devilish self down to Georgia and force him by blue steel spring point to produce one.
What this country needs is a fine inexpensive e-flat clarinet!
Why? He proved he could make a quality student Bb for less than the big guys (Original Forte). Now he made a C that is recital worthy for half the price of the nearest semi-pro horn. So imagine what he can do with an eefer.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
Post Edited (2006-08-24 13:13)
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
