Author: Mags1957
Date: 2006-11-23 12:59
There's one huge difference between the Ridnour clarinets one has aquired the past few years from Brooks Mays, or WWBW and the ones he's making now: Tom has always designed the clarinets, but when they were called Allora or Arioso, he didn't finish them personally. He told me in an email that he always considered those horns as "unfinished", a good design, but without the necessary touches done by an expert finisher. NOW the clarinets you get from Tom called Lyrique are all made by Tom himself from start to finish. There are literally no employees at the Lyrique factory - it's just Tom by himself.
So, what you will get now is a well designed horn, designed by Tom Ridenour, with improvement in tuning and evenness over his Opus creations (according to Tom), made out of a material that is more stable than wood, and sounds just as good or better, and fully set up by one of the master craftsmen of our era. Not a bad deal for under a grand. I have ordered and "A" clarinet and it should arrive in a day or 2. I will give a full report then. You can take or leave what I have to say about it, but at least I'll have played it before I dismiss it or embrace it, unlike many others who tear something apart without the benefit of having any actual knowledge of the product.
And, by the way, there are some in other threads who bemoan the price = quality mentality that many people have in regards to the most expensive horns, mouthpieces, ligatures, etc., yet I hear no one embracing the fact that Tom Ridenour is selling horns at unbelievable prices, because he doesn't want to charge more than he needs to. And you know what? I think the professional community would be WAY more interested in his new clarinets if they cost $4500. Sad.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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