Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2007-09-07 15:07
Nitai,
Doing high school clinics I encounter the Vito/Yamaha plastic bass clarinets all too often, and I'm not impressed! They seem to be to be very touchy, adjustment-wise; even in good adjustment the sound is, to me, not at all what I like to hear from a bass clarinet.
The Selmer/Bundy is another piece of cake. I used one some years ago as a backup to my Leblanc LL-500, mainly for outdoor concerts, and found it to be a pretty decent sounding instrument. I was told that the late George Weber resorted to one, playing "Sacre" (Chicago SO) when he couldn't make his Wurlitzer loud enough for Seiji Ozawa. I used mine for an entire two-week orchestra tour with Arthur Fiedler, no complaints, including a surprise encore of "On the Trail" in Avery Fisher Hall!
One big problem with the Bundy was that when the ambient temperature got above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27C) the pitch would go up and up. For outdoor concerts where it was in the high 80's or above the horn got so sharp that I was unable to play at A440 even with everything pulled out to the max. I never have had this kind of problem with my wood instruments. I replaced the Bundy with a Leblanc 400 series and sold it to a local doubler who found it just fine for the shows he was playing at the National Theatre.
My advice then: See if you can find a wood instrument for your cousin -- perhaps a used Noblet.
L'shanah tovah!
Larry
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