 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: John Twernbold
Date: 2009-06-04 22:06
I'm trying to identify the age of a pair of YCL-34 student-model clarinets. Small differences suggest they're from different periods during the 20 years Yamaha made this model:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3237/995s.jpg
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/7329/996p.jpg
Any opinion on the age of these? I'm assuming a newer one would be a better choice (i.e. newer pads, potential small tweaks by Yamaha over the years), although I don't know if the quality of the wood was consistent over the years.
Thanks for any help you can provide!
Post Edited (2009-06-04 22:09)
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-06-05 04:03
I think it's mostly impossible to know when some Yamaha models are from. I recently asked Yamaha about a YCL-34 clarinet and they answered that they don't keep the record so they don't know. They just said the one I asked about, which was the 34II model, was made sometime between 1978 and 1993.
This model plays great and it can be a very good clarinet but from mechanics it has a few issues and newer Yamaha models are much better.
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Author: Cindyr
Date: 2009-06-05 20:23
I have a Yamaha 34 that I bought and had overhauled. It plays in tune, and is my main instrument for community band. It's reliable and good clarinet for me. Plus, it didn't break the bank. Yamaha was able to give me a ballpark of 1985-86 for the date of manufacture. The clarinet was sitting around for about 20 plus years unused, so keep in mind that the age of the instrument often doesn't mean it was continuously used.
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Author: John Twernbold
Date: 2009-06-05 20:47
Thank you all for your help! I'm now the proud owner of the clarinet in the second pic, and I'm looking forward to receiving it. I'm currently using my sister's old Bundy which she played in school, circa 1978. I replaced the original mouthpiece and ligature with a Hite Premier + Bonade, but it still has all the original pads.
I teach elementary and middle school band, and when I used a new clarinet (a loaner from our local music store) to demo for next year's new band students, I was reminded again of just how poorly my Bundy plays. While the Yamaha 34 is still just a student model, I suspect it'll be like night and day compared to my current instrument.
Incidentally, I may have extolled the virtues of the clarinet a little too strongly during my demonstration: we normally don't get enough students for this section, but this year about half the students were very interested in playing the clarinet!
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2009-06-06 03:28
Compared with a Bundy the Yamaha 34 is so much better. It has excellent sound, response, intoantion. From how it plays, it can definitely be considered a professional model. Maybe not as good as their best models but not a very big difference.
Looking at my notes, here are the things I thought could be better.
- F/C lever to key linkage is not great (gap and sharp edge). Actually this is a problem on about 90% of clarinets.
- Slightly heavy action (common on almost all clarinets and usually not difficult to fix anyway).
- Pilot pivot screws. This means it's not as easy to remove free play from the hinge rods.
- Stepped levers for left pinky keys. I actually prefer this method, but the weight of the lever has to be specific so they don't rattle when playing just with right hand pinky. On this model they rattle a little.
- Flat springs slide directly on the wood.
There are more issues that are not significant enough to mention. Newer Yamahas are better but this is still a lot less problems than most other clarinets!
Post Edited (2009-06-07 03:32)
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Author: clariniano
Date: 2009-06-07 01:27
I have a couple of students who have one, and I have one too, which I sometimes use. I foun on mine and those o my students often the keywork has problems, but I know that the YCL-34 was availble until about two or three years ago. But when they wrk well, they can be great. However I think a lot depends on the player...
Meri
Please check out my website at: http://donmillsmusicstudio.weebly.com and my blog at: http://clariniano.wordpress.com
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