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Yamaha CSVR Bb and A

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-10-28 13:09

I went down to Buena Park, California today to the huge Yamaha factory. It was an enlightening experience as I spent a lot of time with Rory, playing a mess of horns. First off this place means business. The sound room to test horns is built to perfection. It's just not a room, but a room designed by sound engineers so when playing you can really hear well. In comparison it is pretty much like sitting in Severance Hall in Cleveland. You simply can hear so well. Yes I've played there!

I kind of figured they would stick me in a carpeted room about 4 feet by 4 feet where everything sounded dead. No way! This was perfection at its best.

I brought along 2 sets of Buffet R13's from the 60's and around 2013. I warmed up on the Buffets for about 10 minutes then went to the Yamaha's. I played the CSG's German bores and the CSVR's Bb and A clarinets. It took a few minutes to adjust to the keys, the barrels were switched around a bit and finally after playing some they felt GREAT. The upper registers were a breeze to hit all of the notes without forcing the notes, something you have to do a lot with pieces like the Beethoven's 6th when the clarinet goes to the high G. As a gifted player you always worry about this one note on R13 horns. Playing this same passage over and over on the Yamaha I never missed. It really put a smile on my face! That's why this piece is on orchestra auditions.

I also had some fun playing the Spohr Concerto that hits the high C. The Buffets all failed using my standard double lip embouchure and even going to a single lip they failed. With the Yamaha's no problem with a double lip.

As for the sound quality at first I preferred the Buffets, mainly the 1960's. But after playing around with barrels I found a very rich sound that pinged off of these walls. Just what people like Iggie Gennusa and Bob Marcellus looked for.

There were some very and I mean very minor issues with tuning and I will go back in a month or 2. They have a man there that will make a barrel for you from scratch and also adjust the the intonation. I'm not in a rush, because both horns are that close.

Unlike the new R13's they tune slightly higher, instead of 440. Yes you can get other barrels if needed.

I'll post again in a few months. Right now these horns work. There are no dead notes and the scales are very even. The keys are double silver plated, a new technique as discussed by Rory.

The CSG German bore is a straight bore. I liked the horn a lot, however I was much more comfortable with the CSVR's. The German bore was not dark at all. The barrel was just 58 mm's in length. This bothered me for one major reason, it will surely be hard to find barrels to play around with this clarinet. However it is a horn that must be tested.

The CSVR bores are a tad bigger compared to the earlier R13's. I actaully measured them within thousandths of an inch accuracy. I don't really have a negative or positive viewpoint on this yet.

Well I'm happy to say I'm a Yamaha player right now.

Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces

Yamaha Artist 2015

Post Edited (2016-11-19 11:00)

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Yamaha CSVR Bb and A new

Bob Bernardo

2016-10-28 13:09