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 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2018-03-12 14:45

As well as dealing with the mechanics, it's a question of economics - can you justify paying out near on the same price you paid for one of these basses to have it rebuilt in an attempt to make it better?

I've currently got two alto flutes with me - my own one which is a Jupiter and another one which is Chinese. Now the keywork on the Chinese one is very strong in that it has very substantial pad cup arms, key arms and linkages, but what lets it down big time is the fit and finish and also the flexing in the unsupported long rods. The reason why it's in is the players are having trouble with it packing up during playing.

This is down to the flexing in the LH2 mechanism - on normal (C) flutes players will tend to squeeze the keys harder if they feel things aren't seating well, but on this alto, squeezing harder causes the LH2 key rod to flex and the pads to lift off at the backs.

So I've since serviced it and also glued a thick cork pad to the underside of the LH2 fingerplate as a stopper to limit the amount of flex in the long rod once the cork pad touches the body (there's less than 0.5mm of a gap when held closed under normal finger pressure).

My Jupiter alto has similarly mounted keywork, but the keywork is much sturdier and better fitted and finished, so the LH2 keywork doesn't flex anywhere near as much and the pads don't lift off at the backs.

With bass clarinets and their long lengths of keywork, flexing is always an issue in any bass clarinet of any make - it's just a fact of life. Only with the softer alloys and poor key fitting in Chinese basses, this is only going to be exacerbated and there's nothing that can be done with it, so that's what you'll be up against. While the natural torsion in keys has to be worked with and gets greater on progressively larger instruments, when it's excessive it's just going to make the action feel mushy and lack positivity. Short of remaking the keys with much stronger alloys, there's not much else that can be done and that's out of the question on a bass that costs around 1/5 the price of a pro level bass.

With anything Chinese, you buy once but pay twice. At least. I know most instruments are never perfect from the moment they left the factory without needing some setting up, at best they require a few minor tweaks and at worst they require a complete overhaul. But this is a worst case scenario and requires far more than a complete overhaul.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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 Topics Author  Date
 Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Spiegelthal 2012-04-13 01:30 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Hank Lehrer 2012-04-13 03:12 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
bmcgar 2012-04-13 04:12 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
DougR 2012-04-15 14:18 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Clarimeister 2012-04-16 08:44 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Spiegelthal 2012-04-16 14:53 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
gsurosey 2012-04-22 20:01 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Hart 2012-07-30 13:55 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
srattle 2012-07-30 14:55 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Spiegelthal 2012-07-30 15:28 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Hart 2012-07-30 21:13 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Spiegelthal 2012-07-30 21:27 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Hart 2012-07-30 21:33 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
The_Clarinetist 2012-08-29 18:48 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
sax panther 2014-06-30 11:08 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
David Hart 2014-06-30 23:35 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Wes 2012-07-30 22:12 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
47tim 2014-06-29 22:55 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Tom Ridenour 2014-06-30 01:09 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
MRSax 2018-03-05 18:39 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
bronzor 2018-03-07 21:10 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
jdbassplayer 2018-03-07 21:58 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
nellsonic 2018-03-08 09:23 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
windplr 2014-06-30 06:19 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Tom Ridenour 2014-06-30 08:40 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
blazian 2014-07-02 08:19 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
shmuelyosef 2018-03-06 05:27 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Steven Ocone 2018-03-06 18:00 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
nellsonic 2018-03-07 00:56 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
GenEric 2018-03-07 01:01 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Hank Lehrer 2018-03-07 22:25 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
tucker 2018-03-08 17:26 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dorjepismo 2018-03-08 18:17 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
nellsonic 2018-03-09 01:47 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dorjepismo 2018-03-09 01:54 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dibble 2018-03-12 07:39 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Chris P 2018-03-12 14:45 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Steven Ocone 2018-03-12 16:06 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dibble 2018-03-12 16:23 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dorjepismo 2018-03-12 19:30 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Steven Ocone 2018-03-13 01:49 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dibble 2018-03-13 02:07 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
jdbassplayer 2018-03-13 03:21 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Julian ibiza 2022-09-25 11:26 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
HANGARDUDE 2023-01-15 23:18 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Julian ibiza 2022-09-28 17:26 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Julian ibiza 2023-01-15 14:46 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Julian ibiza 2023-02-25 18:36 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dibble 2018-03-13 03:56 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Chris P 2018-03-13 14:51 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dibble 2018-03-13 15:55 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Chris P 2018-03-13 16:28 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dibble 2018-03-14 05:43 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
dorjepismo 2018-03-14 08:16 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
jdbassplayer 2018-03-14 21:13 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
kilo 2023-01-15 17:04 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
Julian ibiza 2023-01-16 15:43 
 Re: Review: Ridenour low-C bass clarinet  new
HANGARDUDE 2023-01-19 14:42 


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