Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2020-10-23 19:18
Thanks for the question, Ruben.....Mostly I mess around with bass clarinets, but most of my personal soprano Bb and A clarinets (both Boehm and Oehler-system) are GDR-era F. Arthur (and one G. Rudolf) Uebel instruments. I realize it's been written that their GDR-era instruments were inferior to pre-WWII versions, but I've gotten good results from them after thorough overhauls, and they are inexpensive to acquire. Not sure if they're "exceptional", but they're plenty good enough for me at my modest level of playing ability.
I also like many of the Boosey & Hawkes models from the 1950s through 80s, they're abundant and very cheap to buy, also are well-made and comfortable to play. I'd say they are decent enough in terms of sound and intonation, but wouldn't call them "exceptional". They pretty much all need some tonehole venting improvement (mild undercutting at least) to even reach the middle ranks.
Finally, I've restored two 1930s-vintage G.M. Bundy-Paris Bb clarinets, with a third currently on the workbench, and these are pretty nice horns, since they are basically rebadged Selmer-Paris instruments from that era. I'm not a huge Buffet R-13 fan, but I tell people that these G.M. Bundy clarinets seem similar to the R-13 in sound and feel. A bit less common on That Auction Site, but they do show up occasionally. They also benefit from tonehole undercutting, because like the Booseys they came from the factory with straight tonehole walls.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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