Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2022-10-11 20:34
Strickly a late-life returning amateur here, but I discovered early that I could buy vintage and have them restored or overhauled cheaper than buying a single new pro instrument. I guess I'm making up for lost time by experiencing a lot of different equipment on the cheaper-than-new. I've been extremely happy with the results.
My daily go-to is a late-1950s Leblanc Symphonie 3 Full Boehm beautifully restored by Vytas Krass. I am just incredibly happy with how it plays and get compliments from the Buffet players. I have a slightly older restored Symphonie 3 standard Boehm that I use for backup, sometimes with a vintage Bonade mpc refaced by Brad Behn. I've dug out my old aluminum Roy Maier Reedguards from high school and college days to help keep my Legere Reeds flat.
The others of my vintage collection that I pull out every now and then for fun: a 1960 Buffet R-13 and a 1967 Leblanc Classic II. I have some others stuck back that I rarely play and am considering gifting or selling. I too find it hard to let go of them. They play nicely and each could have its purpose if the opportunity presents itself.
As to newer instruments I could use regularly but don't, I have a Noblet Eternite (somewhere around late 1990s? and looking suspiciously more like a Leblanc than any contemporary Noblet I've seen) that I quite like, a Leblanc Pete Fountain of early-2000s vintage, and a Ridenour Lyrique Libertas that I use for cold weather and outdoors. I don't find these as satisfying as the Symphonies.
As for newer equipment that I use regularly and prefer to vintage: Backun Traditional bells and Backun Fatboy and Traditional barrels on many of my clarinets, Legere reeds for Bb and alto and bass clarinets, much newer ligatures products (Rovner, Luyben), a Vandoren M30 Lyre Profile 88 13 mouthpiece for my Symphonies (most of the time), Vandoren BD5 mpc for my alto clarinet, and a Grabner White Velvet mpc for my bass.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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