 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-05-16 12:56
In other words, do you stick to the one brand of clarinet, every clarinet you have is by that one maker and you won't dare look at any other make, or do you play anything you like regardless of make, model or age?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: mqaa
Date: 2024-05-16 15:11
I do switch every now and then. Currently playing a RZ Capriccio and really do like it. Before that I had a Selmer Privilege that I played for about 10 years. Before that a Buffet Festival also about 10 years. Before that a Selmer Signature and Buffet RC. When I feel it is time for a new instrument I go to the store and play as many instruments as I can and pick the one I like the best regardless of model or make.
Marc
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2024-05-16 18:36
An interesting question given the diversity of people on this BB.
It seems to me that the answer to this question relies heavily on the experience and budget of the responant. I'm an amateur late-life returner to playing after being frustrated by unrecognized limitations in my earlier days. Since returning I have been on a spree of experimentation and searching trying to catch up with the knowledge and experience I missed facilitated by having more money than I did when younger. My favorites are Leblanc clarinets because they consistently work well for me, but have experimented with many different makes and models. I dearly wanted to be able to play older big bore Selmers of which I have a couple, but the ergonomics just don't fit my smaller hands. I have a couple of Booseys, one in good condition and a Series 2000 that I want to rehab to try. Also a Lyrique Libertas and a couple of other lesser known vintage clarinets I am anxious to try after I get them rehabed. And of course I have a vintage R13 which I am actually not especially fond of. I have drawers of mouthpieces I have experimented with, and am always trying new reeds. I'm having to slow down as my savings dwindles, but I am definitely not in the "brand loyal camp". Although I have a preference for my Leblancs I often go out for a rehearsal or concert with something else just for fun. I'm just having fun exploring the world of clarineting.
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-05-16 20:07
I see advantages to both schools of thought. On the one hand--not sacrificing on quality-- market share and a well established and historical presence in the market increases my chances that the business, and those in the industry that services it will be around 10 years from now.
But every so often someone builds a better mousetrap and IMHO it is worth taking the leap to buy their wares despite the additional risks of their greater financial instability.
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2024-05-16 23:17
Always been Buffet. Creature of habit.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2024-05-17 01:39
As I am a born nonconformist, I always play a brand of clarinet nobody has heard of or a model by the big makers that hardly anybody is familiar with. If it's not off the beaten track, it doesn't interest me. Maybe my next clarinet will be from Outer Mongolia.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: gwie
Date: 2024-05-17 21:13
I don't care what brand of clarinet it is, as long as the intonation is consistent, doesn't have mechanical issues, and holds adjustments for a long time under extended performance conditions. Sometimes, individual players do better with the idiosyncrasies of one design's layout than another.
For me, the Yamaha layouts for the CSG are absolutely perfect for my hands. I love their placement of the C#/G# key and the LH Eb lever. For a colleague of mine, the Yamaha design is just too cramped and they find their Backun MoBa superior for them.
Post Edited (2024-05-17 21:13)
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Author: Reese Oller
Date: 2024-05-17 21:55
I will play anything as long as it gets me where I'm going. The majority of clarinets I play on are Buffet (Prestige bass I own, Eb for a few months, and an A I borrowed a few times) although I'm quite partial to Selmers I've tried (I am of the opinion that the Privilege and Recital match the vintage R13 blow-by-blow in terms of freedom and quality AND has an aux Eb/Ab), Leblanc (Low C Paperclip and 7182 contrabasses and an L60 bass), and Yamahas (played consistently on YCL 255 Bb and YCL 221 Bass, and I really have fallen in love with the CSVR).
I dislike Backun clarinets, way too resistant. Maybe one day I'll find one right for me but not today.
Reese Oller
Clarinet student (performance major at Millikin University)
I can play bass clarinet, Eb clarinet, BBb contra, alto saxophone, bassoon at a decent level, and flute in a pinch.
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-05-18 13:22
Reese Oller wrote:
> I will play anything as long as it gets me where I'm going. The
> majority of clarinets I play on are Buffet (Prestige bass I
> own, Eb for a few months, and an A I borrowed a few times)
> although I'm quite partial to Selmers I've tried (I am of the
> opinion that the Privilege and Recital match the vintage R13
> blow-by-blow in terms of freedom and quality AND has an aux
> Eb/Ab), Leblanc (Low C Paperclip and 7182 contrabasses and an
> L60 bass), and Yamahas (played consistently on YCL 255 Bb and
> YCL 221 Bass, and I really have fallen in love with the CSVR).
>
> I dislike Backun clarinets, way too resistant. Maybe one day
> I'll find one right for me but not today.
>
Cannonball Adderley reportedly once said that he could play most any kind of equipment. What he really just wanted was something that didn't get in his way.
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Author: Michael E. Shultz
Date: 2024-05-18 14:37
I guess not, since I have a Buffet Festival Greenline and a Selmer Series 9 Soprano clarinets, along with a Leblanc Alto clarinet.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
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Author: Jordan Selburn
Date: 2024-05-18 22:19
I have a reputation as a brand slag, and it may be deserved.
My first non-student horn was an R13. I switched to Peter Eaton clarinets in the mid-1990s, which may still be the most in-tune instruments that I've ever played.
From Eaton to LeBlanc/Backun about 15 years after that (and I still have the Leblanc Bb as my backup), but after that a fairly quick switch to the Yamaha CSGs which are simply great horns and with which I was very happy. 5 years ago, though, I came across a used Schwenk & Seggelke, and my brand-hopping/soprano clarinet journey will stop here, or rather it will once I pick up my new pair of S&S in a few months . . .
Jordan
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2024-05-19 06:44
>> Are You Brand Loyal Or A Brand Slag? <<
You could be both, the instruments that work best for someone just happen to be all from the same company.
I'm not, my main two instruments (bass and soprano) are from different companies.
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Author: donald
Date: 2024-05-19 07:00
For many years I played a Buffet R13 Bb clarinet and a Yamaha Custom 85-11 A clarinet. Twenty years after selling that A clarinet I've not found one that was as good, though a couple have come close.
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Author: graham
Date: 2024-05-19 23:26
I have three operational pairs of clarinets. The brand of all six instruments passed into obsolescence before the onset of the 1940s. Not sure what that makes me.
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Author: dorjepismo ★2017
Date: 2024-05-25 02:56
Quite loyal. Everything since the first set has been by Seggelke, and trying other horns has just confirmed that I'm where I need to be. For economic reasons, though, acquisitions need to be pretty spaced out.
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Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2024-05-25 20:44
I'd play whatever works. Though I must admit I've tried MANY clarinets yet still return to the RC everytime.... Simply because many new instruments cannot justify their price in away that'd motivate me to swap my RC for them.
Not even a Backun MoBa (I too disliked it a lot, haha).
Well, my bass is a Leblanc, my alto a Selmer. So I'd just say I'm loyal to my instruments, not their brand.
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Author: Kiela
Date: 2024-05-29 01:27
I don't mind too much but in effect I have some degree of brand loyalty. I trust Yamaha enough that most of the woodwinds I own are of Yamaha make, particularly my saxophones. For clarinet, it's a bit more varied. I seem to have settled on LeBlanc, my soprano and alto clarinets are LeBlanc, and I like the LeBlanc basset and paperclip contra, though I am only borrowing those at the moment.
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2024-05-29 02:19
not brand loyal at all. if it plays good i use it. case in point my current clarinet that i play daily is a pustapone.an extremly obscure east german/checz brand but plays so good
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-05-29 18:33
I generally gravitate towards older Selmers (BT, CT and Series 9/9*) and always recommend them to others as I've never encountered a dud no matter their condition.
Although I have played and do play other makes besides older Selmers as I've owned and played B&H, Buffet, Leblanc and Yamaha clarinets as well as some less well known or less popular makes.
I'd also recommend Howarth S1, S2 and S3 clarinets if you ever see them for sale as I find them much nicer players compared to Buffets. I rarely see any Marigaux clarinets as I've only worked on older models including the intermediate models made for Howarth and the only new ones I saw were a couple of RS Symphonies back in the late '80s.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2024-05-29 18:44
CXhris: In modern times, Marigaux only made clarinets for a short while in the eighties. The keywork was good, but they never took off.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-05-29 21:32
Marigaux have made clarinets for much longer than that. The only reason they didn't "take off" was because of Buffet, which is the same for Howarth clarinets - both have a following, but neither could compete with Buffet.
However, Marigaux oboes are the most popular oboes among European orchestras.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: dorjepismo ★2017
Date: 2024-05-30 09:07
Chris, your comments raise an interesting question: with the Howarth and Marigaux clarinets, were they built in a shop led by a single visionary artist with magical ears, or was the design more of a collective effort? There are several German shops that don't seem to have any need to compete with Buffet in sales and revenue, but that sell pretty much everything they can make, do decent work, and have devoted followings. They keep going year after year, and train some people who eventually start their own shops. Peter Eaton seemed to want to do the same kind of thing with the 1010 design, but for whatever reason the small shop with apprentices might have worked less well in the London suburbs. But in the few German instrument workshops I've visited, the people seemed to be happy, the instruments often could compete musically just fine with large makers, and several of them could boast having respected principals who played their instruments. It just seems too bad that that wasn't enough for Howarth and Marigaux. Or did the fault lie in a culture of players who didn't have enough imagination?
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Author: ruben
Date: 2024-05-30 09:44
Dorjep: The tester for the most recent Marigaux clarinet -which is far from recent- was Roland Simoncini, a fine French clarinetist with the Orchestre National de France. I never tried one out, but the top clarinetists here in France of that generation told me they didn't like it. The other problem is that Marigaux is associated with oboes, so in a clarinetist's unconscious, they aren't into clarinets. The same goes for Howarth. It's like an actor that usually plays one type of a part playing a completely different type and not drawing his usual audience. As for fine German craftsmen, the only trouble is the cost of their instruments: almost twice that of factory-produced clarinets.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: dorjepismo ★2017
Date: 2024-05-31 00:12
Rubin, I think the perceptions are as you write, but suspect the reality is more complicated. I've never visited a Buffet or Selmer workshop, but every now and then there are videos where people who work there discuss what they do, and it doesn't sound like what we think of as a factory, at least for the high-end instruments. And as far as cost, Buffet's top instruments are now in the same range as German workshops if you adjust for the amount of hardware per instrument, though sellers probably discount more heavily with Buffets for preferred customers. If the top French players of the time weren't impressed with Marigaux, though, there's not a lot more to be said. In the U.S., both Backun and Uebel came out of nowhere and attracted some very good players, and are now doing well, so it's possible to compete with the right combination of design, persistence and investment.
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