 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Michael
Date: 2002-03-02 09:22
Has anyone played this & thought it was a decent insturmnet?
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-03-02 09:37
funny you ask
i saw one "for real" for the first time just yesterday
i was very excited- it had been brought in to nz (the first one ever) especially for a younger student i was to teach. i love playing the E flat clarinet but can't actually afford one of my own, so was also interested in the instrument as a cheap E flat to use for working on reeds etc (i always can borrow a proffesional one for a gig if i need to).
my first impression was positive- the design seemed good, the keywork seemed pretty much ok (the A/G# key had quite a lot of resistance)
however, there were some problems with the instrument- some holes had not been "finished" to anywhere near an acceptable standard. One of them actually had plastic over the end of the hole- most of them had a rough interior finish. This caused a problem- the fingering for (left hand lower register) E and F produced the same note!
there were also some problems with pads not seating- and a few very small but crucial adjustments to the key work will need to be done.
in general- the "product" as it came to us from the supplier was not up to standard- what is depressing is that i think the Kinderclarinet is a great idea, but if this instrument had gone directly to the hands of a student, OR a teacher unable to correctly diagnose the problems, it would have been a disaster (AND a terrible advertisement for the concept).
the company that imported the horn are going to check it out with the suppliers, HOPEFULLY this clarinet and its problems are not typical. i'll be really disapointed if it turns out that they're all like this.
nzdonald
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-03-02 11:18
Donald, this is the one that interests me, although in C rather than Eb. There is at least one in NZ (with a lost clip-on key), which I hope to someday see.
http://www.firstclarinet.com/
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-03-02 19:02
you're talking the Lyons C clarinet? i've heard good things about that too- in fact Julian Bliss started off playing one of these (though he progressed pretty fast on to a "real clarinet"). I only have one problem with it, and maybe it's being a bit picky. Here in NZ it could take a while to get the replacement keys if you had to order them from overseas. That's just a minor grumble that i supose would go away when enough people owned them here to make it worth while for someone to keep a stock of parts locally. The mouthpiece is a different size i believe, meaning that you are stuck with what they send you (and a delay if that is broken). The Kinder clarinet uses a standard E flat mouthpiece- other than my own one (Zinner) i have about 5 of them, and it would be relatively easy to get a replacement for a student if the dog got hungry etc.
BOTH instruments will work fine with "sawn off" B flat reeds. The Kinder clarinet will have the same problems playing Alto sax parts as the Lyons will have with flute parts- ie middle line B and C sharp are not easy notes....
but yes- the Lyons C clarinet definately is a good idea, though. It looks a bit wierd, but that doesn't really matter i guess.
nzdonald
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Author: A David Peacham
Date: 2002-03-02 21:51
Donald: The makers of the Lyons C clarinet claim that a standard Eb mouthpiece can be used; see http://www.firstclarinet.com/informationfr.htm
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-03-03 10:07
Wes, it's all there in their web site.
Donald last year I ordered a dental handpiece part from Japan - arrived in 4 days.
Last week I ordered 4 lb of cork grease from a specialist supplier in America. It arrived in 3 days!
At the same time I ordered glass syringes from Canada. They arrived in 6 days.
It is not distance that is the limiting factor. Service is.
However any semi-serious, caring importer would rob a clip-off key from a stock instrument until a replacement was obtained.
a feature of trhis instrument is that it is easy for the owner to simply clip on the replacement key. No time spent with the technician!!
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