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RE: C clarinets

Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2002-10-31 12:43

I just purchased a Patricola C (grenadilla wood) clarinet from IMS. When I placed my order I asked Lisa to try out various CL7s and to pick out one for me. I told her that I mostly play jazz and some contemporary classical music. I also told her that I'm looking for a dark and rich woody sound. In trying out the CL7s she found one that she said is unusually dark and woody sounding. When it arrived she enclosed a note with the following message about this clarinet: "...a lovely woody warm quality. Scale (w/45 mm barrel) is excellent and it has a wonderful focus and projection". My initial impressions of this Patricola CL7 are that this is one sweet clarinet. I'm very impressed with the richness of its sound, good intonation, and overall quality construction.

I'm currently using my Morgan RM28 C clarinet mouthpiece on the Patricola. It's clear to me that I need to use a Bb mouthpiece on it. I confirmed with Lisa that she used a Bb mouthpiece in trying the various CL7s. The C mouthpiece works well in the low and middle ranges. But, I'm not happy with it in the upper range. The mouthpiece doesn't have enough chamber volume to get the kind of response that I'd expect to have. Clearly, it's the mouthpiece and not the Patricola. Ralph Morgan is currently making a Bb RM28 mouthpiece for me. When I get the Bb mouthpiece I'll add a follow up note about how it plays.

Finally, I'd like to say that there is no comparison between a Patricola and a Buffet E11. I've gotten good results with an E11 (in particular with a Morgan C mouthpiece). But, the Patricola is in a different league. The Patricola is everything that I've been looking for in a C clarinet.

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