 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Trondeh
Date: 2019-12-23 16:45
Hi
I play today on the excellent Buffet BC20 from 1978. An instrument that has been well taken care of and is just recently been completely serviced.
I hva read good things about Yamaha and their professional line. I happen to come across a Yamaha YCL 81 from 1979 at an acceptable price, also newly serviced. I have not tried the instrument, but the seller is willing to ship it to me and let me try it for a week.
I know this is probably impossible to tell, but would the YCL 81 be an upgrade from my BC20?
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Author: donald
Date: 2019-12-24 00:15
There will be lots of opinions, but if you're happy on the BC20 I'd stay with it. The Yamaha will probably be a nice instrument (that model was very popular with the top pros here in NZ when it came out) and MAY play a bit better in tune, and maybe a bit more even in sound or response, but you don't know until you get it. And if you're not noticing any problems with BC20....
To be honest, the BC20 probably has a better tone quality (though, that's a matter of opinion and no doubt the next post will disagree with me).
If you are really tempted, and have the money to buy the Yamaha without selling the BC20 first, then I guess give it a go and see which you like. (then choose which one to sell, might be difficult!)
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Author: Trondeh
Date: 2019-12-29 16:07
Thank you for your answer Donald. It seems that the Yamaha is already sold so I don't have think more about this ☺
Trond
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Author: Djudy
Date: 2019-12-31 16:13
I am only a few years into the clarinet but have been bitten badly by the bug and find the instrument every bit as intriguing as the jazz guitar, my main instrument. So the following comment is just my impression and in no way that of a professional , let alone solist, whose living and reputation depend and make incredible demands on an instrument.
I recently tried 3 new instruments in the big wind instrument store in the second largest city here in France (short tryout time obviously, instruments all specked before I was handed them) : Buffet Crampon RC Greenline, RC in wood, Yamaha CSVR. They were all very nice and all played well. This is only the second time I have played a TOTL Yamaha but my first (I stress that) impression has been the same , that they sound great and play easily but nothing jumps out at me about them. The Yamaha had a bland security compared to the Buffet's character. I think I would rapidly tire of this homogeneous sound, especially as I am not a good enough player to impose myself on such an instrument. I found the Buffets more interesting but neither of them 'grabbed' me the way my S1 (a 1976 BC20 derivative) did the first time I played it, and continues to do so. So I have decided to stick to my vintage instrument and get it overhauled instead.
Back when I bought my first student horn after playing on a very old Selmer for a year , same place, same thing : 3 or 4 of each Buffet, Yamaha, Selmer TOTL for students. The Yamahas were quickly put aside, then it took a long time to settle on what turned out to be a great example of an E13, because it had character stood out from the rest. Yet this fine instrument is now going to a new home because it still has less character than I knew existed back then. I originally payed more for it than any of my vintage horns, even after renovation.
It comes down to what you need and what you want, and not necessarily in a contradictory way. I am charmed by an instrument that has a certain vibration, a feeling as it is played, of depth and resonance. I'm not talking about a 'dark' sound or a piercing sound but a shimmer to the sound that radiates as it is played. That S1 allows me to feel I can have a sound that is mine, that gives me more enjoyment in my playing because I can interact with it. Perhaps I like this feeling because I know it so well from playing (many!) guitars. I actually have another very nice S1 with a alternate G#/D# LH key but it has less of this that the other, so the model is no absolute guarantee. No two pieces of wood are the same. I will continue to be curious and try old and new instruments and will not ignore Yamaha but doubt their homogeniety will ever seduce me.
For clarinets , as with guitars, we live in a wonderful period where the luthiers have produced a huge number of lovely , interesting instruments, unimaginable even a decade or 2 ago. I wonder which of today's TOTL instruments will be those still sought out 30 or 40 years from now?
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Author: m1964
Date: 2019-12-31 23:20
Trondeh wrote:
"Hi
I play today on the excellent Buffet BC20 from 1978. An instrument that has been well taken care of and is just recently been completely serviced.
I hva read good things about Yamaha and their professional line. I happen to come across a Yamaha YCL 81 from 1979 at an acceptable price, also newly serviced. I have not tried the instrument, but the seller is willing to ship it to me and let me try it for a week.
I know this is probably impossible to tell, but would the YCL 81 be an upgrade from my BC20?"
Hello,
I was recently looking into getting a new A and considered Yamaha as an option. Then I talked to my friend who played professionally and taught clarinet. I asked his opinion about Yamaha and if he knew how they compared to Buffets.
He said that he had an older Yamaha that was almost exact copy of his Buffet if you looked at it but it would not be even close to how his Buffet played. He sounded very skeptical when I told him that Yamaha is well regarded in the US.
Of course his Buffet is a good one and he may have a bad Yamaha.
I have not tried Yamaha yet so have no experience with them.
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