 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-12-06 12:54
Dr. Omar Henderson, who developed the very successful Forté Bb clarinet is now currently in the final stages of building the new Forté C clarinet.
As he did with the Forté Bb clarinet, a few professional clarinetists and educators were selected nationwide for the final testing phase to generate their additional comments and suggestions. This is a wise move because the clarinet is basically "test driven" under real life conditions and any weaknesses are found and corrected.
After being sent the prototype from Dr. Henderson, I recently completed my testing of the Forté C clarinet and will share a few impressions:
The Forté C clarinet will incorporate all of the design features found currently in the Forté Bb clarinet. These include undercut tone holes, added bracing for the upper trill key, extra post and support for the B-E rod, hard power forged keys, SOFAS alignment system, hidden - no jam bridge key, ergonomic register and "A" key, passive bell vent, custom designed and tapered barrel, Italian kid leather pads, etc... A specially designed Gennusa/Redwine mouthpiece (specific for the C clarinet) is also being included.
The Forté C clarinet is being planned in 2 versions: The grenadilla clarinet will come with silver plated keys and the plastic clarinet with nickel plated keys.
The overall playing of the new Forté C clarinet is a most pleasurable experience. First, the sound is very refined - not piercing like other other C clarinets I have played. The tonal quality is very similar to my #282xxx Buffet R13 (1986). Most impressive was the ease and beautiful coloration of the clarion register. The throat tones, often a HUGE problem with C clarinets, were excellent. The 12ths were surprisingly good - especially the usually troublesome C to G, D to A and E to B.
What I most liked about the new Forté C clarinet is that it plays and sounds like a small Bb clarinet, not as a completely different member of the clarinet family. As Dr. Henderson recently told me:
"... I have played a few good "C"s and even more bad, shrill "C" clarinets and wanted to make a "C" that ... plays more like a nice Bb clarinet..."
He has definitely accomplished that goal.
Please direct all specific inquiries (pricing, availability,etc...) to Dr Omar Henderson at info@forteclarinet.com
Disclaimer - I was one of 4 professionals who were chosen as testers of the original Forté Bb clarinet for our impressions, comments and suggestions. We were not paid for our services and received no professional consideration...GBK
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-12-06 13:16
"What I most liked about the new Forté C clarinet is that it plays and sounds like a small Bb clarinet, not as a completely different member of the clarinet family. As Dr. Henderson recently told me"
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That's why I never bought a C Clarinet as I didn't want to basically buy a "kazoo".
Looks like this new Forte will be great! Glad he has a wooden version of it too - material does make a difference.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-12-06 13:34
That certainly "sounds" excellent, GBK, just what Doc's products all are. Is there any news re: availability [would make a fine Chr present] and pricings? I may commit to a purchase from our Band's Assoc. Cond, who owns the "Music Store" in Tulsa, to help spread the "good word". Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Fred
Date: 2005-12-06 14:09
GBK, did you play a wooden version or a plastic version?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-12-06 14:11
Fred wrote:
> GBK, did you play a wooden version or a plastic version?
I played the wooden version, but the barrels (2 different designs are currently being tested) were machined in hard rubber. Eventually the grenadilla clarinet will have a wood barrel and the plastic clarinet will have a hard rubber barrel...GBK
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-06 15:23
Not to let the cat out of the bag, but Omar has some other tricks up his sleeve.
Keep an eye on his accessories list. ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-12-06 15:41
PLEASE! Any further information as to price, timing, etc., contact Dr. Henderson at the above address.
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2007-01-22 22:42
Reviving the thread as I just purchased a Forte C clarinet and thought my review may interest some.
I received the clarinet almost two months ago so I have had some time to experiment with it. As far as I know at $750, it is the cheapest on the market and my expectations were not very high when I received the horn. I believe it is built in the Cszech republic by Amati according to the Forte team's specs (Omar "The Doctor" Henderson and Graham Golden).
The clarinet is silver plated and looks like a pro instrument right out of the box. The wood is nice and the key action fine too. One can use a standard Bb mouthpiece on it so it is quite easy to transition from A to Bb to C. The tone is quite pleasant and the clarinet is overall easy to play. When I first got the horn I had some complaints about a couple throat notes as well as long B being flat. Graham took some wood off at no cost to me and it plays very well in tune from low E to C (above the staff), higher than that I am mostly flat, but I suspect it is an embouchure problem more than an instrument problem. The long B is still flatter than most of the horn, but not something that cannot be worked with. I have been playing with different mouthpieces and the VD 13 series are definitely on the flat side, I found an old Selmer C125 that worked nicely and my main mouthpiece (Chadash-Hill) works well too.
As a comparison, I tried an E11 C clarinet from my teacher, and although nicer, it is quite a bit more expensive too. The position of the keys on the E11 suited my hands better (especially left hand pniky key for long C# and index finger of left hand), but its overall tone quality was not really better or more consistent. I'll try to put some sound files on the net for anybody interested.
Overall, I am very pleased with the clarinet and Omar and Graham have been most helpful. If you are in the market for a C, trying the Forte should be on your list.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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