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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