 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: TJTG
Date: 2011-07-21 00:23
Hello Everybody,
I've been going through Ridenour's video's on youtube, as well as a good deal of reading on his website. He seems to make a lot of well articulated points regarding mass-produced instruments. I've read reviews of his Lyrique line and they seem to only speak his praises, but then again, so do reviews of Buffet, Selmer... blah blah blah.
Does anybody have points to make against his line of instruments? He seems very keen to hard rubber. But if the properties he describes, regarding the substance, are so good, why don't more 'top tier' companies use the material?
It all seems to be too good to be true. For the price of a new Prestige Bb and A from Buffet, I could get myself a C, Bb, A, and basset clarinet from Ridenour for nearly half the cost. Ridenour himself explains his reason for low prices, and the reasoning for higher prices in the big name companies. If this were the case, why don't more professionals gravitate towards him?
I suppose, more than anything, I'm looking for other people's input.
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Author: Bobby McClellan
Date: 2011-07-21 02:43
I have seen people post that they did not like resistance, the register key design, some just dn't like them because there are actually made oversea but completely set up by Tom.
I personally have 2 of his horns the Basset A clarinet and the prototype BBb contra.
as for hte Basset A I see absolutely nothing wrong with the horn other than I donot play it enough to get used to the extended range. it is a beautiful sounding horn.
The BBb Contra is basically my primary horn. Now that I have it that seams to the the preference of instrument that I get asked to play. Horn has a great sound. plays wonderful. It is well constructed, and is holding up to constant use. About the only down side is the case, even though the horn is a 5 piece the case is still large and I must say it gets a beating. I will say it is smaller that my Vito EEb case and Toms case is lightwieght as can be with wheels to help.
Bobby
Bobby M. McClellan
Flowood, MS
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2011-07-21 03:48
TJTG wrote:
> Does anybody have points to make against his line of
> instruments? He seems very keen to hard rubber. But if the
> properties he describes, regarding the substance, are so good,
> why don't more 'top tier' companies use the material?
>
> It all seems to be too good to be true. For the price of a new
> Prestige Bb and A from Buffet, I could get myself a C, Bb, A,
> and basset clarinet from Ridenour for nearly half the cost.
> Ridenour himself explains his reason for low prices, and the
> reasoning for higher prices in the big name companies. If this
> were the case, why don't more professionals gravitate towards
> him?
>
> I suppose, more than anything, I'm looking for other people's
> input.
The argument has been rehashed many times on this forum. My personal opinion is that the primary reason why the larger makers don't offer professional clarinets made of hard rubber is that they don't think they could make as much profit off of them as they can with wood clarinets. Many clarinetists seem to consider hard rubber and plastic to be materials suitable only for student or intermediate level instruments and are willing to pay a premium to have a wooden instrument. I believe it is this willingness to pay more for wood is the primary reason why most clarinets are still made from it instead of more dimensionally stable materials.
As for why more professionals don't gravitate to Ridenour I'd say the biggest reason would be that most clarinetists don't change instruments very often. Most of the professional and semi-professional clarinetists I know have been playing the same instrument for a decade or more. Ridenour just hasn't been around long enough to gain much market share.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2011-07-21 04:32
As a buyer of only one of Tom's clarinets --a Lyrique A, I say, "Pass the salt," when the claim is made that he personally and thoroughly sets up each instrument. Mine had a whole litany of problems with the keywork. Nothing very difficult to fix --except for the left pinky G#/C# key colliding with the 2nd right side trill key; but enough to assure me that NO ONE had tried to play it before it was shipped to me.
HOWEVER, it is a very, very nice clarinet. In contrasting it to my Buffet RC Bb, the Lyrique has (slightly) better intonation, and it plays into the altissimo register better than any clarinet I've ever spent any time with.
The left had Bb and Eb are stuffy; but, overall, the clarinet is not.
For all his pro-hard rubber history, he's now putting out a wooden Bb.
Bob Phillips
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2011-07-21 05:22
I've never tried a Lyrique, so I really can't comment. However, I do read Sherman Friedland's blog regularly. I give him credit--he tells it like it is, and isn't afraid to go contrary to the crowd when discussing equipment. Friedland has always been one of Tom Ridenour's biggest boosters, and has always spoken very highly of the Lyrique. In fact, he has written that hard rubber has several advantages over wood. I don't think he likes the thumb rest and the register key design, but in general, I've had the impression in recent years that the hard rubber Lyrique is his favorite clarinet.
Friedland recently received the new wood G-1, and he really likes it. When I read his most recent entry, I was surprised. Here's what he had to say:
Most importantly is the response of the clarinet, made from grenadilla wood, rather then hard rubber. The Lyrique clarinet of hard rubber has the same ease of production, however the response of this clarinet is far superior. There is a solidity of response, (or sound, one may say) that while expressing every nuance of dynamic production, does so with a security that one knows will be heard.
http://clarinetcorner.wordpress.com/
So . . . does this really mean that hard rubber isn't as good as wood? I really don't know.
There aren't many other professional hard rubber clarinets out there, but I did notice that Hanson offers an ebonite option in their T5 model, and reinforced grenadilla options in the T5, T6, and T7 models.
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2011-07-21 06:22
TJTG, I own a Lyrique 576BC B-flat and can tell you that I really didn't like mine much at first. My preferred closed-tip mouthpiece/stiff reed setups did not match up well with the resistance of the Lyrique--I found the horn to be too stuffy for my liking and incapable of playing well at high dynamics.
After a brief "mouthpiece safari" I did find some slightly more open pieces which work splendidly with the Lyrique. Thus relieved of the stuffiness I initially encountered, the clarinet then revealed itself as fine all-around instrument.
That said, I think it could be better. The keywork works very well and is regulated just the way I like it, but lacks the solidity of my LeBlanc-sourced clarinets--if Mr. Ridenour could find a way to equip with Lyrique with robust power-forged keywork, I'd be on the phone tomorrow ordering one. And I find the tonal focus and low-register sonority of the instrument can be greatly improved by using a bell with a tighter flare than the stock Ridenour bell.
After owning the Lyrique for over a year now, I find that while I could do well with it if it were my only B-flat soprano, I'm glad that I don't have to. There are performance situations galore where I'd rather be on one of my other instruments.
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