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Review of Ridenour low C bass clarinet

Author: Steven Ocone
Date: 2016-04-27 01:31

I just went through a brand new Ridenour bass clarinet and I was pleasantly surprised. I would give it grade "C+", and before you go up in flames, let me remind you that it is a passing grade and for the money I think it could be a good choice.

It was under approval so I did not attempt to do any significant repairs. The side F# (right hand upper joint) and the left pinky Ab/Eb were almost impossible to use. Adjusting the spring tension helped both.

The register was out of regulation and the F/C pads were out - no big deal.

I would give the padding an "A". The G/D could seal better - this is a difficult pad to get correct - so this is not unusual and easily dealt with.

The posts for the left pinky keys were a little loose - one more than the others. This isn't hard to fix - and best to do early. Also the rods are too short, they go deep into the posts before they are snug.

The G#/C# (left pinky) didn't open enough I increased it until it ran into the key for the forked Bb/Eb. Then I did some key bending for the Bb/Eb key to gain more opening. It is improved, but some key grinding will be necessary to increase it further. This is a design issue, but can be dealt with.

The left had notes D,E F F# were all stuffy for me and not vented adequately in my opinion. To increase the venting would require a lot of key bending as the felts on the key feet are very thin. Also the first finger key (with the little hole) has a long tube that extends down into the tone hole. I'm not sure that the F could be made to sound clearly. I wonder why it is so long.

The customer also noticed that in inside of the bell (the U-tube portion was un-plated and corroded. This didn't bother me.

I looked inside. No loose bits of hard rubber hanging around. I did noticed some chips out of the north and south sides of the inside some of the large tone holes. This didn't bother me.
Keys fit and finish was better than I expected. Not up to the standard of the expensive alternatives, but acceptable.

I'm working from memory, but I think I covered the major issues.

Steve Ocone

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