Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2018-08-07 04:48
The thread was 11 years (since OP) when you posted last...
Now 17 years out, other than the Forte (which doesn't exist as far as obtaining one), are their any non-wood clarinets out there that compete? I've been buying some plastic clarinets and giving them professional quality overhaul this summer as an experiment (except the Alpha, which looked new, got some thin cork pads to help open the A/A# and replacements to fix leaks), and play-testing them against my older Selmers (CT and Series 9). Here's the list with year of birth, comments (in order of my 'approval' of them ...i.e. are they keepers)
Vito V40 (1995) - GP springs, metal spring seats on side keys, no alignment pin, totally rocks
Vito V40 (1999) - GP springs, spring grooves cut into body, alignment pin which was misplaced as received (I opened up the receiving notch to allow the joint to fully close)
Vito 7214 (1984) - Lyre logo, nice build quality, many pro features (spring seats, tapered bridge)
Vito 7214 (1995) - Painted V logo, required some keywork changes to play well
Boosey & Hawkes 1-10 (1964 X2) - Have two identical horns, they play well, but the key positions are awkward for me. Good intonation (after adjustments)
Backun Alpha (??) - Came to me used; throat tones flat, very resistive. Worked hard to open the throat a little, but overall disappointed with the response and intonation.
The older of the two V40s is a serious keeper as is the older of 7214s. The newer ones are good, too, but have some annoyances (not least of which is the alignment pins). I really want to like the B&H, as I get a great tone with reasonable intonation...maybe will keep trying to get used to the key positions, but my hands are large and that might be some of the difficulty.
Post Edited (2018-08-07 04:51)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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