 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SEALE45
Date: 2020-10-11 09:58
Hi Friends!
I need some serious help here! I am trying to purchase a low c bass clarinet for my graduate studies for the fall of 2021. However, this has been WAY more difficult than expected; I've been attempting this for a while now. I am having trouble getting financed for anything. I know that my credit score is kinda rough due to one small amount that went into bad debt that I have since paid off. I would really like to get a hold of a bass sooner than later. Any suggestions on how to go about this? I did the GoFunMe and didn't raise enough, I do not see it feasible to ask my family for help, as they are tight as well, and I am having loads of trouble getting financed. Any suggestions are helpful. Thank you! I will note that my income is enpugh to handle a payment to finance a bass, but no one will finance me due to that one account I mentioned earlier. Thanks for the help!
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Author: jbutler ★2017
Date: 2020-11-01 23:12
Seems to be reasonably priced unless you just have to have a Prestige.
https://musicmedic.com/products/clarinets/the-wilmington-bass-clarinet-low-c.html
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Author: Reed B Chirpin
Date: 2020-11-02 00:27
The Royal Global basses are relative newcomers to the scene and seem to be making some noise. It's a few thousand $ less than the 1193 Prestige and the last Royal Firebird bass I tried was better than some of the 1193s I've come across. It's well above the level of any of the hard rubber basses, but I'm not sure what your budget is. As for financing, I know NY Clarinet Workshop has an option for that as far as Royals go. Finding a cosigner might also be the way to go if anyone you know is willing.
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Author: Kalashnikirby
Date: 2020-11-02 16:45
You could try to get a Kessler Low C bass, which is only 2,2k, use it for a while and sell it once you can afford a professional instrument. Resale value should be very goos.
But don’t try to look for used basses unless you’re somewhat into clarinet repairs, otherwise you’ll spend way too much on repairs before it runs properly. Plus the chances of getting a good used Low C bass at a reasonable price are frustratingly low. So many old Leblancs and Selmers at insane prices out there....
For 7,8k, the Royal bass looks like a steal. I’d buy that if I saw any chance of financing it.
Best regards
Christian
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Author: EbClarinet
Date: 2020-11-04 01:42
but how often r u going 2 actually play that low C in music? I've only seen that low C once when I was in college
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/mbtldsongministry/
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Author: Reed B Chirpin
Date: 2020-11-04 08:29
I just saw on instagram tonight from NY Clarinet Workshop that they now have a Royal Polaris model Low C bass clarinet priced at $6,800. It looks like the Firebird model still is a higher-end option, perhaps like having a "Prestige" and a "Tosca" type of tiering albeit more affordable. I'll have to check them out further to see the differences, but it looks very similar to the previous Firebird without the wooden bell/neck resonator and it has silver-plated posts compared to the updated rose gold-plated posts on the new Firebirds.
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2020-11-13 21:11
With all due respect to the expertise of the users here, the advice to not buy used makes zero sense to me. I couldn't afford a new Selmer, so I bought a used one, a model 33. Did it need a few hundred in repairs? Absolutely. But even taking that into account, I saved around $7,000 compared to a new bass clarinet from Selmer and have an instrument good enough to use for the rest of my life.
I would spend six grand on a used Selmer or Buffet ten times out of ten compared to buying a new instrument from a relatively unknown brand. If you buy the Selmer or Buffet, you'll probably have an instrument for life, but if you do decide you want to move on from it someday, you'll probably be able to sell it for what you paid for it. Possibly more, even, given the cost of new bass clarinets these days, which doesn't appear to be going down. Pretty much any "budget" instrument is going to be worth half of its retail price the moment you unpack it at home.
That said, when I got my degree, the only bass clarinet I owned was a low Eb Bundy. My school had a Selmer low C instrument (Series 9 or 33, I'm not sure which anymore) that I was lucky enough to have more or less exclusive use of for the time I was there. See if your school has one you can use. If nothing else, it will give you time to save and look for a good used instrument. They don't come up often, but they do show up periodically. Let your friends know you are looking. Oftentimes a seller will start out by seeing if anyone in their network wants to buy or knows someone who wants to buy before going to auction sites or classifieds. That's how I got mine.
Five to six thousand dollars is a lot, but it might be a lot more feasible than twelve or thirteen.
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2020-11-13 23:59
Max,
The problem with older bass clarinets is that they are often outdated mechanically and acoustically. Sure the Selmer 33 plays nice, but the low notes are not linked to the rest of mechanism and there are no alternate keys. The thumb keys are also arranged in a way that makes it hard to play fast passages. For a less advanced player this is fine, but many players need something more capable. The slightly newer 37 is better, but the prices for used instruments in good condition are well above some of the cheaper wooden instruments mentioned above. Meanwhile for less than half the price of a used 33 the Kessler basses have a linked mechanism and an alternate low D key for the pinky. While normally I am a huge advocate for buying used, it's just hard to justify that anymore with all the great instruments coming to the market.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2020-11-14 02:01
Oh, trust me, I know.
I embarked on a whole project to get a linkage added to allow me to use the extension keys without needing to reach for the low Eb every time. Now that I've done that, I can get around pretty handily and don't really ever find myself wishing for pinky keys. It's no great burden to operate them all with the thumb now that I don't always have to also find the RH Eb key.
The only thing I really wish I had now was a LH low Eb.
With that said, I was able to get around everything I encountered getting my bachelor's degree with the original stack of three thumb keys on the school's model 33 or series 9 (whichever it was). What eventually drove me to follow through on my harebrained modification scheme was trying to play Marc Mellits' 'Black', which I will admit was a lot harder with the original keys, though not impossible.
I've played the Kessler and, while it is a VERY good instrument, I wouldn't take it over mine. I can see why one would, though, and you wouldn't be wrong to do that.
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Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2020-11-14 22:52
Find a local credit union and take out a personal loan.
There is a prestige for sale listed in one of the fb groups that is under 7k.
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Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2020-11-15 01:12
James,
That bass for $4000-$5000 is a scam, it gets reposted every week from a different account.
-Jdbassplayer
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Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2020-11-19 03:30
Not talking about the scam bass.
James Garcia
Bass Clarinet/Clarinet III, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra
Post Edited (2020-11-19 03:30)
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Author: gsurosey
Date: 2021-01-10 23:20
A friend of mine bought a Royal Global Polaris bass recently and posted a video of how it plays:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR1OWOQ5tZxvaCNrMHdJKjvp7Ut8KO45lPrRZEmIjzuNCt1BT6ZBIhyn4QE&v=cJY_XyeXqpY&feature=youtu.be
----------
Rachel
Clarinet Stash:
Bb/A: Buffet R13
Eb: Bundy
Bass: Royal Global Max
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Author: Denis
Date: 2021-01-12 17:44
Greetings, I’m new here .
Sorry for returning the topic back to Max S-D and the series 33.
Question for Max S-D :
I’m also a proud owner is a series 33 and I’m very interested
In the modifications that you spoke of. I’d like to learn more.
Please contact me at denismalloy@rcn.com
Thank You Kindly
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2021-01-18 01:42
Denis, I wrote this up on the saxontheweb.net forum a while back. I had the changes done in two stages in 2017 and then the beginning of 2020. The first was quite simple, the second quite extensive.
Unfortunately, that forum recently migrated from the old software to the new and they are still migrating photos across. Right now the ones I uploaded do not show up, only the ones that are hosted elsewhere from my initial post. Uploading photos here is annoying enough that I am not going to do it, but you can read about what I did/had done over there:
https://www.saxontheweb.net/threads/selmer-model-33-low-c-keywork-modification.299881/
Hopefully they will have the uploaded photos visible within the next month or so.
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