Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2012-04-10 21:17
I have a Stephen Fox C that was made in 2001 or so.
I use a Vandoren 5RVLyre for non-classical events on C, Bb or A. These events could be Klezmer, contra dances, or sometimes with a rock band. An M30 is used for classical events. I look at both of these pieces as short-term solutions.
Mr. Fox designed the C instrument to use a standard-chambered mouthpiece. I have played and rejected C"s though that behave the way you have described. The main thing is how the instruments were designed, and having played on a number of C instruments, it is hard to say whether a lot of them were actually designed, or were just thrown together.
Last year I ended up playing with someone who has one of Tom Ridenour's C clarinets and it compared depressingly well with mine. Depressing when you compare the prices of the two instruments. Still, I like my Fox better.
My experience playing in our community band on a <cheap> plastic Eb may have developed some flexibility on my part. All the high notes were flat, and I got them in tune by fingering the next higher half-step and lipping them down. This is what <un-nameed player> did on his <pro-line> C, at least before moving the register vent (your results may vary.) People complemented me, little did they know. It was not fun, and I traded the darn thing in with some other less-than-optimal clarinets for a reasonbly nice tenor sax. ("Oh, you need an eefer player? Sorry, I no longer own one.") Developing this flexibility may have helped me in the long run, but when I first played on a Fox C clarinet I had already ruled out just about everything else that was reasonably available at that time. This experience taught me that it is always better to play on a better instrument.
Still, you may warm up to your C. I wouldn't do anything non-reversable yet, until you have decided which things are the instrument's fault, which the mouthpiece's, and which the player's.
Regards
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The Ethnic Clarinet
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