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131 Posts
Hello,
I've been playing saxophone - mainly tenor - for 7 years, and would like to learn bass clarinet too. I'll have a chance of trying out and possibly buying one sometime this week from my sax tech in Czech Republic.
I know I can trust him, but I'd like to know what are the things to watch out for when choosing, like E/B intonation (that's like low D / middle D on saxophone, right?), register key mechanism (double vent better that single vent), etc.
As my parents would be buying it for me as a birthday present, I can't spend over 700€ (perhaps a bit far on the cheap side for a bass clarinet...), 1000€ if it's good enough to justify selling my alto saxophone, which I do intend to replace with a nice vintage sax next year, and stick with tenor in the meantime.
I'd really like a metal bass clarinet, but they're rare. Hard rubber is nice, plastic is ok. I don't want a wooden one, because I intend to play outdoors a
lot. In Belgium. I guess it wouldn't survive very long.
When I spoke with my tech two or three months ago, he had a very nice, 70-year-old wooden bass which was way over my price range, but he told me he'd probably have a resin Selmer later on - not sure what type of resin, nor which Selmer, but at 16000 CZK (620€ / 890$), I guess it's just a Bundy - or could it be anything else?
Assuming it actually is a bog-standard Selmer Bundy (USA) bass clarinet (I've heard they haven't changed a lot over time, is that right?), and that it is in good condition, well adjusted:
* Is the aforementioned price good?
* Would it be a good enough instrument to play on, or should I wait till I find something better?
(Not sure what good enough is. If I were searching for a saxophone, I guess 'good enough' would be at some point between my Amati alto sax and my Selmer SA80II tenor. Not much help, is it?)
Of course, if the mouthpiece isn't satisfactory, I'll reface it / build a new one / buy a good one.
Thanks for reading this far, double thanks if you actually reply, and, um... dodecatuple thanks for any useful replies
I've been playing saxophone - mainly tenor - for 7 years, and would like to learn bass clarinet too. I'll have a chance of trying out and possibly buying one sometime this week from my sax tech in Czech Republic.
I know I can trust him, but I'd like to know what are the things to watch out for when choosing, like E/B intonation (that's like low D / middle D on saxophone, right?), register key mechanism (double vent better that single vent), etc.
As my parents would be buying it for me as a birthday present, I can't spend over 700€ (perhaps a bit far on the cheap side for a bass clarinet...), 1000€ if it's good enough to justify selling my alto saxophone, which I do intend to replace with a nice vintage sax next year, and stick with tenor in the meantime.
I'd really like a metal bass clarinet, but they're rare. Hard rubber is nice, plastic is ok. I don't want a wooden one, because I intend to play outdoors a
lot. In Belgium. I guess it wouldn't survive very long.
When I spoke with my tech two or three months ago, he had a very nice, 70-year-old wooden bass which was way over my price range, but he told me he'd probably have a resin Selmer later on - not sure what type of resin, nor which Selmer, but at 16000 CZK (620€ / 890$), I guess it's just a Bundy - or could it be anything else?
Assuming it actually is a bog-standard Selmer Bundy (USA) bass clarinet (I've heard they haven't changed a lot over time, is that right?), and that it is in good condition, well adjusted:
* Is the aforementioned price good?
* Would it be a good enough instrument to play on, or should I wait till I find something better?
(Not sure what good enough is. If I were searching for a saxophone, I guess 'good enough' would be at some point between my Amati alto sax and my Selmer SA80II tenor. Not much help, is it?)
Of course, if the mouthpiece isn't satisfactory, I'll reface it / build a new one / buy a good one.
Thanks for reading this far, double thanks if you actually reply, and, um... dodecatuple thanks for any useful replies