Any clarinet experts around?

[DustyTulips]

Dd has been learning clarinet for a couple of years and is now working on G5. Her teacher thinks she’s ready to upgrade from a beginner’s clarinet to a wooden one, but doesn’t have much idea of the current options as its years since she bought a clarinet.

What sort of price range should I be looking at, and is there anywhere reputable that I can buy one second-hand? I suspect if I just go to Howarth’s and ask them I’ll get something that’s right but rather expensive for what it is, so I thought I’d ask the MN collective first to get an idea of what I should be looking for.

Dd is about to go to secondary school, which has lots of musical opportunities, so I want her to have something that won’t hold her back from taking part in them.

@anonamouse1234 That’s the tricky bit - I don’t know if dd will use it for the long term. She doesn’t have a main instrument, is about the same level on all three, so I’m reluctant to make a huge investment. But if a different mouthpiece can make a lot of difference, then I’ll book in to a couple of the more local shops and she can try out different clarinets and mouthpieces, within budget, and we’ll see what works for her.

This is very true.

Instruments hold their value pretty well, so you're not losing much if you get the right instrument "for now" and then sell it and upgrade later.

Very timely and useful thread. Thanks for all of the recommendations as also in the market for a new clarinet.

Another vote for JustFlutes - let us spend ages with our son in a practice room trying lots of different models - really helpful!

This is making me feel old and nostalgic! I still have my old B&H 'Emperor' clarinet somewhere which took me through all the grades!

Thanks, all! I have booked in a chance to try out some clarinets for the summer holidays. I will see what suits - but will bear in mind re-sale value, especially if (as I hope) we buy secondhand. That’s what I did with bikes, and it worked well!

For those of you that went for the E13, did you change the mouthpiece? I know nothing about clarinets so grateful for any advice!

Change the mouthpiece. The ones that come with the clarinet are not great. Go to a shop and try lots out. I like the JD Hite (Hyte? Sp?). I got these for all my clarinets, but it's a personal thing - you need to try them.

But - I would suggest the R13. It's worth the extra.

Yes, we changed the mouthpiece based on recommendation from the teacher. I think a Selmer one was the preferred choice. A different ligature was chosen too, a BG one.

The R13 is a better clarinet but is a bit of a price jump to pay until you know that it’s what your DC wants to pursue (saw you posted on the other thread). We didn’t need to buy at that level until DC was at conservatoire, the E13 was used up to Grade 8/Diploma and is a very good instrument.

Thank you @anonamouse1234 and @Wetellyourstory. Her teacher has said not to worry about changing the mouthpiece until Grade 5 level but it seems odd to me as it is ‘relatively’ inexpensive compared to the cost of the clarinet itself? We have an appointment on Saturday to try out the E13 and some mouthpieces. We did consider an R13/ RC but the instruments are kept in school on lesson day in a storage room and there definitely have been instances of things being thrown around, so I am reluctant to spend too much until she moves to senior school (even if it is in a hard case).