Since next year, my sister wants to play the clarinet, what brand name of clarinet should she get? Thanks.

Buffet, LeBlanc, Yamaha and Selmer are the big four. My personal favourite is Buffet but take your sister to a shop and get her to try some clarinets and see which one she likes. You can take recommendations but at the end of the day every clarinetist wants different things from a clarinet so get her something she wants. Maybe you could consider renting an instrument or buying a used instrument because she is only just starting out.

It`s a matter of personal preference- I am getting a good sound out of an intermediate (Yamaha 34 wood) clarinet.
If you stick with the aforementioned brands, you should be safe.

Hi Andy,
In the UK I would suggest a Hanson Clarinet, and abroad I would suggest a Hanson Clarinet. Look for them on google, they are great.

I use a Selmer clarinet. It seems to work pretty good. See what your sister likes though.

if shes just starting out, id stick with either a beginning selmer, vito, or yamaha. They are all good brands and they make wonderful beginning clarinets. However, in following years if you decide you want to upgrade the clarinet, stick with Buffet. They`re the best hands down. If you can`t afford Buffet, then I`d stick with all the French Brands, they seem to be better clarients. Like Selmer Paris for instance

BUFFET!! The other suggestions were pretty good, too. Just stay away from Armstrongs. You get ripped off and I`m still paying to get mine repaired all the time. However, they make resonate tones if you buy a GOOD mouthpiece

Brit...4th year clarinetist

I started out with a Buffet E11...I still have it now. It seems to make a pretty good sound, but its an intermediate clarinet. If your sister is a beginer, she might not know the difference between a good or bad clarinet. I suggest a rental of a student or intermidiate model(buffet).

I have a Buffet B12 that I`ve been playing for about four years. I really like it, and it can last for a really long time. As long as you can produce a good tone quality it shouldn`t matter what kind of clarinet you get, but your sister should start out with a nice clarinet so that she can develop an ear for good playing. If she is serious about clarinet playing she should probably get an intermediate clarinet made by Buffet(E11, E12, E13, C12) since the upper and lower altissimo registers are a little harder to get on a B12.

BUFFET R13s rock! I have 2 that I picked out from the stock of clarinets from Muncy Winds and they are the best clarinets I have ever played. My A clarinet especially has been the best thing that ever happened to me - my teacher even says often that its better than both of his clarinets. I say stick with Buffets - beginner or professional - they are the most popular and used by the greatest clarinetists in the world.

Rachel B- while I understand you are very excited about your R13 pair, and I`m glad you tried several instead of just getting any pair like most current R13 owners do, Buffet is not the best by any stretch. Leblanc, Buffet, Selmer and Yamaha are all considered to be on the same level. I cannot stress how much everyone needs to try all the brands before they select a brand, and without bias.

The best players?
So you wouldn`t consider Sean Osborn to be one of the best? The former Principal of the Met. - the highest paid orchestra in the US? What about Eddie Daniels, Larry Combs- Principal of the CSO, one of the best orchestras in the world, John Bruce Yeh, and all of the other Leblanc, Selmer and Yamaha artists, not to mention the Rossi, Eaton, Howarth, Wurlitzer( and there are other brands) artists?

Bradley

I don`t know if you are aware of the fact that Leblanc is PAYING Larry Combs to play an Opus and not only did he go through many many MANY Opuses until he found one he could STAND, he also had it overhauled to Buffet R13 standards. Don`t believe me? Ask a serious, intelligent clarinetist...also, I`m not saying that EVERY good clarinetist in the world plays a Buffet, I`m just saying that the MAJORITY do. And the ones that do, in my opinion, outrank the ones you mentioned not just in musicality but in tone as well. I was giving my opinion and I`m sorry that yours is so very different. I like Leblanc - don`t get me wrong, the Concerto is quite good, I just believe that Buffet is the best choice overall. If you think differently - play something else.

It`s all a matter of preference. If I didn`t get you angry at me you wouldn`t have explained that not every good clarinetist plays a Buffet, and that Buffet isn`t the only good clarinet maker out there.

Maybe for you Buffet is overall the best choice. But not for many others. Some find the uneveness of the notes a problem. Others hate the tuning. What about the quality control new Buffets undergo, which is one of the poorest in the industry.

Buffet is a great clarinet manufacturer, but in recent years they have let their R13 line slide. And also- the non-Buffet players are NOT outranked by the Buffet players. You do have to count Karl Leister, Sabine Meyer, Michelle Zukovsky, Dieter Klocker etc. in that, and I think you have a variety of brands at
EVERY level.

I`m not trying to get you angry, but you were wrong in your original post. Maybe you are right about Larry Combs and the many Opera he hates, but I notice you didn`t say anything about the others.

Everyone has different tastes. Don`t try to generalize when people are looking for some honest bias-free advice.

Bradley

I would add another name to the `Big 4` that the majority of semi-pro and pro players use and that is Peter Eaton, Eaton clarinets are marvellous and also don`t forget Howarth, Patricola and Rossi.
I have a lot of respect for Hanson, an up and coming company here in the UK.

Eaton, Rossi, and Patricola clarinets are all marvelous, but the price range is a little above my head