Borg HR

March 2010:

This new Chinese-made clarinet comes in a case styled like a little violin case, which looks the same as one seen with First Act clarinets. The clarinet looks nice, and even has two barrels. The crow-foot under the right pinkie keys is so soft that it will not stay in adjustment. Not recommended.

December 2010:

No longer so frequently seen on eBay. I was told these were sold at Sam's Club. One clarinetpages member, David quipped that he must have missed the Startrek episode where the Borg made lousy clarinets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_%28Star_Trek%29

Jan2011: One came into the store. This clarinet is made of hard rubber.

Serial # no serial number

Barrel: 65.2mm

Bore LH joint top: 14.7mm

Bore LH joint at bottom: 14.7mm

This clarinet has a different style tone hole insert than the Ridenour. Instead of going straight down, the Borg has a button-shaped insert. And one needs to be careful to watch them. One came off as I was working on a tenon joint. I was lucky I found it!

Intonation results taken when playing loud and not lipping. See how to interpret these results on the Model Comparison Page.In order to try to improve the lower register, this test was made with pulling out about a milimeter at the barrel and in the middle. It didn't help. The second test is probably more accurate for what this horn can do. For that test I pulled 1.6mm only at the barrel.

Intonation summary: The intonation is so bad as to be totally unusable. It is really weird that the low register can be so sharp, while the upper register is so flat starting at E at the top of the treble clef.

Key work quality: soft

This clarinet is most appropriate for: Nobody. This qualifies only as a CSO (clarinet shaped object). Make into decorative lamp.

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