Yamaha YCL-250

The Yamaha 250 was made in Indonesia.

New information from Chinese clarinetist, Kaiyu:

“Yamaha now have factory in Hangzhou, and produce pianos, clarinets and other instruments for beginners. And I am sure Yamaha 250 clarinet also made in Hangzhou now.”

Bore at top of left keyed joint: 14.9mm (wide)

At the bottom of the same: 14.5mm

Barrel: 65mm

The key work looks like it will be very sturdy.

I have been told that Yamaha decided to use Valentino pads on some of their instruments. This is the first instrument that I have seen with factory Valentino pads. The instrument came to me for possible adjustment. But none was needed. The instrument had been used for one school year and still sealed perfectly, holding suction in both keyed joints for many seconds.

Unfortunately, typical of wide-bore instruments, I am not impressed with the intonation of the model 250. As always, I play loud and dumb on my tests, playing a #4 Quebec Legere reed and a B45 mouthpiece.

Many students will need to pull out to be in tune, and when they pull out enough to be in tune on the C (concert B-flat) tuning note, they will be flat on the A and B-flat throat tones. Even though I don't like pulling out in the middle, I would recommend it for this horn. The results below are pushed all the way in.