Embedded Files
Thanks to Terri L of MA for donating this clarinet to me. This clarinet has kind of a sad history. Terry was planning to attend the New England Conservatory.
I played up to high school and was quite good. Districts, competitions scholarships to summer camps/ensembles planning to go to the conservatory all that. But my parents couldn't make the payments on my instrument and they bought me this Dumont, but I could never make it play right.
It plays well now that I have worked on it. I noted that someone else played this clarinet a lot, and it was repaired multiple times. This is always a good sign.
This clarinet plays just as well as the Rene Dumont clarinets I have worked on, maybe even better. That means, Good! Look at the intonation. I posited that the Rene Dumont clarinets came from the Thibouville factory, and I think that this one comes from the La Monte/Martin Frères company which bought out and operated the same factory. The key work is all different and not as good as the Rene Dumont clarinet. This key work looks most like the MF Deluxe and MF Plain Logo clarinets that I reviewed.
Serial #H21425
Barrel: 64.1mm
Bore LH joint top: 14.5mm
Bore LH joint at bottom: 14.5mm
Intonation results taken when playing loud and not lipping. See how to interpret these results on the Model Comparison Page.
For this test, I pulled 0 mm at the barrel, and 0 mm at the center tenon. But my mouthpiece doesn’t go in all the way and leaves .4 mm gap with the barrel.
Intonation summary: This is almost at the modern professional level.
Key work quality: The key work is a bit soft. Care will need to be taken in assembly and disassembly.
This clarinet is most appropriate for: Anyone. This would fit best for an intermediate player.
Condition issues noted: Some keys were bent. There are some little chips in the tenons I still need to fix.
Report abuse