Reply #21: Lyons C Clarinet [View All]

I do! :evilgrin:

My father in law gave me his beautiful old Selmer Bb clarinet for a wedding present. This was the instrument he used when he fronted a pre-WWII big band "The Dick Yeager Band". I'd never played a clarinet before, but took lessons and found it to be the easiest instrument to pick up that I had ever tried. Although it did force me to learn how to read music for the first time in my life.

The bad part is that the VAST majority of my playing is jamming with other musicians at music festivals. I'm not NEARLY good enough to transpose music in my head from folk keys (C, D, G etc) into Bb. So I poked around, and found this guy in England, who makes the Lyons C Clarinet. Their biggest marketing segment is for a kids beginners instrument, as it is extremely light (no more clarinet thumb!) and the keys are a little closer together than on a standard clarinet. Fine for me, as I don't have large hands. It was inexpensive enough to take a chance on. And I LOVE IT! It's the perfect festival instrument. All plastic, all user maintainable, ultra-light, and actually has a great tone! Highly recommended!

I've communicated with the creator by email a couple times - extremely nice fellow.