What is the best clarinet brand?

Question:It really depends on who you ask. For performing, go with a wood clarinet. Three major brands to look for are Buffet, Leblanc, and Selmer. Yamaha also makes good horns. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and now you'll hear a bit of my opinion:

Buffet is a good brand, a standard one to go with is the Buffet R13 for Bb clarinets. This horn is a standard for most players that I know of. It sounds gorgeous. Be careful if you buy this used, be sure you know when you are getting it from, and ask questions. For a certain time period Buffets were not being made well (I can't recall the exact dates, it is in the 1980s I think). The older Buffets will often have the better wood when compared with the newer Buffets. My own horn is an older Buffet from the 1960s, and I love it. It looks a bit banged up but has a gorgeous tone.

One of my fellow clarinetists has a Selmer and adores it. I don't know much about it, but give them a try and see how they work.

Unfortunately, with clarinets the more expensive they are the better they are (usually). Also, name brands are pretty much the way to go. A really good horn will cost you $2,000 - $3,000, depending on what you get (for example, some clarinets have the additional Eb key, which is expensive!).

One more interesting thing to note is the Green Line clarinet line from Buffet. This is a "wood" clarinet engineered to not be affected by humidity or temperature changes (wood clarinets can crack when the temperature/humidity changes, especially the brand new ones that have not been broken in). It has a different sound than wood clarinets. Personally, I like the actual wood ones better, but many people like the Green Line.

If you go to your local music store I bet they would let you try clarinets out to see which one you liked the best.

Good luck!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It really depends on who you ask. For performing, go with a wood clarinet. Three major brands to look for are Buffet, Leblanc, and Selmer. Yamaha also makes good horns. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and now you'll hear a bit of my opinion:

Buffet is a good brand, a standard one to go with is the Buffet R13 for Bb clarinets. This horn is a standard for most players that I know of. It sounds gorgeous. Be careful if you buy this used, be sure you know when you are getting it from, and ask questions. For a certain time period Buffets were not being made well (I can't recall the exact dates, it is in the 1980s I think). The older Buffets will often have the better wood when compared with the newer Buffets. My own horn is an older Buffet from the 1960s, and I love it. It looks a bit banged up but has a gorgeous tone.

One of my fellow clarinetists has a Selmer and adores it. I don't know much about it, but give them a try and see how they work.

Unfortunately, with clarinets the more expensive they are the better they are (usually). Also, name brands are pretty much the way to go. A really good horn will cost you $2,000 - $3,000, depending on what you get (for example, some clarinets have the additional Eb key, which is expensive!).

One more interesting thing to note is the Green Line clarinet line from Buffet. This is a "wood" clarinet engineered to not be affected by humidity or temperature changes (wood clarinets can crack when the temperature/humidity changes, especially the brand new ones that have not been broken in). It has a different sound than wood clarinets. Personally, I like the actual wood ones better, but many people like the Green Line.

If you go to your local music store I bet they would let you try clarinets out to see which one you liked the best.

Good luck!

the best clarinets would be made of wood i'm not sure about the very best brand but i have the Selmer Omega wooden clarinet. my band teacher always asked to hold it.

Clarinets are not made of wood but of soybean stalk! I would recommend a Buffet if they are still around. I went through several many years ago and finally settled on the B-flat Buffet. I know that it was not their top of the line but it still came in at around $700 and has provided me with over 40 years of pleasure. Make sure that you get a mouth piece that fits you. Any good brand will have several options.

buffet

http://www.giardinelli.com/navigation/cl...

anything wood will be a good investment

from what I remember, the better players had buffets

If there was "the best" brand, everyone would be playing it. In professional instruments, there are mass-produced ones, and hand-crafted or custom-made ones also. They are all different in a number of ways.

Why do you ask?

There are three that are generally accepted as "best" but remember, each of these three also make models that aren't best.

Buffet
Selmer (Paris)
Leblanc (Paris)

That said, a professional level Yamaha is better than a student level Buffet or Selmer etc... so it's also about the model.

Buffet R-13 is $2500-3500
Selmer Paris is $2200-3600
Leblanc Paris is hard to find these days but in the same price range with a few models running upwards of $5000

If you walk into just about any music store and ask them for the best clarinet they have, it's most likely one of these three.