CLARINETS DIRECT

020 8581 1113 or 07787 770071

MATCHED PAIR OF LEBLANC OPUS CLARINETS, £3895

This exceptional pair of clarinets are a commission sale for Clarinets Direct. Their sole and former owner, is one of Britain's leading professionals, this pair were his main instruments for over a decade as co-Principal clarinet of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. These instruments were the finest in the modern Leblanc range and were manufactured until the sale of the Leblanc Paris factory to Buffet, in 2009. They are of polycylindrical bore design at 14.61mm and were designed to be better in tune and more stable than their direct competitor; the Buffet Prestige R13. Leblanc engineering has always been of a high standard and these clarinets feature integral raised and tapered tone holes; Inverted taper bore barrels of the Moennig pattern; 18 keys, i.e. LH Ab/Eb, and unstained hand selected Grenadilla wood. All in all a thoroughly modern design with many novel features. Quite rightly the Opus quickly gained a large following amongst top professional players. This particular pair were hand selected from the distributor, Arbiter, here in London from an entire batch before distribution to UK dealers, they are truly outstanding examples: demonstrating a near perfectly even scale and exemplary intonation throughout the entire compass.
The Bb has matching serial numbers 71563. There is no damage to the wood, which is crack and repair free. The plating overall is excellent with no discernable loss to the keys or ring fingers, however there has been some slight loss to the plating on the tenon rings, see photo 6. Both instruments have had a full check by Michael Huntriss prior to sale, with pads and tenon corks replaced as necessary, and all key work regulated. All pads are either Pisoni Premium Deluxe tan leather, or original Leblanc with reflectors. The A, matching serial numbers 71653, again has no plating loss, but some tarnishing to the tenon rings. All pieces are original and stamped Leblanc, with 4 interchangeable barrels [ the bores of the Bb and A are identical] of 65.2mm 67.5mm, 63.0mm, and 66.0mm. The mouthpiece is a used Buffet m'piece provided for play testing. The case is the original, which has seen much use, but is in good condition.