CLARINETS DIRECT

020 85811113 or 07787 770071

YAMAHA SE CUSTOM Bb CLARINET, CHARLES COLLECTION, £1095

A near mint condition Yamaha SE CUSTOM clarinet, which is a commission sale for Clarinets Direct. The only reason it is described as "near mint" rather than "mint", is the fact that the pads are not new. The sole former owner is a London based professional sax and clarinet player, who has decided it is time to "prune" his large clarinet collection. His copious collection of saxes will remain intact however! It is received wisdom within the music industry that when Yamaha launch a new product, they will have made every conceivable effort to outdo their competitors, at a considerabily cheaper price to the customer. So it was in the mid 1990's, when Yamaha began manufacture of the Custom CS and SE range. The SE features different tapers to the bore, both top and bottom, which are more exaggerated than those on the standard CS. The tuning and voicing is improved over the regular CS,and the bore at 14.78mm is larger than a comparable Buffet. The wood was unstained matched Grenadilla, the silver plate, and key work, was of considerably better quality than Buffet. Many players found the ease with which these instruments responded completely won them over.
The instrument has no cracks or damage to the wood, which is pristine finest aged, unstained, Grenadilla. This Bb has matching S/N 01186. Though all fish skin pads are not new, they are all sealing well now, and should be good for some time to come, the instrument has had hardly any use. The Silver plated key work is very good throughout, with no discernable wear, only light surface scratches. The supplied m'pieces is a Yamaha 4C. The case is the original Yamaha in excellent condition, however the leather case cover has had some labels removed, and this has left certain patches of the leather sticky.