My Patricola is on it's way

stevethemusicman

Hi All,

Well, I did it. I bought a Particola CL2 Virtuoso in Rosewood. Lucky for me it is on a trial basis. My chops are sort of back where I'll be able to tell if I love it or not and I'm sure I'll love it.

I went over to a major wind shop in Woodbridge where I bought my R13 a few months ago and tried all their new Clarinets. I wanted a base line to see how the Patricola is compared. I tried a Selmer, Buffet, and LaBlanc. I did not get a chance to try a Yamaha. They did not have any. Actually after trying all of them I found the R13 (2004) I bought from them is as good as the new ones.

If I like the Patricola I might sell the Buffet. I glad I also have the O'Brien Fossenkemper crystal mouthpiece. It will look so much better with that then the black ones I own. Now I will also get the O'Brien OB. Buying stuff is so nice :)

Steve
 
Steve: Did you buy the Patricola from the shop in Woodbridge or from someone else? And, do you have it now or are you awaiting delivery? Your post wasn't clear about that. DAVE
 
The patricola is arriving

Dave Dolson said:
Steve: Did you buy the Patricola from the shop in Woodbridge or from someone else? And, do you have it now or are you awaiting delivery? Your post wasn't clear about that. DAVE
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Hi Dave,

Yes, I should have expanded on that. No, I didn't get it in Woodbridge (Dillion Music). They do not have Patricola's. I got it from WWBW and it should come today. I got an email from Angelo Patricola today wishing me luck with the new axe and he told me to open it but do not play it for 24 hours so it gets aclimated. I'm going to write him for clarification on this. Is this just the first time you get the clarinet? What happens when I go out in the winter and carry the Clarinet from my car to the auditorium in 20 degrees weather?

I can't see Stanley Drucker waiting 24 hours after going into Lincoln center to play his instrument :)

Thanks,
Steve
 
Steve: Got it. I'm anxious to read your opinions after receiving it.

I'm not into all of that stuff about clarinets other than I play mine right out of the case and did so whenever I tested various models. I'm not ready to declare as "myth" the advice you received (after all, the guy who gave it to you should know his instruments, and maybe rosewood is different), but I too am skeptical. Sure, someone may have experienced cracking or whatever, but I'd still wonder if playing it right out the case contributed to that.

If the only concern is playability, I'm even more skeptical. Maybe one of our clarinet experts could enlighten us.

Oh well . . . DAVE
 
The patricola has entered the building

Hi All,

Well the Patricola is on my Bombay chest waiting to be played. I can't play it until tomorrow. Angelo Patricola recommended that I wait at least 24 hours for the wood temperature to become stable in the house. I guess the first time you play an instrument it should be in a good atmosphere. However I had to take a picture:

http://www.lewisobservatory.com/FirstPatricola.jpg

It's in the box and I'm itching to play it but NOOOOOOOO. I'm practice my Buffet tonight.

Steve
 
Did it include a mouthpiece?

My old Buffet A clarinet included a very nice wooden Buffet mouthpiece when it was new. I still have both.
 
Gorgeous - about like the ones I played at NAMM.

I see two barrels in that photo - don't I? Any clue as to their respective lengths? DAVE
 
No Mouthpiece Included

Carl H. said:
Did it include a mouthpiece?

My old Buffet A clarinet included a very nice wooden Buffet mouthpiece when it was new. I still have both.
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No, It does not come with a mouthpiece. I'm going to use my Crystal (real crystal that is) O'Brien Fossenkemper Mouthpiece with it.

I'm also going to get another Crystal mouthpiece for it. I only wish they had a rosewood color one. The closist is some plastic ones I saw but I'm sure they stink :)

Steve
 
Barrels

Dave Dolson said:
Gorgeous - about like the ones I played at NAMM.

I see two barrels in that photo - don't I? Any clue as to their respective lengths? DAVE
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As for the barrels, here is what Angelo Patricola said and I quote "About the two barrels you will find inside, they are different so please try both because one is for darker sound and one a little bright sound."

I measured them and they are the same diameter at both ends. The bore looks the same although without calipers I can't tell. However the width of the middle looks wider on one.

Steve
 
I recently tried a few of them at Musikmesse. I'll attach a photo (although what you see in the photo is not anywhere near all the clarinets they had there).

Re waiting 24 hours, some makers are just (unecessarily) extra careful about "breaking in" the clarinet. I've had a clarinet crack once in the first week while in its case, after being played for only a few minutes and only once or twice. I'm sure the clarinet was played already too, at the very least, at the factory (if not at the store).

It was really interesting to see the Italian makers. All of them were (small) family companies and you could feel it. For most of them some of owners were there, as opposed to some sales person. Patricola was a typical Italian company. By that I mean I got the same impression from their instruments that I got from just about all Italian companies.

There might be a few mechnical "quirks", and the finishing might be a little "clumsy", but you pretty much forget all that when you play the instruments! With the exception of the A clarinet I tried, which had an unusually stuffy throat Bb (enough to not bother with the clarinet), all other Patricola clarinets I tried were great, and some of my favorites (although I would prefer the black-wood ones).

patricola_cls1.jpg
 
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Breaking in the Patricola

clarnibass said:
I recently tried a few of them at Musikmesse. I'll attach a photo (although what you see in the photo is not anywhere near all the clarinets they had there).

Re waiting 24 hours, some makers are just (unecessarily) extra careful about "breaking in" the clarinet. I've had a clarinet crack once in the first week while in its case, after being played for only a few minutes and only once or twice. I'm sure the clarinet was played already too, at the very least, at the factory (if not at the store).

It was really interesting to see the Italian makers. All of them were (small) family companies and you could feel it. For most of them some of owners were there, as opposed to some sales person. Patricola was a typical Italian company. By that I mean I got the same impression from their instruments that I got from just about all Italian companies.

There might be a few mechnical "quirks", and the finishing might be a little "clumsy", but you pretty much forget all that when you play the instruments! With the exception of the A clarinet I tried, which had an unusually stuffy throat Bb (enough to not bother with the clarinet), all other Patricola clarinets I tried were great, and some of my favorites (although I would prefer the black-wood ones).

patricola_cls1.jpg
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Hi,

It's interesting that I am more interested in the color at this time. If the Patricola's play wonderfully then I'll even love the instrument more. Hey, what can I say! I'm weird. It will have to play as good as, or better than my Buffet R13. If my Buffet was in Rosewood I probably wouldn't want Patricola. Nah, If Buffet's were all Rosewood I would want a different color eh? By the way, the only Clarinet in Rosewood in the picture was an Eb Clarinet. :)

And aside from the physical looks I heard from a lot of people like yourself with only good reviews. I have not heard one negative. So tomorrow I will play it and we'll see.

About waiting for the wood to get aclamited. I agree to a point with Angelo although I used my own Buffet in the Army. Sometimes had to solo for an outdoor Concert on freezing cold days. Most of the time I used my Buffet but when cold weather comes I used one of the Army's. But sometimes I'd be caught or forget and take my own Clarinet and it never craked (luck).

The Patrocola that arrived today was probably not played at WWBW. At least as far as I can tell. WWBW told me it was in their warehouse and actually had to have an employee open it so I was sure I was getting the 2009 model that has some more refinement and leather pads.

When manufacturers play the clarinet I wonder how much they really play and how long after that would they ship. I think it is a good thing to be conserative to let it aclimate. Remember it came from both Italy to WWBW and WWBW sends to me via a plane ride (probably unpressurized with severe and temperture changes). You should be protective of any work of art when it comes in from the unknown.

Anyway, I'll post my first day's remarks tomorrow evening and hopefully I can hear me play and record both the Patrocola and the Buffet as soon as I can and I'll post on one of my sites for your opinions. (not an opinion of the player :) )

Thanks
Steve
 
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Interesting. When I see multiple barrels, I automatically think PITCH (one being longer than the other). That's why I asked about length.

If it is for tonal variations, I'd guess the bores are different. I'll be interested to read your impression of the two barrels.

Nice photo of their display, too. Yes, I would imagine all horns are played before they are sold, if for any other reason than to ensure they play. So, leaving it in the case for a day is a mystery to me unless it is to introduce the wood to the local climate conditions. Is that a REAL fear or was the cracking an anomaly that would have occurred regardless? DAVE
 
Considering the cost/benefit ratio of doing so, allowing a horn to lay fallow for a day so that there may be some positive good for the wood (I'm a poet and don't know it) seems to be a bargain. It can't hurt (unless you have a cat that like to pee in strange places), and it may prevent a joint crack that you will regret for the rest of the time that you have the horn.

I've had perhaps fifteen wood clarinets over the years (current count is five sopranos and three basses), and have never had a crack in any of them. Go figure...
 
Dave Dolson said:
Nice photo of their display, too. Yes, I would imagine all horns are played before they are sold, if for any other reason than to ensure they play. So, leaving it in the case for a day is a mystery to me unless it is to introduce the wood to the local climate conditions. Is that a REAL fear or was the cracking an anomaly that would have occurred regardless? DAVE
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I guess I wasn't clear. The clarinet I mentioned that cracked was an example that sometimes no matter what you do, the clarinet can crack. I actually waited several days from receiving it until I played it (not to protect it from cracking but for another reason). Then I played it for a few minutes, once every few days. After about a week of doing this (which means I played it about twice) I put it back in the case. A few days later I opened the case again and the crack was there. By the way, the clarinet was kept in the same place as several other clarinets, which were played a lot right from the moment I bought them, and none of them cracked.

So it is a mystery that anyone can make a totaly random recommendation of 24 hours wait. IME there isn't always a real connection between how good an instrument is and any logic the manufacturer might have for these things (an example one of the best saxophones I've ever played had an awful mechanical flaw). For example, what if a clarinet is moved from a very humid eviorment to a very dry one. It might actually make more sense to play it imediately to stop the sudden big change to the dry enviorment. Maybe not really, but point is those recommendation are pretty random.
 
stevethemusicman said:
By the way, the only Clarinet in Rosewood in the picture was an Eb Clarinet. :)
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Yes but that's just the photo. They had all their models in rosewood and blackwood and I've several of each. The only A I've tried, with the terrible and stuffy throat Bb, was rosewood (not that it being rosewood had anything to do with it). Other than that one I've only tried Bb and C clarinets and those were all good, both blackwood and rosewood.
 
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Nitai: While my question was more rhetorical than on point, I do agree with your assessment of how to deal with wooden clarinets. And, while Mr. Patricola may have a defensible reason why one should leave his product in the case for 24 hours, I'm STILL skeptical about such advice.

I am envious, though, of you Steve for having such a nice instrument. If it plays like the ones I tried, it should be a keeper. Yes, I have two fine Buffet clarinets, either of which are far superior to my skills, but I confess to being a "collector" of fine instruments and would welcome such a thing into MY closet anytime. DAVE
 
Dave Dolson said:
Nitai: While my question was more rhetorical than on point, I do agree with your assessment of how to deal with wooden clarinets. And, while Mr. Patricola may have a defensible reason why one should leave his product in the case for 24 hours, I'm STILL skeptical about such advice.
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Dave, if you lived somewhere other than CA you might have different thoughts on the subject. 10% relative humidity is quite common up here at certain times of the year.
 
Carl: That may be, but so far, no one has posted anything with authority about whether or not such advice is cogent. Are you claiming that a climate's humidity means something to wooden instruments? If so, what? Will it lead to cracking? Or, if cracking is experienced, can anyone say it was because of the climate and that other factors are not at work (like, a basic flaw in the wood)?

SoCal doesn't have high humidity (in most cases) but it isn't REALLY dry like some climates (and the 10% you mention). Nor is SoCal like the east coast of the U.S., the southern U.S. or Israel in summer which has HUMIDITY.

What bearing would the Minnesota climate have on an Italian-made clarinet, probably imported through New York, transported to Indiana, then sold to a guy in New Jersey?

No challenge on my part, I'm just curious. DAVE
 
I just visited the Patricola web-site. I read the advice posted there about allowing a new clarinet to sit in its case for 24 to 48 hours to acclimate itself to the location. No comment - that's already been discussed.

I see where they had three different Bb models - the 2, 4, and 5. The 4 had the most keywork, the 2 had the least amount of keying. Does anyone know the advantage to any of that?

My Buffet RC Prestige has an alternate Eb/Gb (or is it Gb/Eb?) which I've found very useful, but the additional ring shown on Patricola's 4 and 5, and the extra spatula for the right-hand pinky on the 4 makes me curious. DAVE
 
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