Buying a Bass Clarinet low C - a mum needs some help please

Bron357

Hi all from Australia, my daughter, age 14, is progressing very well on bass clarinet and the time has come to upgrade to a low C (she plays ensemble, orchestra). Buying a used low c here in a Australia is impossible, I'd have more luck finding a unicorn I'm sure. Anyhow, the new prices here are Yamaha $12,500 and Buffet $19,500. Yep! We are trialling the only alternative, a Ridenour. It's actually very nice but we have an issue with the shape / layout of the G sharp key - its accidentally being clipped between playing B and C - daughter says key shape doesn't curve like on the Yamaha 221 and she can't raise her left index finger high enough to miss clipping it as she rolls her hand. Plus the Low F key and low C sharp keys are too hard to depress. Are these issues fixable by a technician? Thoughts, input please. In a perfect world someone in the world would be selling a used Yamaha for around $5k US (that's $7k here) or a Buffet for around $6k US (that's pushing $10k here) plus shipping and customs (another $1k plus) for me to buy! In a dream world I'd walk into the store and buy their inventory.
Alas in the real world it seems it's a Ridenour with issues or its nothing.
Whats a Mum to do I wonder.
 
It's not completely clear. It sounds like you are talking about the throat G# key. Do you mean the problem is only when playing the middle (lower clarion) B and C with the left hand pinky keys and this causes her to press the throat G# key?
Usually it is possible to bend the G# key to a more comfortable position and it might be necessary to adjust its bumper.

Keys that are too difficult to press can sometimes be fixed easily by simply weakening the tension of the springs or sometimes require a lot more work than that, depending on what causes the keys to be resistant (could be friction in the key or between different keys, shape of the key, length of the lever, etc.).
 
Hi, thanks very much. Yes, the problem is as she stretches out with her left pinky, the index finger loses its "arch" slightly and then touches onto the G sharp throat key. She has rather long fingers but she's 14 and not finished growing as yet. I tried it (I can cover a 10 note span on piano) and I can see what she means. It only takes a fraction of a touch to open the key enough to ruin the B or C you're trying to play.
I'm very pleased to hear it a solvable problem with a technician. I should add, it's new out of the box after shipping. The packaging looked rather crushed and mangled so I presume it's been tossed about despite its labelling "Fragile, handle with care" or perhaps because it was marked "fragile, handle with care"! I should have figured even new instruments after shipping will need a bit of adjustment.
The Ridenour bass low C is a lovely sounding instrument and unless I win the lottery, we'll be happy with it after taming it!
cheers
 
If you take the instrument to a competent tech, with your daughter, it should be well within their capabilities to reshape the key to resolve this problem. It's a fairly simple matter and shouldn't cost a lot in either time or money.
 
What Toby said is in my opinion the best thing you can do. (assuming that a tech is near you)
And I will add, you will very rarely use any note below low Eb when you're playing.
 
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