Yamaha YCL-CSGIII Bb Clarinet £2252

With the help of Michael Collins and other leading Yamaha artists Yamaha have redesigned and reinvented the CSG model. They have produced an instrument which is comparable to the Buffet R13 and may fight its dominance of the market.

Yamaha reanalyzed and re-evaluated literally every single design specification. A new bell and barrel, made from the best selected grenadilla wood, offer a tone of breathtaking richness and depth. The sound is warm yet has a clear focused centre.

Ergonomically-designed new key shape offers comfortable and natural key touch. Yamaha-original silver-plating is applied on them. A newly shaped Eb lever is adopted as a standard, along which the entire mechanism is totally re-designed.

Cork pads and leather pads are optimally placed to maximize on their tonal quality, touch and functionality.

It comes in a hard case with outer case cover, mouthpiece and Yamaha accessory pack.

Review of YCL-CSGIII Bb Clarinet

“The new CSGIII is seen as the clarinet to compete with the dominance of the R13. The clarinet looks great, It blows easily and has an even tone throughout. There is a lovely full sound and good resonance at the bottom of the instrument. The keys feel great under the fingers. The speaker key in particular is a great shape and is in a much more natural position. The intonation throughout is good with no bad notes. The upper register plays easily even up to top C. The one thing I don’t like is the mouthpiece that comes with the instrument, apart from that it is a lovely instrument to play.

Will it compete with the R13? I’m not sure, price may be a barrier and the Buffet dominance is hard to break, but it is definitely a great clarinet that must be tried.”

Karen Hobbs – freelance clarinettist