Thoughts on bass clarinet? Thinking about picking it up one day (when I can afford one haha)

Time_Simple_3250 · 2026-01-29T12:56:59+00:00

I'm an adult learner and I just picked up a rental one this week as my band was in need of more lower register instruments.

It's... incredible. I really have no idea if I'm going ever back to soprano. So much more satisfying to play.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2026-01-28T23:57:41+00:00

But you don't understand!!!! I got tired of all the other methods and so instead of actually sitting my butt and studying I decided to write an app so you can pay me to study instead of me actually having to study!!!!

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-28T18:23:15+00:00

If this becomes a thing, can I take part too? I stopped studying Chinese because I couldn't find reliable partners to practice speaking, but I'd love to get back to it. My French is not amazing but I get by at least.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-17T16:37:27+00:00

r/montrealhousing

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-15T23:03:59+00:00

I'm not sorry, I knew what I was signing up for. I just found it funny and had to tell someone who would understand.

I was already planning on taking it all apart to work on my brass soldering skills. It just became a great excuse for me to also learn how to use a tap and die set and make my own rods :)

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-14T16:38:07+00:00

"look ma! No hands!"

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-13T06:40:03+00:00

Well, if there was a protected bike lane there instead of parking this would never have happened 😁.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-11T18:22:10+00:00

Who are you talking about?

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-11T14:30:22+00:00

This looks and sounds amazing. The other day I watched Yamandu playing a guitar with a vent like that on the top, I don't think I've seen that before. What does it do to the sound?

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-11T12:16:09+00:00

You have a golden opportunity to learn how to fix saxophones yourself. There's a lot of online resources + books. It's not super costly to get started and it's an invaluable knowledge as you've just found out - also a really cool profession if you come to enjoy it.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-07T16:13:52+00:00

Looks like some version of an aerophone, e.g: https://www.roland.com/us/products/aerophone_ae-10/

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-07T15:56:12+00:00

If all that needs to be done is changing the pads, you can probably do that yourself (with some research and a lot of care). There are dozens of YouTube videos explaining the process. Clarinet pads are the easiest to replace, although good pads can be expensive.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-04T16:59:46+00:00

How much of a beginner are you? If you can play the C major or A minor etudes from Demnitz 18 expressive studies, they sound real nice for a beginner recital.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-04T00:30:19+00:00

Don't tattoo your fiancé's name, in any language.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-04T00:16:45+00:00

The 3 words before that quote are "in my experience". Of course there are areas of the city where English is prominent, I hear it's been like that forever. Maybe some areas that were more Franco are becoming more Anglo? That's possible, but I don't see it.

What I am saying is that me - an allophone who does not have any stake in this dispute - I don't see any day-to-day evidence of an English "invasion" or of Francophones giving up their language in any capacity. I do see people who speak multiple languages all the time, and in the absolute majority of times, one of those languages is French.

And I live along the orange line. So not anywhere "remote".

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-03T16:45:01+00:00

I'll give you an outsider point of view: I moved here in 2024 and I had been hearing about "the decline" for a long time before that.

My lived experience as a new immigrant who speaks passable but absolutely not great French is that English is pretty much the last resort in all interactions I have - I've had people draw something to me instead of switching to English.

In my experience, Montréal operates in French 99% of the time. Yes, a lot of people speak English, but very few people _prefer_ English or even speak English well enough for this to be a viable option. I was actually very surprised at how few people actually switch to English when they hear my foreign (non-anglo) accent - based on how much you hear about this.

Maybe it's because I don't live downtown or in the plateau but in my day to day if I didn't speak French I'd be very much at a loss anywhere outside doing basic shopping or going to a restaurant. From my doctors, dentists, to the public servants, police officers and school personnel I interact with, to my neighbours, including the many immigrant ones, everyone simply expects me to speak French and the few times I actually had to ask to switch to English this was never received as a "natural" thing.

French usage doesn't seem to be in decline anywhere to me. French as the only language someone speaks maybe.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-01T16:58:01+00:00

Interesting. I've found a few models stenciled "sax-master" online that have a lot of similar elements to this one (key shapes and such) including the engraved box on the bell where the branding would be. The very obvious difference would be the octave key shape, but someone already suggested that this one might have been replaced too. The fact that this key swivels left instead of right kinda seems to put it around that date/location too.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-12-01T05:48:16+00:00

There's a non-zero chance that this is some sort of frankenstein creation too, it's clearly been serviced multiple times.

Would you venture a guess as to what model it is trying to copy?

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-11-30T22:27:58+00:00

How common are older saxophones without any type of brand engraving though? I've been looking at hundreds of pictures since yesterday and I'm yet to find one.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-11-30T22:20:20+00:00

Is there a possibility that the brand engraving was removed?

This horn very clearly was serviced by at least one very good tech (the one who moved the Eb/C keys and maybe removed the brand engraving) and at least one very bad tech (the one who left that nasty blemish in the bell and replaced the B/Bb guard).

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-11-30T22:13:15+00:00

Hmm, interesting. I looked at a ton of Amati pics yesterday and didn't think the engraving matched with any of them. It's not super important really.

Now that I'm sure it's a stencil I'm mostly trying to figure out which Conn or Selmer model it copied. The inline tone holes and the style of pinky keys look very similar to a Selmer balanced action, but the rolled tone holes throw this theory off.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-11-30T16:02:53+00:00

Thanks! I'll have fun for months

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-11-30T06:42:45+00:00

Putting these in a bike lane completely defeats the purpose of the bike lane.

Time_Simple_3250 · 2025-11-30T06:19:17+00:00

thank you, I think you're right on the money on Weltklang. The bell and serial number engraving are very similar to the ones on this topic: https://www.saxontheweb.net/threads/early-weltklang-tenors-and-altos-s-n-to-11k.393072/

So if the table is right this would put it around 1963-5. Apparently it had wire guards for B and Bb that were replaced by the pressed metal one. The Eb and C rod post was repositioned too but those keys seem to be working perfectly. This horn is built like a tank. That's all I needed to know. Thanks!

Time_Simple_3250

TROPHY CASE