Mendini by Cecilio Bb Clarinet With Case And Accessories

Muy bueno para principiantes. Es un kit muy completo.

This was a gift for my daughter who started playing in her school band recently. The clarinet that I rented from the school was old and falling apart… literally. The keys kept falling out and I had to keep screwing them back in, and one key was locking underneath the one in front of it and even the band teacher couldn’t fix the problem. It also had a terrible amount of air leakage.

This Mendini B Flat clarinet was affordable and seemed suitable for a beginner. For the price, well under a hundred, I figured I wouldn’t have a problem if she decided to not continue after this year. There is minimal air leakage, much better than the school’s clarinet. The keys are secure and it plays much louder with much better sound than the school’s clarinet.

I purchased the white clarinet. To give you an idea of the color, it is much more of an antique white which means it has a very yellow cast to the color. It is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but when I ordered it I really thought it would be a striking white color rather than a linen white or antique white color.

I am still giving this five stars because for the price you really can’t expect anything better than what you are getting. If my daughter continues to play over the next few years I will then be willing to spend a couple of thousand dollars for a better clarinet, but for the beginner that she is, this is a wonderful clarinet for her to get started with.

I have played the clarinet for 9 years. I had a yamaha ebonite clarinet and a wooden clarinet valued over a thousand each. I held first chair for most of my musical career. I sadly sold them both when I got to college because I was pretty broke. 5 yrs later I decided to get back into music so I bought this clarinet. It had such a great value so I gave it a shot. When it arrived I greased it up and all the joints fit together pretty easily for first time set up. It is expertly crafted and looks better than my pricey yamaha! I warmed up and I played a few scales in 2 octaves and wow! It sounds just like my yamaha (granted I have to work on my embrochure, its been years). It has so many accesories too! Like wow. Grease, stand, very sturdy case, cleaning rag, 10 reeds 2.5 strength and gloves. Seriously hit the jackpot with clarinet. I would not say its a professional clarinet sound quality wise (wood is always better) but it is definitely worth more than I paid for it in my opinion.

I have played clarinet off and on for nearly 6 decades now. I grew up on Bundy and Selmer brands and continue to praise their quality. I taught thousands of students in public school band very successfully for over 13 years–including some groups who achieved national recognition. But I have played very little over the past few decades.

If I had a student come in with a clarinet like this, like most band directors, I would probably have turned up my nose much like many of the reviews I have read regarding this brand. BUT I WOULD HAVE BEEN WRONG to do so!

I pulled out my old clarinet a few weeks ago and tried playing it but, like me, it was pretty worn out and unplayable. But I wanted something I could use to relive some old memories. I saw this low priced instrument and thought, why not. As soon as I put it together and played it some, I realized immediately that, for this price, this instrument is really not too bad at all! In fact, it actually works pretty doggone great!

I would still generally recommend most students start on a better quality instrument, but I certainly would not say stay away from this. I would say, sure, ok, it should be fine for at least a year or two. Then plan on moving up to a better quality instrument. But I would also STRONGLY caution the parent AND student to be very careful with it. Keeping it in good repair for that period might prove more expensive in the long run. As a professional, I would know how to do that–a beginning student is less likely to do the same.

Veri good instrument