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Designed for the school market due to its user-repairability, light weight and easy key of C, Mr Lyons' remarkable student clarinet kinda fell by the wayside outside scholatic curriculums and developed into the trendly looking Nuvo Clarineo which is the same thing but comes apart less easily and doesn`t look like a piece of Army Kit .. I`ve just picked up a Lyons Original because of its very strengths - C key, fixable and best of all waterproof and I LIKE the Army styling (I suggested to Mr Lyons a Camoflage version ) . the whole horn weighs 200 Grammes with lig and reed fitted, that`s less than some Sax mouthpieces . no thumb ache from this !
the Lyons doesn`t have all the keys of a regular clarinet but IMO has more than enough for popular music, I`m not a classical player, in fact I`m not much of a player at all so YMMV on the keys score . the instrument is made totally of plasic - ABS and Polycarb if I remember rightly, the only metal is in some of the leaf springs (some use their plastic shape as a spring), all the keys and levers pop on and off easily for cleaning or replacement and all are available from Lyons spare parts . the Pads are neoprene cups which are superb as they`re waterproof but unlike the Vibrato Sax, aren`t the actual keys themselves thankfully, the Body is one piece, only the bell and Mpc come off .
The action of course doesn`t have the precision of even a B12 or a tatty Bundy but it`s adequate and pretty bombproof, I like the Sax-like lower levers complete with roller .. when it arrived it needed a good clean as it was well used (Bought off fleabay ) so I pulled the Mpc and bell (both on O-Rings) and scrubbed them in a mild disinfectant and then literally took Lyons to their word and scrubbed the clarinet under a tap using a bottle brush, shook it, dried it roughly, assembled, fitted a Soprano Sax reed (the Clarineo takes Bb reeds, the Lyons needs Eb Reeds but Sop reeds work fine) and it played excellent straight off the bat .
These can be picked up cheap (around £50 used) , new Clarineos are about double that and I have to say I`m impressed, I wanted a C clari and to get one which plays in the Rain and is band proof where you can fix it yourself is a massive bonus.. Lyons could do with marketing the new Clarineo to folk groups etc where a C instrument with low Maintenence is a must .
How does it Sound . pretty damn good, plenty of bite without the harshness to my less than Pro Clarinet ears, definately worth the crack, it`s probably a better clarinet than the Vibrato is a saxophone at a quarter of the price new .
the Lyons doesn`t have all the keys of a regular clarinet but IMO has more than enough for popular music, I`m not a classical player, in fact I`m not much of a player at all so YMMV on the keys score . the instrument is made totally of plasic - ABS and Polycarb if I remember rightly, the only metal is in some of the leaf springs (some use their plastic shape as a spring), all the keys and levers pop on and off easily for cleaning or replacement and all are available from Lyons spare parts . the Pads are neoprene cups which are superb as they`re waterproof but unlike the Vibrato Sax, aren`t the actual keys themselves thankfully, the Body is one piece, only the bell and Mpc come off .
The action of course doesn`t have the precision of even a B12 or a tatty Bundy but it`s adequate and pretty bombproof, I like the Sax-like lower levers complete with roller .. when it arrived it needed a good clean as it was well used (Bought off fleabay ) so I pulled the Mpc and bell (both on O-Rings) and scrubbed them in a mild disinfectant and then literally took Lyons to their word and scrubbed the clarinet under a tap using a bottle brush, shook it, dried it roughly, assembled, fitted a Soprano Sax reed (the Clarineo takes Bb reeds, the Lyons needs Eb Reeds but Sop reeds work fine) and it played excellent straight off the bat .
These can be picked up cheap (around £50 used) , new Clarineos are about double that and I have to say I`m impressed, I wanted a C clari and to get one which plays in the Rain and is band proof where you can fix it yourself is a massive bonus.. Lyons could do with marketing the new Clarineo to folk groups etc where a C instrument with low Maintenence is a must .
How does it Sound . pretty damn good, plenty of bite without the harshness to my less than Pro Clarinet ears, definately worth the crack, it`s probably a better clarinet than the Vibrato is a saxophone at a quarter of the price new .
