Hi.

I'm thinking of starting a recorder group for my Grade 5-ish pupils and will need a bass recorder which I don't own at all. I was wondering what the differences were between the Aulos and Yamaha models, whether the crook mouthpiece is superior to the curved plastic headjoint, or whether it would make practical sense to buy one of those packages which contain all the sizes from Sopranino to bass for about £120 (not sure of the make though)

Thanks for any advice or recommendations. I'm planning a trip to the Early Music Shop tomorrow.

Sara

Hiya

Having now tried both a crook blown and a knick plastic bass, I'm glad I plumped for the knick bass. My poor addled brain couldn't cope with the slightly delayed response from the crook blown instrument.

The £120 packages are, I think, instruments made by Woodnote. I have a Woodnote knick bass, which I bought from Elidatrading for £65 (I think it was. Not much, anyway). I don't see the point in buying a set if you only want one instrument.

My Woodnote is a pretty good beginner instrument - it certainly got me into playing bass recorders - and it's a close copy of the Yamaha bass. But it's made of a different plastic, and doesn't have the same dynamic range as the Yamaha. Not that this should matter too badly in a beginner consort - I've used mine on consorts and not had comments about the volume.

The direct-blow is far superior to the crook type - go for the Yamaha rather than the Aulos (but if you're ever buying a sopranino, go for the Aulos as that's much better than the Yamaha!!). I've also heard good things about the Dolmetsch Nova.

I tried a Nova on Friday at Forsyth's. Tone was pretty good, and my hands spanned it comfortably, but there was no thumbrest, and the hole for the sling (which they didn't have available) is much further up the instrument, about an inch below the thumb hole - not sure what that would do to the balance of it. I couldn't hold it very long without either means of support, and that made my hands stiff.

Perhaps it had a separate thumbrest which the player is meant to stick in the best place for him/her? It might have been in the bag-of-bits that one usually gets (grease, fingering chart etc). I can't imagine they'd sell a bass without any sort of thumbrest!

Probably. They weren't altogether au fait with the additional bits and pieces when I asked, and couldn't find the bag, but yes, it would be illogical not to have a thumbrest given that my Nova tenor has one, and I'd be surprised if it didn't have a sling, again given that my Nova tenor has one.

I haven't got a Nova bass but my tenor came with the thumbrest in the little bag of bits

There's also a hole going through the thumb rest - I got bemused at my last SRP meeting because I could see one Nova owner with their sling attached in two places...
Piccy on the right of this page probably explains it better than I can

Thanks Maizie, that explains a lot

Thanks. I'll be having a browse tomorrow. I thought I'd mention the whole set to see if anyone said don't touch it with a bargepole , which noone yet has, it would just solve some ownership issues we might have at home...especially over the sopranino. I'm glad I asked about the mouthpiece, though, it's so helpful to have this forum network.

Sara