Here we go again. I am so pleased with my wooden Moeck descant I am already contemplating a nice wooden treble. Right now I have my trusty Yamaha 302 treble, and a very worn down maple one (didn't know better at the time).

I would like any opinions on what hardwood trebles people have found good and what to look for. While Moeck are usually the top choice for descant, trebles are a little more divided among Moeck, Mollenhauer Denner, my teacher also recommended Kung Studio. I really can't justify a 415 pitch instrument, much as I would love one, and want to get nearer the £400 mark so handmade could be out the equation as well.

Woods - I am thinking olivewood, rosewood, boxwood. Ideally one that is good for group and consort playing but could also hold its own against a piano or harpsichord (part reason for choosing palisander over ebony for the descant).

Hopefully there will be some to try at the recorder festival, but some initial ideas would be useful.

I have a Moeck Rondo Maple Treble. It's one of the cheaper Moeck ones, but makes such a lovely sound, and my teacher prefers it over his Rosewood something or other (more expensive Moeck model).

My best treble is the one you've heard - a boxwood Moeck Denner model - not everyone likes the beak, and I have had some problems playing in tune when it is cold - it will squeeze up to a'=442Hz if really really warm, and can managed 440Hz most of the time, but I did have to blow pretty determinedly when playing with a string orchestra a couple of summers ago; the advantages of it are that it absolutely soars around the top registers, making it really easy to play up high for Telemann and transposed flute music - the tone of it is good, and the bottom end sounds clear as well. It does have a non-conventional fingering for top G, which can be a pain some of the time, but makes other note-combinations marginally easier to manage.
My backup one is a Moeck Rottenburg, but in maple (and it still sounds pretty good after 21 years, though I have had a gap in playing over that time, and I understand many professionals would avoid maple), and my a'=415Hz treble is a pearwood Moeck Steenbergen; unless Moeck has done anything about the windway, which is so narrow that it fugs up as soon as I look at it, I'd avoid that one if they're still available.
My tenor is a Mollenhauer Denner, which has very similar turnings to the Moeck Rottenburg - it also plays most cheerfully right at the top end, and I guess that the trebles will therefore also do so.

oh, I'd vote wooden all of the time, I think they sound much nicer.

I have a maple yamaha descant, and a maple treble, by 'schneider' 'cause i wanted a maple one to match my decant but yamaha dont make one.. I wonder why?

Oh well

Don't you think wooden ones
a) taste scrummier
b) seem more like your own?

I'd add bubinga and cherry woods to your list as well, the former being my personal preference!

Personally I prefer the Kung over the Moeck Rottenburgs but it is all personal preference. I went along expecting to buy a Moeck in rosewood to match 2 of my friends instruments but after trying just about every treble I could afford to get my hands on I came away with a Kung in bubinga. It can be a little tempermental on the highest notes - it can sound a little airy if you don't get the breath pressure right, but the tone especially at the bottom end of the instrument is warm and robust.

Don't discount the softer woods without trying them - I also have a Mollenhaur in pearwood. Whilst not as strident as the Kung it copes reasonably well against keyboard and is easier to blend in softer consort playing.

Surely if taste is the issue, one should go for pearwood... ;-)

nick

Got to try out a few at the Scottish Recorder Festival today and settled on a Kung Superio in palisander. It outplayed anything by Moeck or Mollenhauer and is truely lovely.

Just have to play it in carefully now.

I'm glad to hear you found one. I was sorry to have missed the festival, but have been somewhat sidetracked by domestic considerations. Will have to console myself with a recorder lesson with Eileen Silcocks next week instead. Enjoy your new instrument - the worst thing I think is having to put down something which sounds so good, well before one really wants to...

That's sounds nice. Enjoy

It is lovely, and will be better when played in more. They said it was brand new that day so a long way to go. It has a narrow windway so clogs a lot, but my teacher said she will show me the best way to use anti condense.

And of course, people had to come out with the 'you paid that for a recorder?'.

Join the club!