A question for our resident recorderists.

I'm thinking of buying a treble (alto) recorder in the not too distant future and have been wondering about different sizes. I'm a male Elephant but with relatively small hands. I'll be looking at recorders with three parts (short little finger so need swivelly type foot) and around the £500 to £600 range.

I've looked on the London Recorder Centre (LRC) website and they (very helpfully) give the measurements of recorders. So, can any of you give me pointers as to which, in your experience, are the ‘neatest’ trebles? Also, does ‘depth’ in this context refer to the outer diameter (it's the term used on the LRC site)?

Of course I'm going to go to shops and try these things for myself but I would appreciate any ideas about which makes I should look at first (or which ones I should exclude).

And, finally, anyone got any pointers or any particular difficulties on switching between descant and treble (hopefully keeping both going)?

I'd be grateful for any ideas.

Unless you have unusually small hands you shouldn't have a problem with most trebles. The trouble usually comes with the tenor. Yamaha 302b has many voters here and SRPs in general, and is still my backup treble. The new Aulos may be worth a try, but they tend to be quite airy, especially the low register.

As for switching, best advice is to play only treble for a long time (like several months) then try and switch between.

Hiya Elephant

Neil.Clarinet is right that the Yammy 302 is a good plastic recorder, but my reading of your post gives me the impression that what you're after is a decent wooden one.

I do know of two people who've had trouble stretching on any treble - both women who are not very tall who have tiny hands to match their stature.

And I know from my own experience that there are different amounts of stretch involved with different models - I bought my current backup treble recorder to use because my main recorder was an uncomfortable hand position to play for long periods, especially in cold weather (I would end up with aching hands after a morning of playing in a recorder orchestra.)

Of the trebles I've got on the go right now, the biggest stretch is a Moeck Rottenburgh. Turn the footjoint how I may, it's a stretch.
Mollenhauer's Denner is a lot less stretchy, but personally I'm not that mad on the LH thumb position of that, which is displaced up a way from my neutral hand position.
The hand-saving, problem-solving treble of my previous paragraph is a bottom-of-the-range Dolmetsch Student model in pearwood. At under £100 it's a good starter instrument for wood, and it does the job in ensembles. But it is NOT a solo instrument - it just doesn't have the oomph or edge.

I've also tried a Mollenhauer Dream treble - one of very few on the market that doesn't have a moveable footjoint - and I just couldn't get on with it, although I can play a descant or tenor of that series quite comfortably.

A friend of mine tried out an Aura treble, having had trouble stretching any of the plastic models, and found it comfortable (but as it was blackwood rather than plastic it wasn't in her budget...it didn't half sound good though...)

The trouble is, no two people's hands are the same shape. So what works for me (small palm but long fingers) might not work for someone else. Your best bet is to go and try out as many instruments in your price range as a shop can provide for you.

You that way will not only suss out where you want your hand position to be, but will also find out what you like in terms of the sound of the different woods and shapes of models. And may also find out if you have any sort of allergic reaction to particular woods (sadly it happens - I know of one forumite who had to send a handbuilt recorder back to its maker 'cos she was allergic to the wood)

If you can make it to Greenwich next weekend, the Early Music Exhibition is a brilliant opportunity to try out lots and lots and LOTS of different instruments and gain some ideas.

Best of luck with your treble hunt

katyjay has said it all .

The other thing which varies is how the holes are aligned, with some instruments having them drilled pretty much in a straight line, and others staggered very slightly to allow for longer and shorter fingers. You'll also find that your ability to stretch matters as much, if not more, than the simple question of hand size or finger length. I have big hands, but a huge stretch, due to being able to put thumbs on a 180º angle with my little fingers - I've seen other hands where that angle is nearer to 120º, and that makes a significant difference when it comes to reaching the foot. I'd also not appreciated until shown recently that the ring finger on the left hand is as likely to have problems reaching its hole as the little finger on the right its ones.

So, there is no real answer to your question of what to avoid or look out for: you're going to have to go by trial and error, and for the outlay proposed, which will get you a very nice instrument, you are best test-driving first .

Do look at Kungs. They are nice recorders, and my daughter has had her Kung Studio treble since she was ten, I think, and finding the stretch on some other trebles quite difficult.

contact john willman in bath as hes very helpful

I was fairly sure I'd get some good advice here and, of course, I was right.

Thanks to everyone and especially to Katyjay and Anacrusis who gave me the right word, i.e. "stretch", because that's clearly what it's all about.

I realised that I'd have to "test drive" before buying, but your help means I'll be better informed before starting, so thanks again to one and all.

E.

I got to play a Küng contrabass today - and the stretch felt smaller than a treble! Don't know if it was...

Soooo, if you find that the recorders you look at don't suit, save a few (okay, a lot) more pennies, and just go for the contrabass

Sorry I've not been around much recently so only just got to reply to this.

I have small hands, palm and fingers. I don't find Kung or most Mollenhaurs too bad on the stretch, I don't find Moecks as comfy.

As others have said I don't have too many problems with trebles but finding a comfy tenor is a whole different story.