LJ Hutchen Mark II Bb Clarinet w/Case & 2-Year Warranty

The finish is a little less polished than the more expensive options, but this is a great clarinet for the price. My daughter (middle school) has been using this clarinet since the beginning of school 2 1/2 months ago and she loves it. Her band director says that this clarinet is just as good as the more expensive clarinets that were suggested by the music department. A perfect choice for a beginning band student in sixth through eighth grade.

Bought this for my 6th grade new to band student, they were pushing for us to use their dealer that was extremely overpriced. She took it in and the teacher complimented it's sound. Along with the instrument and her abilities she was quickly made first seat.At a rehearsal 3 days before a concert another student knocked the clarinet out of her hand and damaged the mouth piece. I emailed customer service for the company and quickly receive the call. He processed the order and we hung up. He called back less than an hour later saying I I remember how stressed you sounded worrying about whether or not your daughter would receive this before the concert. To ensure that your daughter received it before her concert we're going to pay for overnight shipping no charge see you, and since they've already ran for the day I am going to personally drop it off on my way home from work to ensure that it goes out tonight.Not only do they deliver an excellent product, they deliver excellent customer service. What more could you want from a company.This is her second year of using the clarinet. She moves to middle school band this year and again has received multiple compliments from her band teacher about the performance of this instrument. I could not be happier as a parent doing business with this company knowing absolutely nothing about instruments.Update: My daughter is moving to High School this year. This instrument is still going strong, still sounds great, she still loves it and it still gets so many compliments.Update: My daughter is now in 9th grade concert band and marching band. She has been doing both for 2 years now. This gem is still sounding wonderful. I can not reiterate what an amazing product this is!!! Do not finance that cheap stuff the school offers.... Do yourself a favor and pick up one of these.

I am not an expert with instruments, but I believe the instrument to be average in quality and playability. The exterior of the instrument looks decent. However, I can't help but notice my son having some difficulty when he blows on it to play it. With my son barely having started the music class, I don't know if the problem is due to he being a beginner or a defect with the instrument. I am still following on my son's practices, hoping to see some improvement, and if not I would be certain that it is the instrument's default. Therefore, for now, I rate this clarinet with a 3.

My son plays the saxophone in two ensembles, which takes a lot of his time - yet in both ensembles there are pieces where he is just sitting idle because there is no part for the alto sax, and he is still too small for a bigger saxophone.I procured this clarinet based on (1) good reviews, (2) excellent experience with a LJ Hutchen alto saxophone and (3) great price, on the odd chance that my son would pick it up and learn it. (If he had not I could have easily resold it here in Central America for more than what I bought it for.)This instrument looks beautiful, assembles without problem (but a significant amount of cork grease at first) and plays very well. I procured an additional mouthpiece by Selmer (France) and my son uses the one that came with the instrument.The sound is great, which is most likely the reason why my son did pick the instrument up and actually started to play it nearly as much as his saxophone (a lent Yamaha).This is not a professional level clarinet, and considering the price I would have been surprised, but for a student, it is beyond what is needed.It comes with a simple, efficient carrying case, cork grease and a cleaning tissue well-designed specifically for clarinets, that does not seem to appear on Amazon's picture.There is everything you need to start playing right away.

The clarinet is fine in general, except with a slight flaw. The ligature came with the package seems to be a little under-size, and probably a very basic (means cheapest) metal clamp. I joked to the music teacher that I can get a perfect fit metal clamp from Home Depot, for less than a dollar! We had to use the one from the old clarinet for the time being, else it will deserve a 5 starts.

Perfect clarinet for a student. My daughter was due for an upgrade to a better quality instrument, she has played for 5 years, and after some research we decided on this one. I hadn't heard of the company before, but the price was very good and so were the reviews, so we gave it a chance. She is pleased with the performance, as is her band director. He looked it over and was quite impressed with the quality of the instrument-we were very impressed with the value! As he is a clarinet player, I trust his judgement on the quality of this clarinet, and her playing has improved with it, great depth of tone, much less squeaking. It was very tight to assemble at first, need lots of cork grease, but over time, it has loosened up. The case that comes with it is great too. I can definitely recommend this clarinet for anyone looking for a reasonably priced, well-made instrument for a student, it is perfect.