It's often forgotten that Guy Chadash is not only a superb maker of clarinets, he is also a superb and versatile craftsman who does  fabulous repair and restoration work. The various mechanical and acoustical things he has done to my instruments border on the miraculous -- the instruments play better than when they were brand new. Even when you as the player feel that something is off but cannot quite identify the problem, Guy can quickly zero in on what needs to be done. Then the does it and you're left shaking your head at how wonderfully it all turned out. His combination of instrumental ability and mechanical skills must be the reason why Guy is in a class by himself. And he's an exceptionally nice person to boot.

Paul Globus
Freelance clarinetist
Montreal, Quebec

The Chadash clarinet is a unique product, which is the result of a combination of Guy’s knowledge of clarinet acoustics together with his years of professional performing experience. A fine player himself, Guy’s excellent concept of tone and musicianship are the ideal complement to his clarinet fabricating skills. Final adjustments in intonation, response and key work are done in consultation with the client to allow for consideration of the individual player and mouthpiece. I have truly enjoyed rediscovering the beautiful sound of the clarinet with my new Chadash instrument. Bravo Guy!

Steven Barta - Principal Clarinet Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Institute

The clarinets which Guy Chadash makes are absolutely beautifully crafted mechanically and tonally beautiful.  They possess a wonderfully rich, even scale and excellent intonation.  Guy's artistry, craftsmanship, resourcefulness, and creative thinking are "cutting edge" in the world of clarinet making!

Robert Crowley

Principal Clarinetist,
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Teacher, Faculty of Music
McGill University

Guy's instruments play to my strengths and don't exaggerate my weaknesses. They have the flexibility of sound of a Buffet combined with the evenness of scale and resistance of a Selmer...I never see Guy happier than when a bunch of people are there in his workshop. The Chadash clarinet is a clarinet made with love.

Karl Herman

Principle Clarinetist
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

I don't think anyone knows more about the acoustics of the clarinet than Guy. I'm really impressed with the evenness of the scale and the intonation as well the overall sound of the instrument.

Dennis Nygren,
Clarinet Professor. 

The Chadash instruments are fantastic clarinets. When Guy makes his clarinets, he tunes the instrument to suite the individual needs of the player.

Daniel Gilbert
Second Clarinetist, Cleveland Orchestra
Clarinet Professor at SUNY Stonybrook and Case Western Reserve University

Guy,

Thanks, I got the Chadash barrel today and it's a gem.  It plays and tunes very well.  She doesn't leave till Monday so I'll be able to give it to her tomorrow.  It was very thoughtful of you to offer to pay shipping to Taiwan if it was necessary.  I wouldn't have let you do that but it was a very nice gesture.  Thanks for the regards from Gene Keys. I'll send in payment soon.

Take care, Eddie


Edward S, Palanker
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Peabody Conservatory of Music
Professor Emeritus, Towson University
Formerly Principal Clarinet, Eastern Music Festival

....The twelfths are very well in tune, and I also find that the Chadash clarinets do not go sharp so easily when playing soft....It's nice to have more room for  what it's all about - music - without having to think so hard about intonation!

Bengt Sandstrom
Principle Clarinetist, Symphony Orchestra of Norrlandsoperan, Sweden

...the Chadash instrument has a "personality," a distinct sound. I had been looking for a new horn and had tried quite a few new Buffets. Some were good, but none where special. My Chadash instruments are special.

Raymond Luedeke
Associate Principale Clarinetist, Toronto Symphony

Dear Guy,

I received the Bb yesterday and spent some time on it last night.  It’s fabulous!!  It feels so light and responsive to me, with really quick action, beautiful clear tone!!!!  I’m having a little trouble covering the holes though, maybe just a matter of getting used to it I guess.  THANK YOU FOR THE BEAUTIFUL INSTRUMENT, GUY!!!!!!! 

See you in August.

Cheryl Hill

Dear Mr. Chadash,

Thank you so much for the new 64mm "A" barrel!   It plays amazingly and fits my Tosca perfectly. I hope the 65mm barrel got back to you okay. I am really happy with both of your barrels for me.  Now all I have
to do is win a job.  Easier said than done, but with my new setup, easier than before.

Thanks so much!
 

Sincerely,

Patrick Hanudel

Hello Guy,

Sorry I that I haven't responded quicker but the last two days have been very busy but I did get the clarinet right when you said I would. Also I just add that the clarinet plays very well! As you no doubt already
know the sound the clarinet is very warm and full, much better then my R13. The key work is very nice and quite pleasing to the touch and the case you sent with the clarinet is very beautiful as well. So needless to say I am extremely pleased with the clarinet and how smooth and quick the transaction was. Your clarinet making is truly a refined art form and I look forward to future business with you.
 

Thank you,
Timo Lehtonen
 

Mr. Chadash,

I received my new Bb 66mm barrel on Saturday. I am very impressed with the improvement in tone quality and intonation that I can get with your barrel. The improvement was immediately obvious and the wood is superb. I will definitely be recommending it to my fellow clarinetists.

Musically yours,

Thomas Fiebig

We received the clarinets this morning and they’re wonderful…as expected! We let the other clarinet players who were around try them and after playing just one scale on them, they were sold!  I think 3 more people put in to get b-flats and we should find out if they get approved in or around September again.  We have everyone totally excited about them!

Thanks so much!  I’ll be in touch soon,

Jeff
Jeffrey R Boehmer, SrA, USAF
Operations, Langley Winds Woodwind Quintet
USAF Heritage of America Band

Dear Guy,

I received my Chadash Bb yesterday and it plays superbly.  The clarinet has great ring, sound, and intonation. Awesome job! I look forward to getting the Chadash A clarinet from you.  Sadly, the barrel cracked already.  It is very large going from the bottom to the top almost through to the tenon. I’ve only played the horn for about 15 minutes so far.  What do you recommend? Also, I noticed that my bell has no bell ring.  Are you omitting the bell ring altogether?  Thanks for you time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Greg Gallant
USAF Band of the Golden West
Travis AFB, California

Awesome Job!
 

Guy,

Hello. Sorry i that i haven't responded quicker but the last two days have been  very busy but I did get the clarinet right when you said I would. Also I must add that the clarinet plays very well! As you no doubt already know the sound the clarinet is very warm and full, much better then my R13. The key work is very nice and quite pleasing to the touch and the case you sent with the clarinet is very beautiful as well. So needless to say i am extremely pleased with the clarinet and how smooth and quick the transaction was. Your clarinet making is truly a refined art form and I look forward to future business with you.

Thank you,

Timo Lehtonen

Guy,

Jeff Boehmer and I received two of your clarinets about a month ago (USAF Heritage of America Band).  I wanted to tell you how much I love my new clarinet!  It sounds great and the response, especially in the upper register, is phenomenal!  I told my commander that it was money well spent.  There are passages I have always had trouble with that I can play with ease on your clarinet.  We are trying to get money to buy a few more clarinets maybe next year.

I do have two small concerns.  After a week or so, I had a leak that was really messing with the low register.  I figured out it was the A key being blown open.  I adjusted the screw and tried to get a little more tension on the spring.  It works OK but it is still leaking a little.  I think it could use a new spring.  The second thing is that the tube inside the thumb hole looks to be turned—not lined up with the bore.  Maybe that’s why my low D is a little stuffy?

I would like to schedule a time to send the instrument back to you for these minor adjustments. I don’t think I can live without my new clarinet until after our Memorial Day Concerts but I could send it in June.

Thanks again for the fantastic clarinet!  Let me know how I can get these adjustments made.

JENNIFER M. LAMBERT, MSgt, USAF
USAF Heritage of America Band
Resource Advisor
 

Guy,

A big thank you for entertaining us last Thursday.  And what a marvelous experience to play your clarinets.  I am so thrilled to have one on order.  I emailed Chris today about getting a mouthpiece.  I really think that it will solve lots of problems. We went out to Weiner and tried the R13s and Tosca's.  Every one of them seemed to have some little thing wrong; a fuzzy or shaded note, something slightly out of tune …I am sure I made the right decision to get an instrument from you. 

I will be sending you a CD of my clarinet/guitar duo, just so you’ll know what I do. 

Thanks again.

Eric
eric@lightwoodduo.com
 

Dear Guy,

I plan to be in NY on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning Oct. 21, 22, 23.  Would like to meet with you and have you “check out” my new Chadash clarinet.  I absolutely love the instrument and have already had much pleasure in playing it.  My preference would be to see you early Friday afternoon the 21^st, but if that isn’t convenient with you can suggest another time Saturday morning or Sunday morning.  We’re going to see Cosi Fan Tutti on Saturday afternoon.

Hope this finds you well.   

Regards,
Louis Epstein
 

Guy,

It was a pleasure finally meeting you yesterday. The clarinet is a real work of art and of course it plays incredibly, as you know I barely do it justice.

I played it at rehearsal for a jazz gig I have this weekend and am just starting to appreciate it. I am playing Bari sax as well, so it is a pretty extreme difference. The Chadash Clarinet makes it a lot easier as it is so responsive and open …thanks again. I will take good care of it….and thanks for all the maintenance tips…Warmest Regards….Roy

 Regards, Roy S. Nicolosi
 

Dear Guy,

I thought you might be interested in the last two messages I had from Dave Breeden. Among other things, he had nice things to say about you and your clarinets.

All the best,  Bill ("the older")

To: "Bill & Fran Bennett"  
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 19:28:05 -0800

Hi, Bill.

   Quite a coincidence that just after I received your message yesterday, Bill the Younger and I got together today for a fun visit and duet session. He's looking good, and I must say that we both still sound good together. I did not know that McLane had cancer. I wonder what form it was. My form is multiple myeloma. As of now there is no cure, but it does respond to treatment. And there are a lot of new treatments in the pipeline now. I'm just taking it one day at a time.

   Sorry your Vintage clarinet didn't work out. I never got around to trying out that model, but I suspect it is very similar to the clarinet that I started out with when my dad gave me his 1949 model Buffet. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone who is in the market for one. I suspect you won't have much trouble finding a buyer, because of the price and the recent overhaul.

   I'll bet you will like the Chadash clarinet. The wood he uses is really beautiful and the clarinet has a very nice sound. Also, some very interesting extra mechanical adjustment screws that help you keep the clarinet with a very tight seal. You probably already know about this. If you ever get a chance to see his shop, it's a very interesting place. Yes, he's also a very good clarinetist. Well, I'm very sorry not to be of more help to you. I hope you enjoy the new clarinet. Also, how is your new music acoustics book coming along? All the best to you and Fran. You have a wonderful son whom I am proud to call my friend.

All the Best,
David


Date: Thu Apr 28, 2005  10:25:00 PM US/East-Indiana
To: "Bill & Fran Bennett"
Subject: Re: mouthpieces

Dear Bill,
  

    Please forgive my taking so long to reply to your note. I've been taking radiation therapy to help relieve some of the rib pain with which I've been suffering for the past couple of weeks. It's taken up a lot of my attention, and I've neglected quite a few replies to people during this time.
   
   As far as mouthpieces are concerned, I am using an old David Hite "Signature" that I got about 20 years ago, and that you cannot get any more. If I were to buy a new one, the closest thing I've found to it would be one of the newer Vandoren "M" series, such as the M13, M14, or M15. I recommend these to my students, and I think they sound good on them. Also, they are not hard to find. However, you do need to choose them carefully, since some of the Vandoren' are squeakers for some reason. At least they are cheap and found at almost all music stores. You may know all about the Vandorens already, but hope this might give you a lead. Unfortunately, I do not know anything about the Benade reference.

   I appreciate your good wishes for me. Only time will tell, but the first chemo batch unfortunately did not have much of an effect on my affliction. So now it is to Plan B after the radiation therapy is over in a  couple of weeks. Your son and I are keeping in touch by email. His great sense of humor is quite contagious!

All the best,
David

Dear Guy,

I am very happy getting to know my new clarinet.  It is quite a different experience from my Buffet A and allows me to do many things that are much harder or not possible to do on my Buffet.  These have mostly to do with evenness of response and quality of sound from certain notes.  Of course, the quality of sound (also the quantity if one needs it) is different across the whole instrument. 

One of my friends last weekend said I didn't sound like myself. Last night I played the Brahms trio and while the pianist was a little weak, for me the experience was great.  I changed clarinets after movement 2 (in order to follow your break in instructions).

Suffice it to say that by itself my Buffet is not a bad instrument but by comparison it's a problem. I haven't played the instrument for David Howard yet--he was sick this past weekend.  Hopefully, he's well this coming weekend. Please remind me the maximum you recommend that I play this instrument daily.  Stopping after 15 or 20 minutes is hard to do.  The instrument lives in my humidor at 60% RH when I don't play it.

Are you available to meet at you shop on Monday morning June 20, perhaps 11:00 followed by lunch?  I can play the clarinet for you and you can make any small adjustments you think necessary.  I think C#/G# is a little high.  Otherwise, I think a 63 mm barrel would be good insurance against a cold day or a sharp string section.  If you agree, please send the shorter barrel now and I will send you a check for it, of course. 

Most of the instrument plays right on 440 when warm with only a couple of notes approximately 10 cents high.

Best wishes,

George C. Valley

Hi Guy

My name’s Tim and I am a college student from Australia. I’ve heard so much about your barrels and recently got the opportunity to try one, and now I simply must have one! I was just wondering if you make them with Leblanc rings (to match my Concertos) and if so, how do I go about purchasing one? Stores like IMS etc.  only stock them with Buffet rings as far as I know.

 Well, thank you very much for your time and thank you for designing such a brilliant barrel!

-Tim
 

Dear Guy!

I have got your mail, and I’m sorry of my late response of it. I have been on a tour both in Norway and in Sweden playing Messiaens "Quartet to the end of time". So i have been really busy. That piece takes all my focus and energy to make it really good. By the way, its one of the greatest pieces ever, one of my absolute favorites!

 Got many compliments of my sound, thanks to your barrels! The are really good!

 Anyway, I'm glad to hear that i only buy if i really love the clarinets. I have finally made up my mind to buy a B-flat and A clarinet from you!

I will send you a letter of intent as soon as possible. I write it on ordinary paper and send it with regular mail so I don’t know how long its going to take. But it will get there.

By the way, can you estimate when the clarinets will be ready? Just being curious.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Marcus Alexandersson

Guy,
 
 It has been a couple of weeks and hopefully my  impressions will help.
 
 1. I am extraordinarily pleased with the Chadash-Hill Mouthpiece.
 (I understand that I have the "SDC" facing) Question: what does "SDC" stand for?
 
 2. At least for me, the mouthpiece takes longer  "warm-up" than any of my others.  After that, it  is like "velvet."
 
 3. I am using Guy's suggested inverted Bonade on this mouthpiece, it runs bright, and I have to  pay more attention to prevent squeaks.  With the
 Rovner, it runs mellow (not stuffy) and is easier to control.
 
 4. It is definitely reed friendly.  It works with  30 year old Symetricuts, Legeres, V12s, and E*s.  As it turns out, the best reed is the Foglietta E*.
 It is thicker than V12 and it really brings out the  tone of your Mouthpiece. (more info at my web site,  www.sterkel.org click on "clarinet")
 
 5. I notice that the table is actually sized for  "German Reeds", and both French and American cut  overlap both sides.  The Foglietta E* perfectly fits
 the table of the mouthpiece.  Let me know if any of this is useful, I will  follow-up on anything that may help.
 
 Best wishes!
 Terry
 
Terry and Betsy Sterkel

Hello Guy,

It was great to see you this past Monday and I really appreciate the adjustments and alignments you made to my clarinets.  I never really thought about your lifetime warrantee when I purchased my clarinets but it has turned out to be invaluable especially since it was my own ineptness that put the keys out of alignment.  

I would like to take this opportunity to explain some of the reasons why serious amateur clarinetists should choose your instruments:
 
First, one doesn't have to try dozens of clarinets in search of the "one" only to find that as the "one" broke in it changed into something else.  Your clarinets were great from the first day I received them.  On the other hand, professional players either have the ability to deal with a substandard instrument or the wherewithal to get a better one (think about all the professionals who are XXX clarinet soloists.  If they don't like the XXX clarinet in their hands, how long does it take for them to get another gratis?)

Second, the tuning of your clarinets is better and this is more important relatively speaking to an amateur who has less ability and technique to bend pitch and retain tone quality.  In particular the clarion register A, B and C are superb.  Many other 12ths are much closer than on other instruments I have had.  The throat tones are better in tune.
 
Third, the register transitions on your clarinets are easier to manage smoothly than on any of my previous instruments (for the previous 25 years I played the world's most popular brand and thought I had a superb B flat and good professional quality A).   In particular, my ability to move from clarion to altissimo register improved dramatically after I started using your clarinets.  

Fourth, the quality of the altissimo register is beautiful.  I can now play cleanly up to C above C above the staff and the tone quality up to altissimo G is excellent.  

Fifth, somehow your clarinets take the air differently when I tongue so that slow staccato bounces much better for me in the clarion register.  I tried this back and forth with my old instrument and yours when I first got them and couldn't believe it.   Again, a professional clarinetist can probably do this on any instrument, but I can't.  

Sixth, and this is speculation but I bet that long after a major vendor clarinet is played out your instrument will still play beautifully.   I think this because the grain of your wood is so fine and because your aging process described on the web site is so arduous.  

Finally, and most important, when mated with the right mouthpiece, ligature and reed, your clarinets just sound beautiful.  Again, most professionals sound really good these days so it is less of an issue for them but for the serious amateur, good sound is something that usually has to be worked at.  

Best wishes for the year to come and the next time you are in Los Angeles,

George C Valley

Dear Guy,

Thanks for taking the time go over everything with, and thank you so much for letting me play your clarinets so much.  Simply put, I haven't enjoyed playing so much for as long as I can remember.  Your clarinets are really wonderful!  Yes, when I can, I will contact you about purchasing.  If I have good luck at a contest in the next few years, maybe sooner rather than later!

Kind Regards,
Tim Carter, 1st Clarinet with the Neguda Philharmonic

Guy,

The Basset extension works great! I played Beethoven violin concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann last week and I used the basset. A great feeling instrument that sounds like A clarinet in "turbo". Seriously speaking, I played  the Tchaikovsky 6th, Brahms 3rd and 4th , and the Pines of Rome, etc. on the basset and loved the dynamic and color. It's definitely one of the best purchase's I ever made and it's certainly not only for Mozart Clarinet Concerto.

Best regards,
Piotr Szymyslik, 1st Clarinet in Valencia Symphony in Spain