Thanks, Eric. The bocal even reminds me of the recorder bocal where I feel like I get more finger flexibility but the directness of the sounds is very slightly lessened.

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Hi Marc. Thanks for the response. Hmm from what I can see, the Hammond and Excalibur don’t go as low as the Suzuki B-24. I think the Hammond goes to C below middle C and the Excalibur goes to F below middle C. The Bass B-24 goes to F two octaves below middle C, making it a fairly true Bass instrument. For these transcriptions, some people have commented that they miss the extra 4th to low C, i.e the same range as the Cello. However, I think the low F is good for especially transcriptions of baroque instrumental music or consort music and I think that the extra 4th to low C might push the reeds beyond their capability. In general, the Suzuki B-24 is a fine instrument. The limitation is of course that it is a Bass consort instrument, meaning that it plays Bass and not much else. You can’t suddenly shift to a high part. Sometimes I feel this limitation, if for example I am playing a Cello part and I want to go off into the Tenor clef. It’s not possible. But the instrument is professional feeling and sturdy. It has a great sound and is obviously well-made. I am pretty happy with Suzuki, and it’s all I use at the moment. The drawback is that if you play this instrument for a half hour or so, you will begin to feel the instrument losing response. The reeds get wet and sloppy. You can just push the spit valve on the bottom and lightly blow through the instrument to fix this though. But you’ll notice that it clogs shortly after. For my transcriptions, I need a really fast response. That means that the slightest delay due to sluggish reeds will throw the whole thing off. But for Jazz or solo use, I am sure that it would be easier to cope with the reeds in this regard. It is possible to close mic this instrument. You just put the mic near the mouthpiece where there is a grill for the sound. That’s how I usually do it. There may also be a grill on the other side (the bottom), but if you mic it right up by the mouthpiece, you can get the sound of the performer’s breath and attack, plus a pretty good feed from the instrument. Hope this helps! James.

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