Mendini by Cecilio B Flat Clarinet for Beginner, Ebonite Bb Clarinet with 2 Replaceable Barrels, 10 Reeds, Stand, Pocketbook, Mouthpiece, Hard Case, Gloves (Green)

Obviously not the best clarinet in the world, but definitely the best clarinet in the world for under a hundred bucks. A serious instrument for a beginner, not a toy. Action on the keys is good and like more expensive instruments, tone is nice, and the reeds they give you are actually quite decent. My 4th grader wanted to try the clarinet, and he is really enjoying it and fully engaged. Definitely more than sufficient for a kid to give the instrument an honest try. If they're any good, then you can buy them a more expensive one later. And if they're not any good? The price didn't break the bank. I'm pretty impressed to be honest---there's no way when I was a kid I could have gotten an instrument like this for this price, it just didn't exist. I had bought a Mendini trumpet and was somewhat less impressed; the clarinet exceeded my expectation. ***Just a follow up, October 2019. Son is STILL using this clarinet as his main instrument--swears that this instrument plays better than the clarinets the school rents out to students, etc. Not one thing has been out of place on the clarinet--no repairs have been needed, everything is great. **** Another follow up, about a month after the above. A pad or two came loose from the keys. Brought the clarinet in to the local grandmaster instrument repair guy. He fixed it right up--told me the pads aren't great on the Mendini's anyway. Everything else was fine, he was surprised at how nicely the instrument plays. If I could do this whole thing over, I'd buy my son this instrument again as his first instrument. No question.

Easy to clean, functional, accurate, reasonably priced, good quality

My private music instructor tried this clarinet and said that it was actually really really good for the price and said he’d never played such a good beginner clarinet knowing how much it cost! The case has plenty of space and comes with a lot of great items. I would very much recommend getting a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece along with this, about $20, as it’ll greatly improve the tone immediately. Also, the reeds you should be getting are the Vandoren reeds for Bb clarinet. They’ll last much longer and sound the best. If you’re a beginner use reeds around size 1-1/2 or 2. Once you are ready to play “over the break,” or high notes, you should have 2-1/2 or even better, size 3 reeds. Which ever are more comfortable. You’ll move up to size 2-1/2 reeds pretty quickly, so don’t buy low sized reeds in bulk, just one box’ll do. Once you reach the level where you go to the highest few notes you can play on the clarinet, I’d recommend moving up to an intermediate or advanced clarinet or a really high-quality mouthpiece, as it’ll be hard to get this notes without being too flat. If you’re a beginner you won’t need a new clarinet for at least 2 years, more like 4 if you’re learning through a public school.

Background: I played various saxophones for about a decade, but life took over and I raised my family. 30 years later, i decided to pick up the clarinet as a hobby. As far as "getting back into playing woodwind instruments" is concerned, I am confident that this was a good choice for a balance of price and quality. This feels like a decent, solid instrument to play. I know the sound I want to ultimately achieve, and I am not naive to think that his model will compete with a nice, professional instrument in that regard. However, with a few small purchases, I feel that it will last throughout my experience of discovering if/when I am ready to move up to a higher level and get a professional instrument. The sound is decent, but not fantastic. A lot of that has to do with my personal skill and experience, but there will be a point at which my abilities will surpass the capabilities of this clarinet. Things to consider right away: 1. I think that most people will want to immediately replace the mouthpiece. The one that ships with this instrument is cheap garbage. The mouthpiece that shipped to me had a small chip in it, rendering it (essentially) unplayable with any reed stronger than 2. If you don't want to spend a lot of time researching replacement parts, for about $35, I highly recommend picking up a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece - a solid, generic choice for beginners. 2. Get some better reeds. I ordered Vandoren reeds at the same time I bought this clarinet. I didn't really give those that shipped with the instrument much of a chance due to the flaw in the mouthpiece that made 2.5 reeds somewhere between difficult and impossible to play. However, the Vandoren reeds were obviously superior from the beginning. 3. Replace the ligature. The one that ships with the instrument is very cheap, and I had problems keeping the reed in place as I was securing the second of two screws. I opted for a leather ligature with a single screw. there are multiple options available for $15 or less an Amazon. Overall, I would definitely recommend this instrument to beginners or people who haven't played in a while and want to get back into it. However, if you're not prepared to make the few, minor updates I mention, I would expect frustration and subpar results.

gloves and cleaning cloth pictured but did not come in the case.

Leaky but I guess expected for a cheap model. Purple was a right pick. Looks good.