Thomann Chalumeau Maple

First I have to point out that this is, in today's world, more or less just a funny little instrument or something for beginners such as myself for I can see the disadvantages of all Chalumeaus just after 2 weeks.

The body is solid wood, high quality, no issues at all. The mouthpiece rather easy to scratch (the bite marks are deeper than I had expected), yet in terms of comfort or sound I cannot say, as an amateur, anything against it.

The main problem of this particular product (not instrument) is the reed. I really was not able to make a sound with it and even after I have trained with different reeds (1,2,4), this default 2.5 reed seems to be really bad. I highly recommend getting another reed (prefferably Rico 2, if you are a beginner) becuase otherwise you might simply lose interest in playing this.

Also, as Chalumeau uses clarinet mouthpiece and reeds, you can use it as a training ground before buying an actual clarinet. The basics of how to work with reeds are appliable, to some extent, even to other instruments.

Now about the negatives instrument itself. It has lower range than I expected, but that is not an issue of the product but of the whole design of the instrument itself. It has lower range then a recorder.

If you are only about to start with some instrument or have previously played just something like a penny-whistle, then this might be an interesting step up the ladder.

This little and cheap instrument is strongly recommended. The sound is very warm and the intonation good and stable. Fingering is teh same as the baroque flute in C so it's easy to switch. Also a great introduction to clarinet and sax. A great gift for somebody that plays tehse instruments and wants something portable. Thumbs up!!! You can play from folk to jazz on it, it sounds like an Armenian duduk or a baroque clarinet.

I haven’t played a reed instrument in about 20 years or so. I wanted to try out an inexpensive instrument before I invest in either a clarinet or saxophone. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality for the price range!

You get everything you need in this package from a cleaning kit to fingering chart with a decent case. I’d emailed ahead of my purchase to get advice on reed sizes and was told either a 2 or 2.5 would suit this instrument. I received a prompt reply as always and delivery was speedy and right on time. I recommend purchasing extra reeds of course. Thomann has packages or individual reeds.

I highly recommend this instrument for a beginner, a professional who would like to have a travel instrument that is fun to play, a young person or someone like me who has taken a long break from wind instruments. You just can’t go wrong for this price range and this beautiful instrument has most certainly exceeded my expectations.