Eppelsheim Bb Contrabass Clarinet

Yes, you can actually get an Eppelsheim without waiting 2 years

I order two of these instruments every year and wait in line so you don't have to. Here's a photo of my last trip to Munich to pick one up!

Yeah, picking up the contra in Munich, I was, of course, nervous about how to get it home. But I watched Johannes Beblo and crew pack it up, and wouldn't you know it? Even though it went in the cargo hold (wrapped in substantial bubble wrap and protected by a cardboard box, see image) the case and instrument handled Delta's baggage operation without complaint. This is a meaningful endorsement if you've ever watched ground crews interact with luggage.

Benedikt Eppelsheim spent his career building instruments that technically shouldn't exist—subcontrabass saxophones you can actually hold, a piccolo saxophone barely longer than your forearm—and his contrabass clarinet applies that same "what if we just... did it right" energy to an instrument that's historically been a compromise between playability and not requiring a building permit.

The 36mm bore is the larger of the two options Eppelsheim offers, and when you push air through it you understand immediately why someone would choose the version that takes more breath: there's a warmth in the bottom octave that the Leblanc paperclip just doesn't have, and the upper registers don't thin out the way you'd expect from an instrument this size. Eppelsheim did his homework—which clearly included a lot of math.

The black lacquer body with brass keys and mother-of-pearl key buttons seem to call back to Eppelsheim's saxophone work, which makes sense given that this instrument owes more to his Tubax R&D than to any existing contrabass clarinet lineage. 

They hydraulically form the body from sheets of brass, and then assemble it by hand (each contra takes about 350 hours to make), positioning the keys where your fingers naturally fall, and somehow keep the whole thing to 47 inches tall. Yes, the size of an 8-year-old, but practically portable by contrabass standards. 

If you've ever gigged with a wooden Selmer, you already know the calculus: the Selmer weighs (and costs) substantially more, requires constant mechanical attention, has some punishing intonation problems, and travels about as gracefully as a harpsichord. The Eppelsheim is metal, stable, and you can take it places without an advance logistics team.

I find playing the Eppelsheim unlike any other Contrabass clarinet I've played — it's even across the range and responds quickly without that "waiting for the room to pressurize" lag. Hell, the intonation holds steady enough that you can trust it in exposed passages, which is a strange and unfamiliar feeling if you've spent time on other instruments in this register.

Oh, and it includes a Clark Fobes mouthpiece with 2.40 tip opening (which pairs nicely with the larger bore's air requirements), ligature, cap, and the aforementioned Delta Cargo-tested case.