In 2000, Morrie Backun was running a repair shop in Vancouver when Wes Foster — principal clarinet of the Vancouver Symphony — brought in a clarinet with a missing barrel. Rather than order a replacement, Morrie made one from cocobolo. That barrel launched Backun Musical Services. Barrels led to bells (2001), bells to mouthpieces (2004), mouthpieces to a stint designing clarinets for Leblanc (2006–2010), and when that ended, Morrie launched his own instruments at the 2011 NAMM Show. The Lumière is what two decades of obsession looks like.

This is Backun's flagship, hand-made in Canada. (I met the unbelievably sweet husband-and-wife team who polish the joints before the posts are attached.) The instrument was designed around what Backun calls the "Backun Scale" (which makes me wonder if this is a new mode they're teaching in Music Theory, but I digress). The automatic low F vent is the headline — unlike Buffet's Légende or Selmer's Muse, you don't activate it with a pinky or thumb. It just works. Low F, you are no longer flat. The register key has a voicing pin that Morrie could explain in 45 minutes with a pot of coffee. I have no idea how it works, but it works. That, plus the double-voicing groove bell, makes the break smooth like butter.

The arched trill keys are thicker than most, and the entire instrument feels denser in your hands. Backun repositioned the tone holes to reduce water pooling in the key cups — a practical touch that matters more than it sounds. Carbon fiber tenons instead of metal, so they won't loosen in dry weather. Hell, the whole instrument feels nice. If you were blindfolded, you'd feel the difference before you put it in your mouth. Some people love that. Some people recoil because it doesn't feel like an R13. Actually, nothing about this instrument feels like an R13, which is kind of the point.

Grenadilla is 19% harder and 13% denser than cocobolo — more core, a little brighter at a distance, more ping in the attack. Cocobolo warms as it moves through a space; grenadilla's core stays more focused and projects. Same platform, different voice.

Resistance: 7/10, Medium-heavy

Playing the Lumière, I feel an instrument that pushes back slightly more than average, which results in a resistance that is pleasant but not overbearing.

In general, more resistance in a clarinet design usually keeps the louder dynamic ranges from spreading; the clarinet "holds its core" and focus, but will provide a smaller dynamic range (on both ends, loud and soft) and smaller color palette. A less resistant clarinet typically provides a much wider tonal palette to choose from, but will require more control from the player to control pitch and sound consistency.

When listening for how a clarinet responds to added air pressure and embouchure control, listen to the Weber example (wide dynamic range and color range), then the Berlioz excerpt (wide dynamic range, but narrow color range), and finally the Gershwin excerpt (narrow dynamic range and narrow color range). You will hear how these clarinets respond — for better or worse! — to my input as a clarinet player.