Royal Global Firebird Bb/A Clarinet - Grenadilla

This is a very forward-thinking clarinet that solves some very long-standing problems with intonation. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Firebird is one of my favorite instruments. I love the way it sounds, in no small part because of the really clever key mechanisms that open the instrument up in a way I've never heard or seen before.

Cool, so what's the big deal? Number one cool feature: The double-register mechanism that is like a miniature version of the Bass Clarinet double-register key...sort of. When you play a throat Bb on just about every Bb clarinet it is stuffy, because the position and size of the register key hole is not conducive to a lovely Bb — it hisses. So we use resonance fingerings (if you know, you know) to solve for that. But —get this— what if you didn't have to use resonance fingerings? Omifreakingod, the Firebird's Bb alone is worth trying this instrument for.

But wait there's more: Number two is the G/D vent on the lower joint that (optionally!) enables you to vent the instrument in one extra place, right below the Low F tonehole. So what, you ask? You've got to feel and hear it to believe it. It opens up the second register of the clarinet and the thing just sings.

I'm also a fan of the ergonomically designed register key. For those of us with bigger thumbs, it's nice to meet a nice, plump end of the key that doesn't force you to twist your thumb vertically to activate it. Big fan. Everyone else, please take notice. This is how you do a register key.

The Firebird sits at the low end of the professional tier price-wise — and holds its own while competing with clarinets that cost twice as much. Needless to say, I'm super impressed with Royal, and the Firebird clarinet in particular.

How it plays

Articulation is baller. The Firebird speaks near the top of everything I've fingerprinted — quick, clean attacks in every register. See it in the dashboard below; it's not a subtle difference.

The scale is one of the better-tuned I carry, medium-bright, with a few spots to know about: a couple of flat notes low and at the very top of the horn, a couple of sharp ones around the break. All of it is voicing-and-embouchure territory, and of course your mileage will vary with your mouthpiece and playing style.

All of that is to say: this is what a modern clarinet design looks like when someone actually thinks through the engineering.

Resistance: 5/10, Medium

Middle of the scale: it takes air without fighting you, and there's enough back-pressure to push against at forte. It feels similar to the Buffet Festival. Hear how it responds to volume in the audio player below — Weber first (wide dynamics, wide color), then the Berlioz (wide dynamics, narrow color), then the Gershwin (narrow on both).

Before you decide

In the pro tier, three horns frame the Firebird's trade-offs.

The Selmer Signature is the articulation rival — it speaks a touch quicker, at nearly identical brightness, with better twelfths. The trade: its note-to-note color is less even, and the scale wanders more. The Backun Lumière in grenadilla is the tuning rival — better scale accuracy and twelfths than the Firebird, similar brightness — but it articulates a good deal slower to respond. The Festival is the closest to the Firebird in feel and color; the Firebird tunes better and holds pitch better when you push volume.

Play or listen to all three against the Firebird in the audio player, and pull up the dashboards side by side. If the throat Bb and the articulation matter to you, this is the one; if raw scale accuracy is your whole thing, the Lumière makes a good argument.

Grenadilla or Mopane?

The Firebird also comes in Mopane — a southern African hardwood that isn't even the same genus as grenadilla. It's slightly softer and less dense, with about the same oil content, and it's brown. I wrote a whole primer on clarinet woods if you want the full geek-out; the short version is that lower density absorbs more of the high frequencies, which is why mopane sounds warmer.

And that's exactly what my timbre data shows on these two horns. Through the throat tones and lower clarion they measure nearly identical — same bore, same voice in the middle of the instrument. The difference lives at the extremes: the Mopane rounds off the upper clarion and altissimo, and the low register darkens a touch too. Overall it comes out modestly darker than the grenadilla. Note-to-note color evenness is the same on both. I'm deliberately not pointing you at the tuning charts here — the bores and tone holes are identical, so any daylight between those dashboards is me on a different day, not the wood.

Buy the grenadilla if you want the extra sparkle at the top of the horn. Buy the Mopane if you want the same instrument with the high end rounded off — or, frankly, if the brown wood does it for you.