Royal Global Polaris Bb Clarinet

The Polaris was Royal's first professional clarinet — the design Yuan Gao made when he started building instruments. It has gone through several iterations during its lifetime, most recently the summer of 2025. It shares the Firebird's case, gold posts, and ergonomic register key, but without the double-register mechanism and D/G vent that came later. Think of it as the foundation the Firebird was built on.

Back to that register key for a sec — it's worth spending a minute talking about. Yuan Gao designed the register key with human thumbs in mind. Instead of the skinny vertical touchpiece common on just about every clarinet ever made, Royal's version is plumper and angled. (Dear God, it's ergonomic!) I shouldn't love it as much as I do since it's such a small detail, but I do.

How it plays

This is the most free-blowing Royal in the lineup. If you're coming from Selmer, or you just like a wide color palette, the Polaris will feel familiar. Counterintuitively, it's also the darkest-sounding Royal I've tested — noticeably darker than the Classical Limited or Firebird.

The dashboard shows one of the best-tuned scales in the entry-pro tier. The upper chalumeau into the throat runs slightly flat, and the lower clarion a touch sharp — both easy to manage with embouchure. Chalumeau D (the two-finger one) goes flat when you play loud, but every clarinet I've fingerprinted does that on the same note, and the Polaris drops less than most of what I carry. The highest twelfths run wide — the top note comes out sharp against the bottom one; voice it down and they line up. Articulation is clean and even.

Resistance: 6/10, Medium

The Polaris is free-blowing with just a little push-back.

Want to hear how it handles air and dynamics? In the audio player below, listen to the Weber first (wide dynamics, wide color), then the Berlioz (wide dynamics, narrow color), then the Gershwin (narrow on both). You can hear how the timbre responds to me as a player... warts and all.

Before you decide

Most dark clarinets are more resistant, so the Polaris' alternatives each make you trade one thing or the other.

A Uebel Rêve plays about as open, but it's brighter, with better 12ths. If you are willing to add some resistance for an even darker, warmer sound, a Backun Essence in cocobolo goes there — it's the darkest thing I carry — though it's in a different league price-wise.

Want a Royal with a different personality? The Firebird is brighter and articulates quicker, with the double-register mechanism the Polaris doesn't have (and the G/D vent). The Classical Limited sits between them tonally, with more resistance than the Firebird.