Extended Alto Recorder Test

Hot on the heels of my Extended Tenor Recorder Test (not!), here comes my extended alto recorder comparison.

Background

This is a follow-up to this past summer when I wrote:

Well, tax refund check is now in-hand so I'm going for it!

The Instruments

From left to right, the contenders are:

• Moeck Thomas Stanesby, Sr. - 930G - Indian Boxwood/Oiled/antique stained, A=442 - $866
• Moeck Jacob Denner - 336 - Castello boxwood, A=442 - $866
• Mollenhauer Modern - 5926 - Pearwood Modern voicing - $809
• Kung Superio - 2404 - Plumwood - $461
• Kung Superio - 2406 - Palisander - $539
• Schneider Alto - Maple - $80 (eBay)

See here for more detailed pictures.

Why these? Let's start from the bottom up. The Schneider I already own. The Superios have been highly recommend by other members of the Yahoo Recorder group and Lazar said these were at least comparable with the Rottenburghs that I wanted to improve upon. (I probably would have tried tulipwood instead of palisander but Lazar was out of stock at the moment.) The Modern I threw in just so I could try a "long bore" alto. The Denner was recommended by Bill Lazar as comparable to the Stanesby that I liked at von Huene.

I decided to go with Lazar's Early Music as my vendor for a number of reasons including price (he is very competitive if not the cheapest), service (Bill has always been very helpful when I've called him up), availability (only U.S. dealer I know of who carries the Kungs and sells on approval), and conscience (I felt bad for ordering all those tenors two years ago from him and not getting one :-) ).

"Look and Feel"

Of course, appearance is the least important consideration when selecting a musical instrument. And ergonomics and much less critical on altos than tenors. Nevertheless, they do contribute to one's enjoyment of the instrument.

None of these instruments is unattractive (although the Schneider is noticeably less detailed.) To my eye, the best looking of the bunch is definitely the Stanesby. I love the marbled "antiqued" look. The Denner looks positively dull next to the Stanesby! The Modern is also rather plain compared to the Stanesby. Both the Superio models look quite nice with the wood grain and detailed turnings plainly evident.

In terms of "heft", I haven't weighed them objectively, but subjectively, the Stanesby feels the lightest with the Kung Plumwood a very close second and the Denner a close third. The Modern and the Schneider (surprisingly) are slightly heavier than the first three. The Kung Palisander is definitely the heaviest.

Here is a beak view :

As you can see, all windways are curved except for the Scneider, with the Stanesby and Denner being noticeably shorter than the others.

Key Mechanisms

The only keyed models, the Modern, has a "normal" key design (unlike the Mollenhauer Canta tenor) in that both keys must be pressed to get the low F, rolling off the left "key" to get to F#. As I wrote in the tenor comparo, this actually feels less natural to me than the reverse. And for some reason, I find it hard to roll off the roller so going from F to F# does not come easy for me. Maybe I'm just "key phobic" (I ended up with a keyless tenor) but I'm just not fond of this setup.

Intonation Issues

I'll cover specific intonation issues in the next three sections.

Low Register

I'm defining the "low register" as low A down. The worst low register (not surprisingly) is the Schneider. Even the A is "quavery" and quite easy to overblow. The notes can be gotten but they aren't easy. The best (again, not surprisingly) is the Modern; you can really attack the low F and F# like none of the others and the whole bottom end is much louder. The rest  are actually pretty close to each other although I would knock the Kung Palisander slightly below the others in that the low notes are easier to "break" on it than the other three.

Middle Register

None of the instruments have any major problems in the middle register. The only real difference is in the amount of breath required to play in tune. The Modern requires noticeably more breath and is noticeably louder than the others. The Denner also needs to be pushed to play up to tune. Of course, some of the forked notes have issues, particularly the low C#, and the Schneider is predictably the worst offender.

High Register

I'm defining the "high register" as high C and up. None of the instruments have any problems from C to E. The F on the Schneider is real finicky. The rest are pretty good. The Modern does boast a solid high F# and fingerings for notes above high G. But as with the Kung tenor, the usefulness of this range has to be limited to "accents" and "pyrotechnics".

Finger Reach/Ergonomic Issues

Really no major differences to point out here except for the keys on the Modern, if that is an issue for you, and the increased weight of the Kung Palisander, again, if that is an issue for you. I didn't measure, but didn't seem like there was any significant difference in hand stretches.

Tone

I'm just going to let you listen for yourself on this one. To me, the differences are pretty darn subtle. There are two sets of files here. The first is the tune to Little Sunflower which exercises the low octave of the instruments, hitting the low F and G#. The second set is the first part of Autumn Leaves which exercises the high end, going to the high F. (My apologies for some poor notes - you musn't blame the instruments for everything bad you here :-) ).

Little Sunflower (Low End)	Autumn Leaves (High End)
Schneider	Schneider
Kung Plum	Kung Plum
Kung Palisander	Kung Palisander
Modern	Modern
Denner	Denner
Stanesby	Stanesby

Extras

Each of the instruments come with a case, but the designs are quite different.
Starting with the worst, the Schneider came with a cloth/vinyl snap bag, a good dust cover but zero protection.
The Stanesby case does not match the high quality of the instrument itself. It is rigid so would offer some protection but feels kind of like a "arts supplies" case if that makes sense.
The Kungs came with two styles of zip-up canvas case, the palisander with separate pockets for each section and the plum with separate compartments. The plum case has rigid sides so seems to offer better protection.
The Denner case comes next. A solid piece, it also has separate compartments and offers good protection.
The Modern has the best case in this lot with just as much protection as the Denner but also a plush interior and carrying handle; it looks the most like a band instrument case (e.g. flute or piccolo.)

The Moecks also come with a maintenance kit including a bottle brush for oiling the bore, a small paintbrush for oiling the labium and small bottles of oil and an anti-clogging fluid. The others I don't think normally come with any maintenance kit, but Mr. Lazar included bottles of oil and anti-clogging fluid.

The Selection

Let's take this by process of elimination. First, comparing the two highest priced models, I found the Denner harder to play up to tune, slightly heavier, and not as "pretty" compared to the Stanesby. The better case doesn't make up for all that, so Denner is eliminated.

Comparing the two lowest priced models, the Superios, I found the Palisander to be much heavier, with a worse low end (this particular sample anyway), and no appreciable tone difference over the Plumwood, so Palisander is eliminated.

Now for the Modern. This doesn't have to be compared directly with anything else since it is in a class by itself - it's either right for you or not. Honestly, I'm tempted by the Modern, because it is different. The low end is tremendous and the top end "goes to 11". It sounds better than any other pearwood recorder I've ever heard. But in the end, it's just not me right now. It requires a lot more breath pressure than I'm used to and the keys just aren't natural to me. I might come back to a Modern (or Moeck Ehlert) at some point in the future, but if so, I'd want to be prepared to put in another $300-400 to try different woods, the E foot, and the Ehlert.

So, that leaves the Stanesby vs Plumwood Superio. Listen to the samples - it's a toss-up. If the price difference were $40, I would pick the Stanesby just for the finish and reputation. But the price difference is $400 and I just can't see through to doing that. Plus the Kung even has a better case. Winner - Kung Superio Plumwood.

So there you have it. One man's journey through the land of alto recorders. I hope this has helped you in some way, although as always "your mileage may vary."

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