So far, out of the box, this is a pretty good horn! Intonation is pretty good, it took a few days to break in to get the throat tones sounding good (A, Ab, Bb). Some of the cons I have with this horn is the ligature was not great. The immediate fix for that is to use a shoestring until you get another one. To save a few headaches, get another mouthpiece. Stock mouthpieces are usually....meh. Reeds, this came with 1 very poorly cut reed. Buy another box of reeds.

Overall I gave this a 4 star. Get a new mouthpiece, ligature, and reeds and you'll be set.

This is a rave review for the Yinfente Key of A clarinet"¦ the case, ligature, reed and cork dressing, not so much.

Right out of the case, this clarinet was just about perfect, but I had to deal with two things.

First, as with many new instruments, the new corks are super tight and make it difficult to put together. Use plenty of cork grease and be careful not to put too much pressure on the keys. If you can afford a tune up, a technician could improve the cork fit, but if not, be careful and expect a challenge.

Second, the provided reed is pretty stiff, so unless you're a skilled active player, you're going to want to switch to a 1.5 reed instead. I couldn't play this clarinet at all with the provided reed, but when I switched to a 1.5, it played like butter, all the way up and down in both registers. I switched to a #2 and everything was still OK but harder because my lip is out of practice.

Once I got past the cork and reed issues, everything was fabulous. There were no air leaks, no squeaks, and no uneven finger pressure issues. This key of A clarinet is about 2 inches longer than my Bb, but my stubby fingers had no trouble at all. I had no trouble dialing in the tone with lip and breath control. The instrument was mechanically flawless. I was thrilled and still am.

The case seems well made and is nice looking, but it's also a bit bulky and doesn't have any extra room for accessories. You can put extra reeds, cork grease and a swab in the bell and other places without difficulty, but the result isn't exactly neat.

The metal ligature (the clamp for the reed) is pretty thin and bendy, but works fine.

About me, so you'll have some context: I was a good first chair high school player, but put my Bundy band clarinet in the closet for 20 years. Years later, I wanted to play along with friends on guitar, piano and other instruments. I was very happy that my fingers still knew what to do and my lip got the hang of things before too long. But, since I'm no clarinet pro, there was still a big problem.

Since every Bb clarinet is pitched two half steps lower than guitars, pianos, and other concert instruments, you have to play in the key of D if you want to match their key of C, play in G to match their F, and so on. With a Bb clarinet, it's not to hard to jam along with their keys of C, F, G, and Bb. But when they play in E you need to go to F#, which has six sharps... not exactly my favorite! Enter the Key of A clarinet: all of a sudden you can easily play in concert B, E, A, and D.

I had looked for a key of A clarinet for years but the price was well above a grand to start. I was very hesitant to order and fully expected to be throwing my money away on a cheap toy or piece of junk. Instead, I was just stunned by the quality of this instrument. I have no information on the consistency of Yinfente production and quality control, but if your instrument is anything like mine you will probably be very happy.

Mouth peace and ligiter are junk. Used my old one works great

Ok yes. I know what you're thinking. I gave this instrument 5 stars on everything so therefore I must be a robot or a marketing rep for this company. I am not. This clarinet was 180 after shipping. For that money, this clarinet is great. Do I wish it was an r13 of course but you can't get an r13 without r13 money (about 4K).

I have had a b flat clarinet for almost 18 years and this eb clarinet is merely for fun not for any type of recital or anything. I wouldn't use this to audition for anything however if you think that your kid was mesmerized by a clarinetist and he or she is only 4, get this and then get them lessons. I am going to take it to my repair tech in the morning to see if it has issues but I think the only issue is that I cannot get the ligature to hold this SINGLE reed in place. Yep, it comes with one reed and in case you haven't been to a music store during covid, they still don't carry eb clarinet reeds in stock typically.

Because I have purchased two Yinfente clarinets from different vendors at different times, I feel I can assess the quality, tuning, and playing characteristics of these instruments--especially the C clarinet, which arrived from Amazon yesterday. Unlike the common B-flat clarinet, a C-key clarinet is comparatively uncommon and very expensive on average ($1,500-4,000 USD for a Buffet Crampon C clarinet). The Yinfente C-key clarinet, like the B-flat Yinfente, can be purchased through Amazon for less than $200 including a hard case, reed, and other accessories. Unlike top-brand Grenadilla wood clarinets, which are affected by temperature and humidity, the Yinfente is made from an Ebonite compound which is impervious to weather conditions and should stay in tune whether played indoors or outdoors. The well-padded and well-made leatherette carrying case will keep the instrument safe whenever transported. The mouthpiece and plated metal ligature that come with Yinfente clarinets are probably adequate (I haven't tried them because I'm accustomed to Hite mouthpieces and Rovner ligatures) but any mouthpiece that fits a B-flat clarinet will also fit this C clarinet. The overall quality of this clarinet--the tone holes, the pads and springs, the double-plated keys and posts, and the two barrels supplied with the Yinfente--would be exceptional even in a much more expensive brand. Finding this quality and precision in a C clarinet for such a low price as a Yinfente clarinet has been a very pleasant surprise.