For years, Yamaha Bass Recorders have been the go-to for any recorder player looking to explore the lower registers of the recorder family. It’s easy to see why the Yamaha recorder is so popular. The Yamaha basses are a fraction of the cost of a high quality wooden instrument like a Moeck or a Mollenhauer (which can easily run up into the thousands); but they’re still high quality recorders capable of a nice tone and quick fingerwork- you really can’t find a better plastic bass. Some are available in a “faux” wood finish, like the one pictured here. I tend to prefer these to the black and white version that so many recorder players seem to have (this is strictly personal preference). Of course, a plastic recorder will never have the timbre and resonance of a well made wooden recorder, but I find the Yamaha recorder to be less “glassy” and brittle than some of the other options on the market.
One thing to watch out for; compared to other basses, I’ve noticed that the Yamaha bass recorder is prone to clogging, so you’ll probably want to take a couple of extra steps before you start playing. I regularly treat the windway with a diluted detergent solution, which helps tremendously with the moisture. There are a couple of ways to do this, but the easiest is just to submerge the head joint in a bath of the detergent solution, pull it out, let it air-dry on a rack or a stack of paper towels, then wipe the outside clean, leaving the inside of the windway coated. I also make absolutely sure that the recorder is properly warmed to room temperature before I start playing- stick it under your arm or between your legs for a few minutes, and remember that it will take a little longer to come up to temperature than an alto or a tenor.