Fantastic service from John Packer. We bought a C clarinet for our daughter to learn on and it arrived promptly, well packaged, beautiful case and cleaning cloth. I subsequently realised we needed reeds and a stand, and after a quick email they were able to add it to my original order to save an extra delivery charge. Thoroughly recommended

This is my second C clarinet I own – I bought one of these for having a Boehm C as my other one is an Albert/Oehler system (different manufacturer) and sometimes I don’t want to be thinking in Albert when I play. The JP124 C is not that bad at all for a student instrument. I tried with my tuner and apart from some of the 2 or 3 lowest notes that start to go on the flat side, I found pretty even for being in tune. I find the throat notes are really strong and solid compared to my other C clarinet, and crossing the break on this instrument is probably the easiest of all my five clarinets – although I find that the break seems easiest on the C’s for some reason. Maybe finger spacing or something, I dunno – but that was always a challenge I had when I went from oboe to clarinets around 20 years ago. As an ex-oboist, I love having a clarinet I don’t need to transpose and can use my old oboe music. My only complaints or criticism with the JP124 is the mouthpiece (and reed) that comes with it, isn’t that great – I’d suggest anyone getting one of these to use their regular mouthpiece or buy something like a Yamaha 4C which I used on it (the reed they included made it sound flat and honky, don’t use that to demo or critique the instrument). The only noticeably poor note I found was the 1st and 4th finger first-line Eb was weak and muffled and off a bit, but otherwise found the tone strong and bright. I did have to sand down the tenon corks a bit as they were really, really tight – and with the C’s there isn’t a whole lot of non-key instrument to grab on to when disassembling it. Honestly, end of the day I feel like this was great buy for my needs and I am quite happy with it – and I’d certainly consider buying another Packer clarinet in the future if they provided an affordable E-flat soprano or A model.

I'm retired and learning clarinet, probably just at Grade 1 level, so I'm not doing much over the break.

I wanted a non-transposing instrument to play along more easily with my husband and other guitar, keyboard, and ukulele players. I tried a clarineo and it has good tone but wasn't right for me. This clarinet however is perfect for my needs.

I am amazed at how easy it has been to move from a Bb clarinet to this C clarinet, and the good sound I'm able to get as a novice player.

It's just a joy to play. For the price, it's amazing.

Bought to play in a folk orchestra, easy to play and small/light to carry. Just had it checked out by an independent professional who reckons its a good little clarinet.

Have just bought the JP124 and think it is extremely free blowing. Ideal for a beginner but as a professional it also suits my needs. Have already tried it on "Billy Elliot" the musical [where I work] and find the intonation pretty good too. Will be perfect for Klezmer Music. A very good value for money instrument. James Mainwaring