Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have 2 recorder:
One old cheep mapple soprano Mollenhauer and an alto boxwood Moeck.
I would like to buy an other soprano recorder because the old one is rather spoiled and out of tune.
I think to buy a Moeck or a Mollenhauer with tulipwood or grenadilla wood.
Probably I prefer grenafilla but I'm not sure: I dont want a shrill sound: soprano is already quite acute!

I was oriented in Denner grenadilla Mollenhauer because the Mollenhauer site say that denner is "agile, quick response in all registers": I would like to have no problems with highest sounds: not difficult to obtein and good quality of sound.
With boxwood alto Moeck I have big problems with condensation (problem that I dont have with the cheep mapple Mollenhauer...) and highest sounds are muffled.

Do you think Denner Mollenhauer is the best choice or it is better Rottenburgh Moeck?:
Thomann shop say Moeck is more professional and usually fewer people return the instrument.

LucaLuigi72 wrote:Do you think Denner Mollenhauer is the best choice or it is better Rottenburgh Moeck?

Impossible to say. You need to try both (ideally more than one of each) and make up your own mind.

Thomann shop say Moeck is more professional and usually fewer people return the instrument.

Perhaps more people keep the Moeck because they assume that to be the case? The Moeck Rottenburgh has been a well-regarded recorder for a long time now, but that doesn't necessarily make it great or even 'professional'. And both makes/models are expensive enough in the woods you're talking about to be risky blind experiments...

Possibly the one to ask is C&F member "Loren" (Loren Bookbinder), who used to work for the Von Huene workshop. Would likely know more about the repair and performance history of those respective instruments.

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Peter Duggan wrote:

LucaLuigi72 wrote:Do you think Denner Mollenhauer is the best choice or it is better Rottenburgh Moeck?

Impossible to say. You need to try both (ideally more than one of each) and make up your own mind.

The problem is that I have only one shop in Italy near enought to see instruments: he have only Mollenhauer (a lot of them) but is not possible to try recorders for hygienic reasons and for the cost of cleaning the instruments.

Did you make a decision/purchase yet?

Hi, I'm new to the site, so I'm sorry if I got to your post on the late side. If you haven't already made a choice yet, from your preferences, you might want to go with the grenadilla rather than tulipwood. The grenadilla has a clearer, more open tone, whereas tulipwood has a more reedy tone (akin to oboes), and great on the overtones. I tend to favor tulipwood over grenadilla, but that is a matter of taste. I suspect you would prefer the grenadilla.

I do have a Mollenhauer Denner in Pearwood, and I can say that I don't have problems with condensation with that one. It's the one I use when I want to practice a longer period time on wood (I mostly practice difficult sections on my plastic Aulos before trying them out on the wood because I want to get the fingering speed and accuracy down). I'm assuming you are regularly oiling your recorders regularly, because that will help with the tone? Even wax-impregnated woods can start to lose a bit in wear, so I do give a light oiling inside the bore on those (touch the inside of the bore if you can to check for dryness and roughness).

Both the Rottenburgh and Denner in grenadilla for soprano and alto are pretty close in price, from what I can see at my local shop. Also, you can check locally to see if anyone has used instruments to sell. I think a third of my current instruments had been purchased used.

Good luck!

I have bought an used Mollenhauer denner in pearwood and a new Moeck rottemburgh in tulipwood.
I'm not very satisfied with the pearwood denner because it is a little out of tune: it have some intonation problems.
I'm really happy for Moeck in tulipwood: intonation seems perfect and sound is good. I dont know if grenadilla could be better for me but tulipwood is good!

In my opinion mollenhauer denner have stronger sound than moeck rottemburgh and the most hight notes are slightly more easy to play... but I prefear the moeck quality of sound.

I'm glad you found a recorder that you like! And in my favorite type of wood. Since you bought the Mollenhauer used, there is a possibility that how it was stored and cared for will affect the intonation. Are the notes playing consistently flat by almost a semi-tone? That would indicate that you have an instrument tuned A=415. I have a Roessler soprano in grenadilla in that tuning, and it threw me off until I realized it was in that tuning.

I do have to blow and be more precise on my finger work when playing my tulipwood soprano, so it's just more practice.

The problem is that there are some rising notes in the higher octave: in particular the high si (B) is a little higher than normal. I think there are some other little problem of intonation in other notes.
It is noticeable in particular when you begin to play and the recorder is cold. But I have not this problem with the Moeck Rottemburgh and with an old cheap Mollenhauer soprano even when they are cold.

Yeah, that doesn't seem good at all. It's not consistent, and it's going sharp. I would try oiling it and letting it sit for a whole day, then practice 15 minutes one day, 20 minutes next day, and add 5 minutes each day of practicing until you get up to your full practice time. It may be that the recorder needs breaking in again. But that is all I can recommend.

I really need to practice more again. I'm good up to the high G, then anything above that, I hit them correctly about 75% of the time. Terrible. I was more accurate when I was a child because I practiced every day, but these days, I can play much faster and with more expression.