These babies were historic…the very first time I have not obtained the very first iteration of anything Morrie Backun has designed! I thought nothing could be finer than my set of MoBa’s, so when I heard from Jeremy Backun that there was a new narrower bore model, I did not rush to try it. Morrie was installing sterling silver vent and thumb tubes in my MoBa’s and I tried the Lumiere prototype on his desk…I was dazzled. It’s not just a new model, it’s a better clarinet… with 10 years of making MoBa’s going into the knowledge needed to reinvent the clarinet yet again! I’m primarily a bass clarinetist and the narrower bore Lumiere’s help me with my focus and keep my sound more compact. I just play more fluidly, and the intonation is even better than the MoBa’s! My MoBa’s went to a lucky performance master’s student in Utah. The Bb MoBa was purpose-built for me and was the only one made with the 66+ barrel and the MoBa bell all made from the same piece of wood as the upper and lower joint….hard to give up….except that I have two new loves in my life.