Ton Kooiman Etude 3 Thumb Rest for Clarinet or Oboe

I have not been playing clarinet for long and i have been getting a bit of a numb thumb and achy wrist whilst playing so i thought i would give this a try. Im glad i got one because it is so comfortable and well made. I have read reviews elsewhere on the internet of the etude 2 and it seems they had a tendency to break easily. This is the etude 3 so i assume that the designers made it a little more robust due to the reviews of the etude 2. I have a Hanson HE3-V student model Bb clarinet and it fitted directly on to it after i made a slight alteration to the plastic baseplate that comes with the thumb rest as i didn't want to drill any extra holes in my clarinet. I just got a stanley knife blade and elongated the holes ever so slightly. As soon as i put my clarinet together and played it, it was amazing the difference that the etude 3 makes. Now i can practice for longer without any hinderance. I don't usually write reviews but had to do one for this as it is remarkable. Also you can take it off the clarinet allowing your clarinet to fit back into your normal case. I wanted to leave mine attached all the time so i neatly cut out a recess in my Hanson backpack case and it fits perfect.

My 13 year old son has been playing clarinet for 6 years, and progressed very rapidly. He was on a pair of Henri Selmer Paris Recital clarinets by the age of 9, IN 2008 and that year successfully auditioned for a place at the Royal College of Music JD and National Childrens Orchestra, where he remains to this day (2013) BOASTING OVER, but it is pertinent to this review.Because he was so young, playing a full sized pair of such heavy clarinets had an effect on his hold of the instrument, especially as he had such small hands. He always had problems with getting the thumbrest comfortable, so instead of the thumbrest sitting roughly where the nail begins, as it should, he had it just before the joint.This, of course, allowed his small boy's fingers to reach the keys just fine, but as he grew, has led to problems with keywork in fast passages. Now he is a great big lump, and since he has passed his grade 8, his teacher has decided to cure him of his bad ways, so to speak.The Ton Kooiman thumbrest FORCES you to hold the instrument in the correct position. I only bought this model because his old Selmer factory original thumbrest was tearing out of the wooden body of his instrument, and he was complaining of getting sore when playing in long concerts. It is made from good quality plastics, metal and rubber, and is very well padded. The large resting surfaces spread the load out, and this helps avoid the dented thumb we get so many complaints over!Fitting involves small screws similar to the thumbrest you already have on your instrument - many instruments will not require the drilling of new holes, but ours did as the old screws on the old thumbrest were pulling out, and we needed to get it sorted anyway. It did need quite a lot of fine adjustment to make it properly comfortable, but there is a great deal of adjustment available, from the height of the actual thumbrest itself on the mounting block that screws into the clarinet body, to the position of the right hand metal part you see in the photo relative to the plastic part. These are hinged against each other to allow for the curve of the instrument body, and also adjustable by screw.It has taken him a little time to get used to playing with this new thumb rest, but all in all, it was money well spent, and has worked very well for us, so I would heartily recommend it to anyone who gets a sore thumb while playing!

I've been out of oboe playing for about 15 years. Having played at the professional level on viola until a shoulder injury stopped me, I knew I had to return to the oboe. Having high expectations for sound quality, I got myself a lovely Lorée Royal 125 oboe. My previous oboe was just a standard Lorée. When I got it, the first thing I noticed is how HEAVY this instrument is! It was giving me a horrible tendon pain from my right thumb straight up to my elbow and making me concerned that I wouldn't be able to play this instrument long term.I found this thumb rest and was intrigued. I saw the pricer version of it and that was unaffordable. I was a bit concerned that this wasn't going to do the job but I thought I'd give it a go.Installation was a bit difficult as the original rest's screws were a right pain to get out. The spacing on the holes for this rest wasn't quite right and the holes had to be slightly widened to fit properly. I used the original screws from the stock thumb rest instead of the ones provided.Once in place, I noticed that it really changes the way the right hand holds the instrument and the thumb is a lot higher and farther away from the instrument. It definitely takes some getting used to, but I'm slowly getting there. The pinky keys feel a bit farther away, but not in a way that makes it hard to use them.Since switching 2 weeks ago, I have to say that the tendon pain in my right arm has completely gone away. The instrument feels a lot lighter in my hand and I think in the end, this will work out very well for me.

Brilliant idea and easy to fit

Worked but did nothing for me. Ken

I had a little work to do on the thumb rest plate to make it fit my clarinet which took me about ten minutes, but the work was well worth it as I find the rest so comfortable. wish I had purchased one ages ago.

As an adult beginner, I found this thumbrest very unstable for my small hands. When I tried to use my right hand little finger the thickness of the thumb rest prevented me from using it without turning my hand, and as soon as I slightly moved my hand the hinge opened, taking my thumb away from the clarinet, thus making the balance of the clarinet unstable! This thumbrest is definately not for me.

Couldn't get it to fit my daughters clarinet at all, despite drilling new holes. So ended up buying just a cheap thumb rest cover for the rest already on there. Not impressed for the price I thought it would be a universal fit