The New Lyrique is Ridenour Clarinet Product’s unique Custom model, specially designed by Tom Ridenour. The Lyrique RCP-576bc is not a factory production model.
Preparation:
Each Custom model clarinet is individually hand tuned and set up by Tom himself––he has no assistants. Performance features include an advanced, polycylindrical custom bore design.  The polycylindrical configuration is not a mere copy of past bore designs; designs that achieve increased tonal depth only at the expense of even response and tonal stability––but is part of an overall acoustical design that results in a more perfect balance in resistance from hand to hand and register to register.
Playing Characteristics:
The dividends in actual performance include a virtually seamless response and matching of tone color and resonance throughout the full range of the clarinet. The response is so agile and efficient that many previously difficult passages become almost child's play on the Lyrique. The Lyrique's efficient, dependable response premits the player to spend less energy on controlling the clarinet and more energy concentrating on expressive phrasing and musicality. For this reason we say the Lyrique is probably the most playable clarinet in the world at any price––an instrument that truly frees your imagination.
The Lyrique is also perhaps the best tuning Bb clarinet you can buy at any price, correcting many traditional tuning flaws completely and significantly improving others –– and doing it without additional mechanism. For instance, the terribly flat low F and sharp right hand clarion C and D are things of the past. The Lyrique has virtually perfect 12ths and an upper register that can be easily played well in tune.
Materials:
The body of the Lyrique is made from pure, natural, unalloyed hard rubber (a.k.a. ebonite). The ebonite brings many positive qualities to the Lyrique’s acoustical formula: tonal warmth, resonance, evenness of response, and tonal fullness and stability of upper register tones–– all are characteristic of fine, well-designed ebonite clarinets. The use of ebonite also results in much greater consistency in production as well as providing bore dimensional stability in a wide range of weather and seasonal conditions. In addition, the ebonite construction provides the performer with a clarinet that will not warp or crack that is made from all natural materials , not from the ground up remains of poor quality grenadilla wood, synthetic composits and adhesives and costing thousands of dollars. (For more detailed information about the positive features of hard rubber please see Tom's article, The Grenadilla Myth. )
The redoubtable BSO principal, Harold Wright, claimed he had to replace his wood clarinets every seven or eight years. Robert Bloom, Toscanni’s great oboist, claimed wood oboes would only last five or six years before they, in his words, “loose their juice.” In contrast, fine hard rubber clarinets, like fine hard rubber mouthpieces, will play well indefinitely. They are truly clarinets that will last a lifetime.
Company Philosophy and Pricing:
Finally, because we at RCP do all we can to keep our administrative and overhead costs low, the price you pay for your clarinet is not inflated to cover expenses that do not serve to actually improving the clarinets. Therefore, we are able to keep the Lyrique very modestly priced––modestly enough that younger players and enthusiastic amateurs can have the privilege of owning a clarinet with top-notch, professional performance features without breaking the bank. In addition, for the first time professional players can have an instrument with first-rate playing features they can travel with and use in less-than-ideal performance situations (which is most of the time) without worrying that it will swell and bind at the joints in warm, moist conditions, crack in cold dry conditions or become the victim of indoor air conditioning or heating. Thus, the Lyrique meets a wide range of performance needs heretofore unaddressed by other clarinet producers, making the Lyrique appealing both artistically and practically.