Klarinet Archive - Posting 000073.txt from 1995/12

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: 1930s Bb Clarinet
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 00:51:04 -0500

On Fri, 1 Dec 1995, Joe Dieker wrote:

> I have a student who has a Pruefer Bb Soprano Clarinet (high pitch) that
> may have been made in the 1930s. The body of the clarinet is wood with a
> thick black enamel-like coating. The upper joint has the bore lined with
> copper. The other joint does not. The serial # is 24463. The stamp on
> the clarinet says: Pruefer Mfrs. Prov. R.I.
>
> Does anyone know anything about this brand of clarinet, the company that
> made it, dates of manufacture, when the company existed, etc.
>
> Joe Dieker
> Associate Professor of Music
> Culver-Stockton College
> Canton, MO
>
Dear Prof. Dieker,

For the longest time I thought I would never hear the name,
Pruefer, again, and here it appears in your message.

My first clarinet was a Pruefer Ebonite, which I purchased in New
York City in 1945 for $60 with money I had earned loading trucks and
running errands. As plastic student instruments went, it was an ok starting
clarinet, with a reputation comparable to that of today's Bundys. I got
my first wooden clarinet ca. 1950, a new Martin Freres instrument, which
cost me $100.

I wish I could remember more aboput the Pruefer to pass on to you.
But my Pruefer days occurred so long ago -- pre-LeBlanc, pre-Buffet --
that it all seemed to have happened in a previous lifetime.

There is, however, one other thing that I remember about the
Pruefer purchase. The man who sold me the instrument was the father of
one of my former classmates and was a professional musician who worked
part time at Carl Fisher's. He said that, as a personal favor, he would
throw in a killer mouthpiece along with the clarinet for the same price.
Soon after I had received it, I chipped the mouthpiece and never did get
much of a chance to play it.

It was only years later that I began to appreciate what I had
and what I had ruined. It was a Chedeville.

Connie

Conrad Josias
La Canada, California