Klarinet Archive - Posting 000696.txt from 1996/02

From: Timothy Tikker and Julia Harlow <tjt@-----.ORG>
Subj: Metal clarinets
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 1996 18:04:15 -0500

I appreciate Clark Fobes' comments on this thread.

I like to describe my professional quality metal clarinets partly because
they show that metal clarinets CAN be good... but partly because they ARE
exceptional!

Yes, most metal clarinets are shoddy. I've been working on a Regent by
the Ohio Band Instrument Company of Cleveland. It shined up something
gorgeous... but as an instrument, oh no! I'm restoring it for a lady in
my church choir who played it in high school - local shops refused to
repair it, telling her - you guessed it! - to turn it into a lamp! But I
needed the repair practice, so...

I've played some Turkish metal Albert-system G clarinets. They're pretty
sorry. I had a key break on one, and the repairman noted how shoddily
made the thing was - they key breaking was pretty inevitable.

On the other hand, think of Leblanc's metal contrabass clarinet - no
doubt a top-quality instrument.

I would love to see those Haynes metals which Fobes describes - I'll have
to look at the Library of Congress collection if I'm ever in DC again!
Thanks for the tip!

- Tim Tikker