Klarinet Archive - Posting 000241.txt from 1996/09

From: ALLISON NELSON <nelsona@-----.NET>
Subj: Antique Instruments
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 23:36:37 -0400

I am excited! This past week I finally did something I have been meaning to
do for years due to fear of the unknown, no information on where to go to
get such a thing done and of course lack of funds.
In the late 70s my parents were antique dealers and in their travels located
an antique clarinet which they then gave me for Christmas. The clarinet was
made by Goulding & Dalmaine in London, England, is boxwood and has 13 brass
keys with leather pads. At the time I carefully whittled down a Bb reed,
attached it with string and blew to see what would happen. Of course the
sound that could only be described as gross! but it did blow. For 20 years
I did nothing further with it.
A couple of years ago when I started taking lessons from Ross Edwards, he
mentioned that there was a guy in Toronto, named Steven Fox, who works on
older instruments & also makes reproductions for use in early music groups.
Anyway, my clarinet is now in his hands for a complete overhaul and
hopefully at the end I'll have a playable C clarinet from the late 1840's??
I was wondering if anyone else on the list has any antique instruments or
has ever had this type of work done & what the end results were.
Is anyone out there playing on early instruments? & if so I for one would
love to see some stories & tidbits about your experiences.
N