Klarinet Archive - Posting 000514.txt from 1998/08

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] C ALBERT SYSTEM
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 10:03:25 -0400

At 11:06 PM 8/17/1998 EDT, Tski1128@-----.com wrote:
>Does anyone have a "C" albert" simple" system they would be willing to sell.
>I"m working on some klezmer transcriptions and I would like to have an
>"original" circa 1900 type eastern European instrument to play. Thanks Tom
>Puwalski

Tom, can you clarify what you mean by Albert "simple" system? I know
someone who used to have an old Albert system clarinet in C. (I think he
bought it several years ago at an auction, but I don't remember what brand
it is.) I'll call him. If he still has it and wants to sell it, I'll get
back to you.

BTW, I own a pair of A and B-flat clarinets in the Albert system. The only
identifying mark on the instruments is "1908 Chicago." (I think there are
also serial numbers, but I'm in my office and can't check that right now.)
They share a single adjustable length barrel. (I think this may truly
qualify as the elusive "matched set" that we sometimes wonder about.) They
are playable, but I don't play them; they sit in their case on a closet
shelf. I got them in about 1964 when I was in high school. A baritone horn
player found them in the attic of his house and *gave* them to me,
presumably with the permission of his parents. Does anybody know who might
have made them and what they are worth?

Mitch Bassman

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