Klarinet Archive - Posting 000133.txt from 1998/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Champlain Clarinet (and Boston Wonder)
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 22:54:43 -0400

At 04:20 PM 9/4/98 -0500, Chris Felts wrote:
>Hi,
>A few weeks ago through the mail, I finally received the Champlain
>clarinet I bought through E-bay, and as you can imagine, I have numerous
>questions. First off, I have played alto sax for the past four years,
>and am trying to learn clarinet, once I get this thing fixed up. On the
>bell, it is engraved diagonally "Champlain" with wavy lines above and
>below it. It is in two pieces, the bottom has all the rods, keys and
>things, and the top seems to be today's equivalent of a tuning barrel.
>It is made of a silver type metal (how can I find out which?) with a
>brass type under metal showing through at several places. The serial
>number is located right before the welding of the bell, above the serial
>number engraved is "made in italy", the serial number is in the late
>376xx range. It seems very slender when compared to a modern clarinet,
>on the top the diameter is around 1 1/2 cm, and the bell is around 7 1/2
>cm. Also around the four left hand key group, there are "00" markings
>on all the keys, and that section of the body. There seems to be no
>marking of high pitch or low, and the tube stays at the 1 1/2 cm pretty
>much until the bell. Please tell me anything you know about this
>clarinet (i.e., when itwas made, what key its in, what metal it is made
>of, etc.). Thankyou for your help.
>--
Many metal clarinets were made by and for numerous manufacturers, most no
longer traceable, in the early part of the century as a low-priced
substitute for wood clarinets. They are mostly silver-plated brass,
sometimes nickel-plated (you can tell by the color). The reason they look
so skinny is that metal is much thinner than wood, so much so that the
outer diameter is virtually the same as the inner bore diameter. The tone
holes must be built up from the body to compensate for that lost thickness.
Once plastic and/or hard rubber clarinets were developed, the metal ones
fell into disfavor, if for no other reason than that they LOOKED better.
You can often see metal clarinets in pictures of bands from the 1920's and
even 1930's. They make great lamp bases and curiosity pieces, but unless
you find a Selmer or something they are generally not really every day
player horns. By the way, numbers stamped into the keys usually suggests
cast metal rather than forged, a sign of an inferior horn.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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