Klarinet Archive - Posting 000683.txt from 1998/10

From: mbundi@-----. Bundi)
Subj: Re: [kl] Silver Plated Clarinets
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 09:35:58 -0400

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998 23:15:17 -0500 (CDT) mpiede@-----.com writes:
>On 10/13/98 22:23:35 you wrote:
>>
>>On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, James P Reed wrote:
>>
>>> If a child starting to play a clarinet was to have gotten a used
>silver plated or metal clarinet in 1957 or 1958, what would the good
>models have been? And, do you have any ideas of what they would have
cost
>>> used?
>>
>>Well, let's see. I started playing in 1949, and my Pan American
>resonite (plastic) clarinet cost about $125. Even then, in the part of
the
>world where I lived, there were no metal clarinets available which were
>regarded as "good models." I don't think any were still being
manufactured,
>but some were available in pawn shops and from the US government as
>military surplus. I had a friend who played one which he had
"inherited" from
>his father or uncle who had played it about the time of the first World
>>War. Our school owned a few which had been bought about the same
>time, and we tried to sell them, but couldn't find any takers. I think
we
>>eventually sold them to a pawn shop for $5 or $10 each.
>>
>>By the late 50's, they were even more rare, but still further devalued.

>I have learned since that there were a few higher-quality metal
clarinets
>>made, double walled and of silver. However, this was a far cry from
>the metal clarinets I knew.
>>
>>If the student in your literary work actually had to play on a metal
>>clarinet, he or she would have been alternately pitied and ridiculed.
>>
>>Ed Lacy
>>el2@-----.edu
>>
>
>Ed this is a gross oversimplification.
>
>I own a pair of old metal clarinets, one a Silver King, the other a
>Cundy Bettoney. Both of these instruments have very good intonation. The

>quality of the sound on both of them is different than a wooden
clarinet,
>but in my opinion that makes them neither better nor worse. The cundy
>is actually darker than my Strasser (my primary instrument) whereas the
>siver king is brighter and LOUDER. I actually prefer the Silver King for

>playing Jazz. But for playing classical or legit music my choice would
>be a wooden instrument, although I would only hesitate using the silver
>king in this environment due to the reaction it would get from my fellow

>musicians (your reaction to jim reeds comments is a good example) not
>due to the fact that it would sound awful (it most emphatically does
not,
>just not quite as dark and mellow as the Strasser, although markedly
>cleaner than my daughters Bundy using the same mouthpiece as I use
>with the silver king).
>
> I believe that a large part of the animosity towards these
>instruments came about due to the absolute dreck that usually
>accompanies them as mouthpieces.
>
>Mike Piede
>mpiede@-----.com
>

A couple of years ago, the National Band Russia (or whatever they are
officially called) came to town to play, and their principal clarinetist
alternated on a metal horn and a wooden one. He was good. They were good.
And this is the group that includes an accordion as part of the band . .
. :)

Marcia

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