Klarinet Archive - Posting 000206.txt from 1998/11

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Some old clarinet parts
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 16:05:45 -0500

GraemeCox wrote.
>>I have just bought a very scruffy old clarinet which looks rather like parts
assembled from several old horns. I wonder if anyone can help my identify
them...>>

Wow, that clarinet is quite a "marriage", more polygamous than most! The
greenish barrel is probably hard rubber ("ebonite"). Hold it under a light
bulb (not very long, or rubber will soften), rub it hard with your fingers and
sniff it to be sure.

Many clarinets I see at flea markets are "marriages" of different instruments.
Contrary to popular myth, I don't think most "marriages" are stolen
instruments, because most of the mixes I see are pieces of student-quality
instruments and fall into two extreme categories: either every section in the
case is damaged (often badly: one will have a crack all the way through to the
bore, another will have keys missing, etc.) or none of the pieces are damaged.
I think most of these are discarded school instruments. Band teachers on
tight budgets salvage what they can when a kid drops a horn or uses it as a
blunt instrument. (I've seen kids use clarinets like baseball bats to whack
each other, and I remember my grade school band teacher breaking up a clarinet
"sword fight.") I think teachers put together enough sound sections to make
one somewhat whole instrument as a desperation substitute. They save the
wrecked sections to cannibalize for parts. Eventually the school clears out
the worst of the rubble at an auction and that's why these "married" clarinets
so often turn up in the same flea market booths with obsolete or broken audio-
visual equipment and other typical school discards.

I scavenge the flea markets regularly, but I never buy "marriages" at any
price. I won't even buy them for parts, now that I'm learning repairs,
because from what I've seen so far, there's only a remote chance of an
individual buyer ever putting enough pieces together to make up a whole, good
instrument that plays in tune. For a repair shop, that's an expensive way to
buy parts, unless the case includes rarities for a special purpose. For a
musician, it's cheaper to buy a whole instrument in the first place.

The worst problem with marriages is that different manufacturers "break" the
sections in slightly different places, even if the overall length comes out to
about the same. Just now, I tried mixing and matching my four current Bb
clarinets (I have a fifth that's metal, but of course that's radically
different construction). Some of these sections won't fit together at all,
because they have tenons of different sizes, but let's assume I ground down
the fatter tenons to make them fit. Here are the lengths of the sections on
these four:

Barrel:
2-1/2" (Conn Director, 1958, ebony)
2-11/16" (Buffet, 1937, blackwood)
2-9/16" ("Carl Fischer" stencil, about 1950?, rubber)
2-11/16" (Selmer Bundy, mid-1980s, plastic)

Upper stack COUNTING the tenons:
8-29/32" (Conn Director, 1958, ebony)
8-15/16" (Buffet, 1937, blackwood)
8-5/8" ("Carl Fischer" stencil, about 1950?, rubber)
8-7/8" (Selmer Bundy, mid-1980s, plastic)

Upper stack NOT COUNTING the tenons:
7-9/16" (Conn Director, 1958, ebony)
7-17/32" (Buffet, 1937, blackwood)
7-3/16 ("Carl Fischer" stencil, about 1950?, rubber)
7-9/16" (Selmer Bundy, mid-1980s, plastic)

Lower stack COUNTING the tenon:
10" (Conn Director, 1958, ebony)
10-1/8" (Buffet, 1937, blackwood)
10-1/16" ("Carl Fischer"stencil, about 1950?, rubber)
10-1/16" (Selmer Bundy, mid-1980s, plastic)

Lower stack NOT COUNTING the tenon:
9-1/4" (Conn Director, 1958, ebony)
9-7/16" (Buffet, 1937, blackwood)
9-3/16" ("Carl Fischer" stencil, about 1950?, rubber)
9-1/4" (Selmer Bundy, mid-1980s, plastic)

Bell:
4-9/32" (Conn Director, 1958, ebony)
4-5/16" (Buffet, 1937, blackwood)
4-3/8" ("Carl Fischer" stencil, about 1950?, rubber)
4-5/16" (Selmer Bundy, mid-1980s, plastic)

Even given that clarinetists will opt for longer or shorter barrels (as far as
I know, all the ones above are "stock" on those instruments), comparison of
the other measurements shows that some of the possible combinations would play
disastrously out of tune, even if the middle joint mechanisms fit together
properly from brand to brand (which most of these wouldn't, even if I did
grind the tenons). The tenons aren't all the same lengths. What would happen
if I sawed one of them off? Or would I rout out the opposing tenon socket
instead? (How close to the nearest hole does the socket extend? What
hardware goes all the way through to the bore, and where?) Add the special
tuning compromises that all manufacturers build in (the little tuning hole
bored off to the side of the lower joint on the Conn, for instance) and the
variables multiply to the point where I know I can't possibly guess from
looking at a case full of mixed parts how they're going to sound together.

If anyone is still tempted by a "bargain" marriage, please consider it only if
all the pieces are in playable condition and will fit together right now in
such a way that all the mechanisms work properly. Try it out with a tuner.
If you can't try, don't buy.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Leering cacherination."
--Isaac Goldberg's description of the clarinet, in _Tin Pan Alley_.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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