Klarinet Archive - Posting 001068.txt from 1998/12

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] strange clarinet
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 23:47:14 -0500

I saw an unusual 5-piece soprano clarinet (the right length for Bb) at an
antiques show at the Timonium, Maryland Fairgrounds over the weekend and
wonder whether anyone can identify it. It was almost certainly not an
antique. It was made of rubber, but if it was even "vintage" from, say, the
1940s, it was in unusually good condition, because it looked nearly new. The
keys and metal tenon rings (plain, flat bands) were lightweight, thin, cast
pot-metal, with a high shine the color of chrome. The bell flared out
considerably less than on conventional contemporary clarinets. There was no
brand name anywhere (and no case). The only marking I could find was the
number 98 engraved on the upper section, just below the barrel.

Unlike old Baermann and Albert system clarinets, the instrument I saw had six
rings, and its keys were shaped like those on the modern Boehm system Bb
clarinets. However, it only had two pinkie keys for the left hand, two
pinkie keys for the right hand, and only two side trill keys for RH first
finger. On the front of the bell, I noticed a trace of an oval glue spot.
This may have been left by a manufacturer's sticker, though it may have been
nothing but the remnant of the price tag from wherever the antiques dealer
bought the horn. In general, this clarinet looked and felt cheap and flimsy,
as though perhaps someone simplified the Boehm system for young beginners,
with the expectation that the instrument wouldn't need to last long. Or maybe
it was a crummy attempt to fake an antique clarinet, similar to the
unconvincing "Civil War" bugles now on the market.

The antiques dealer promoted the clarinet only as a wall ornament. However, it
was clearly a real instrument, not a mock-up designed merely as a toy, prop or
decoration. It had functional springs, the keys fit, and it appeared that the
pads were the normal fishskin type, although someone had stiffened and ruined
them by enamelling them bright, glossy red! I wasn't interested in buying
this clarinet (especially not for the US$68 the dealer wanted), but not
knowing what to call it has started to bug me.

The dealer "couldn't remember" where the clarinet came from. I think someone
is re-decorating worthless, retired junk horns and peddling them wholesale to
local antiques dealers, because at the same show, a different dealer offered a
plastic marriage of Bundy and Armstrong sections with the pads enamelled red,
for $69, while a third dealer offered an alto sax on which someone had
replaced the pearls with red plastic disks and painted over the old, torn pads
with the same screaming red enamel. The butcher had buffed down the brass so
drastically that he deleted the engravings completely and thinned out the
metal to the point of fragility. He also straightened and partially de-dented
the body so incompetently that he distorted and damaged it beyond practical
repair, although fortunately it looked like the remains of a cheap student
horn, not the wreckage of a good instrument. This dealer also wanted $68
(interesting: three horns at the same show within a dollar of the same odd
price...) and also mentioned that he bought the sax to sell as a wall hanging.
He added that he had a hunch it was probably a really valuable antique.
"Isn't it a beauty?" he coaxed me. (I barely stifled the impulse to say,
"It's a beauty if you dig freak shows," although I suspect the look on my face
said it all.)

Anyway, can anyone identify that oddball clarinet?

Lelia

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