Klarinet Archive - Posting 000445.txt from 1999/08

From: "Ross Anderson" <rossa@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Sumner mpcs and Signet Special
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 23:35:13 -0400

On Sun, 15 Aug 1999 19:13:30 EDT,
klarinet@-----.
>
>Yesterday at a yard sale, I bought a Selmer USA Signet Special wooden
>clarinet for $35, with a W. C. Sumner Acousticut (Accusticut?--the
stamping
>isn't completely clear) mouthpiece. The only mention of the mpc I could
>find
>in the Archives was someone's question about it in March, 1999. Evidently
>he
>didn't get an answer on the list, so here goes again. The age of the mpc
>is
>probably mid-1970s. The seller is the original owner of the clarinet and
>mouthpiece. I haven't been able to find Signet Special serial numbers on
>the
>Internet, but she told me her parents bought it for her new in about 1975.
>
>Here's the information on the mouthpiece:
>
>Acousticut [or this might be Accusticut]
>WC Sumner
>Rubber
>3
>
>WC is in very large letters with "Sumner" across them in smaller letters.

>As
>the stamping indicates, it's hard rubber. The 2-screw ligature isn't a
>Sumner. It's stamped "France" and appears to be the stock Selmer student
>lig.
>
>I found a lot of pros and cons about this intermediate clarinet in the
>klarinet Archives, so I don't want to re-hash all that again, but FWIW,
the
>seller put a price tag of $35 on the Signet and I paid without bartering.

>It's my policy not to try to take advantage of someone by bartering a
price
>down when I think it's already too low. $35-50 is average for an "as is"
>plastic Bundy around here. She might not have been able to do better than
>that on her Signet Special, however. She volunteered the information that
>she had taken the clarinet to two local instrument dealers who wouldn't
>even
>make an offer on it. That squares with my experience with a good local
>repairman who deals in used instruments. I told him I found a lot of
stuff
>and asked if he'd be interested in having me act as a picker for his
store.
>
>He warned me never to bring him student quality clarinets, because, he
>said,
>"I can get them for next to nothing from the schools." So old Signet
>Specials are not something to buy for investment purposes...!
>
>I bought the clarinet because it needs pads and corks and because I'm
still
>learning to do repair work and I need another victim. I'll get the
>experience out of it and can probably sell it locally to a student for
>enough
>to cover my costs, if I don't want to keep it. Besides, I'm curious about
>anything that attracts such decided "love it" or "hate it" reactions. I
>know
>nothing about the mouthpiece except that the seller put it away wet and
>dirty. The lipstick-smeared reed was stuck to the mouthpiece better than
>the
>corks were stuck to the tenons. Somebody definitely made sure she knew
the
>corks needed greasing. And greasing. And greasing. Not sure she
>understood
>we're supposed to grease only the corks and not the whole clarinet.
>
>Thanks for any enlightenment on the Sumner mouthpiece.
>
>Lelia
>
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>
>It was probably my post of last March that you are refering to. I do have
this very same mouthpiece and have never found one that I like better. The
only other thing I could suggest is that when I mentioned it to Renee, the
clarinetist/salesperson at Wichita Band Instrument , she said that they
still list them in a catalog. Another clarinetist friend who lives in
St.Paul, Minn. said he thought they were made there. I also have an old
Signet - whether it came with that mouthpiece, or not I can't remember.
The horn is not worth playing - horrible intonation, etc. That's about all
I can tell you.

Ross

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