Klarinet Archive - Posting 000239.txt from 2001/08

From: jim & joyce <lande@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Ancient Albert
Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 02:01:35 -0400

Gary asks why double walled metal clarinets:

I believe that metal clarinets were made in the early to mid
1800s. The ones I have seen were single walled
construction. I believe that the double walled metal
clarinets were made between 1890 and 1935. Haynes or Conn
may have been the last to sell them, but I really am
guessing on when the first were made. Conn sometimes called
the double walled instruments "Armored" (but this may have
referred to a rubber clarinet that had a metal outside
layer.) Others on Klarinet have guessed as to why several
makers began to offer double walled instruments:

1) when marching in cold weather, a single walled clarinet
stays cold. This means that much water condenses out of the
moist air going through and the horns drool like leaky
faucets. The air layer in the double walled horn would
allow the inside metal to get warmer and keep it from
drooling as much.

2) It looked more like a wooden clarinet. Some people
think that the single wall metal clarinets are fairly ugly
while the double walled models look simpler and less
complicated. .

3) It looked new and improved, so it didn't matter if it
actually had any advantages. Marketing being marketing.

A large majority of metal clarinets were made between 1925
and 1950 and almost all of these were single walled
instruments. I am guessing that the single walled models
came to (or resumed dominating) because

1) they were much cheaper to make
2) they were actually sturdier and if damaged, easier to
repair
3) It is possible that the best single walled models played
about the same as the best double walled models. (I have
not tried enough to have a strong opinion.)
4) In any case, Buffet, Selmer and LeBlanc and some of the
top American clarinet makers all introduced single walled
models in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Most had not
previously offered any metal clarinets. So, the single wall
models may have seized back the the "new and improved"
marketing status.

jim lande

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