Klarinet Archive - Posting 000046.txt from 2003/12

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] C-Clarinet Alert
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 22:48:46 -0500

At 07:51 AM 12/1/2003 -0600, Forest Aten wrote:
>Bill,
>
>Benny Goodman may have used different criteria than I do when selecting an
>instrument. Using the words "good enough" in your premise doesn't validate
>your argument. Goodman may have felt at the time, that the Selmer was his
>best bet....In either case (Selmer or Buffet)....the clarinets that he
>played on
>then were probably not (from my experience) of the same quality (intonation)
>of hand selected clarinets currently available to people like Goodman.

One must reasonably assume he would not CHOOSE and instrument with poor
intonation. He was a well-trained musician who knew the difference, and he
played Selmers for MOST of his career, from pre-BT through Series
9. Perhaps they were hand-selected, as are most instruments played by
folks at that level, but he could select from any brand and chose Selmer
most frequently.

>It is known that later in his life he made some kind of switch to
>Buffet.

He also switched to double lip, and given the loss of tone quality he
suffered as a result (my opinion) it indicates he was not infallible at
that time in his career.

>I recently overhauled two old Selmer Eb's from the 1950's, that sat in the
>band directors office at SMU. The school was convinced that it would be a
>good idea to put them into "mint" condition. They wanted to put them into
>service with the bands. I told them that it would be costly and that in the
>end they would likely own two "mint" condition Selmer clarinets that were
>not playable in their band program. (because of the inherent intonation
>problems with Selmer clarinets from that time period). They said fix
>them....I did. They looked great. Smiles all around when I brought them in
>for review. They put them into service right away.....and took them out of
>service right away. Even with significant tuning work, the clarinets did not
>demonstrate "playability" at current standards. Even the school plastic Vito
>(with work done on it in the 70's by C. Bay) performed better than these old
>Selmer clarinets.

Given the notorious intonation problems of Eb clarinets in general, it
seems extreme to judge the company's entire output based on that model alone.

>It is very, very unlikely that I would pursue the purchase any clarinet from
>the 1950's....and yes, "that kind of price" for most any clarinet from the
>50's is way out of touch. What people pay on eBay is irrelevant. I could
>sell dirty old socks on eBay for more money than I paid for them new.
>(Well....I'd even wash them and call them "in mint condition")(I might even
>sell them the ones without holes ;-)

Right now eBay is a major market value setter. An item will get what the
market will bear. If there is a buyer out there to whom an item is worth X
amount, then it is worth that amount. Even if it IS old used socks.

>A C clarinet's value doesn't have much to do with "rarity". A person really
>has to have a place to use the clarinet. An orchestra would be one of those
>places...but often conductors or other players will refuse a player the
>right to use a C clarinet. I have observed this on more than one occasion. A
>second (and rare indeed) venue is in chamber music. A third would be in a
>jazz/popular setting....and a fourth....the practice room. Not very many
>people have a place to use such a clarinet. C clarinets are not rare by the
>way. They can be purchased any day of the week. When you say "rare" you
>probably intended to say that not everyone has one.....I'll agree with that.
>A lot of players don't have them...because they don't need them. If people
>have interest in this C as a toy or a collectible great.....as a tool, I'd
>say that a player ending up with something useable is a long shot.

Perhaps "rare" is the wrong word. How about "uncommon." Relative to the
number of Bb clarinets, or even A clarinets, C clarinets are obscure at
best. Because they are made in MUCH smaller quantities they do command a
premium over Bb or A clarinets of the same make and quality level. Check
the current catalogs.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org