Klarinet Archive - Posting 000551.txt from 2004/10

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: genuine French Grenadier wood
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:12:59 -0400

Well, there are a number of things about that instrument's
description that trouble me. I find it hard to believe that the
keys are solid silver as the description indicates. And I'm not
sure I understand what is meant by a custom laid high E-flat key.
So here is Mr. Selmer himself getting an instrument made for him
by an apprentice??? If Selmer wanted an instrument, he would have
had it made by one of the more seniors works, not an apprentice.
And finally this: 1939 was a bad year for France. The war began
in that year and even prior to the war the emotions of the
country were at a fever pitch. And while it is probably nothing
more than a malapropism, the instrument is said to have a "true
musical tone." Does that mean that a lesser quality instrument
has a false musical tone?

I guess it reads to me as if the person writing the description
(who is not the owner) is not particularly adept at describing a
quality musical instrument. The terms are all clumsy and the
description is that of an amateur. I also do not see a statement
that suggests that the seller will take it back if the buyer is
unhappy. And if I were to buy that instrument and find out that
keys are not solid silver (as I suggest to be the case), I'd be
very unhappy if the seller resisted returning the money because
he did not understand what he was saying.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Roberts [mailto:timr@-----.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 3:40 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Re: genuine French Grenadier wood

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:20:56 -0500, "Thiel, Mark"
<thielm@-----.com> wrote:

>This ebay auction
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10182&ite
m=3754882485
>may be your only chance to get a bass clarinet made of the very
rare
>"French Grenadier wood"
>" Originally crafted for G.M Selmer himself in 1939 by an
apprentice in
>Paris"
>
>Mark Thiel
>
>

Surely that must be a simple misrendering of "grenadilla", the
African
hardwood from which almost all wood clarinets are made. That is,
a
"French-made grenadilla bass clarinet", not a bass clarinet made
out of
French wood. The only references I can find to "French
Grenadier" use
the phrase to refer to armed combat troops.

I'm dubious that any native French hardwoods would be suitable
for
clarinet making.

I don't mean to impune the value of your bass clarinet in any
way; it is
clearly a valuable instrument. However, it is in everyone's best
interest to have eBay auctions be described as accurately as
possible.

--
- Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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