Klarinet Archive - Posting 000696.txt from 2004/10

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: genuine French Grenadier wood
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2004 10:35:57 -0400

Re. my old model of wooden Bundy, I wrote that it has:
> an unusual left hand thumb key where there's
> normally the thumb ring. The keys are nickel
> and big. This thumb key is solid except for a
> pinhole in the center. Rocking the thumb to
> use the register key exposes this vent hole

Ormond Montoya wrote,
>>I may have lost track of the description. This
>>is a soprano Bb? And "pinhole" means 1/32"
>>or so diameter?

I've now measured the hole: 1/8" in diameter, so my word, "pinhole," was
misleading.

>>It would be interesting to hear what happens if you
>>manage to keep the pinhole closed as well?

Yes, I'm curious about that, too. I'll have to replace the rotted corks
and pads before I can experiment to see what the hole does.

Thanks to Bill Hausmann and Kathy Beatty, who both gave information about
dealers offering Selmer HS mouthpieces with Bundy clarinets for an
additional charge. You're probably right that that's what happened with
this wooden Bundy.

Don Hatfield wrote,
>>>The Bundy you describe sounds a bit like a couple
>>>of old ones we had at a music store where I once
>>>worked, but on ours ALL the keys were covered like
>>>the thumb hole on yours. We had some old Vitos like
>>>this as well, but the Bundys also had the Mazzeo System
>>>and the Vitos the comparable Stubbins system, in addition
>>>to the covered keys.

Interesting! My Bundy appears to be a conventional Boehm system clarinet
in every way except for that thumb key. My husband brought up a
possibility that hadn't occurred to me: Maybe the clarinet was made in the
early 1920s, as the serial number indicates (only a range of dates, not
exact dates, are known for Bundies), but the original owner's parents *did*
buy it new for him in 1956 or 1957, as he thought. It might have been new
old stock, sitting in a store for years, then sold with the (then)
up-to-date mouthpiece and case.

Lelia Loban
America can do better: Kerry and Edwards in 2004!

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