Klarinet Archive - Posting 000353.txt from 2004/12

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Metal Clarinet
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 2004 19:09:07 -0500

At 09:31 PM 12/24/2004 -0800, Derek Jakoboski wrote:
>Hi. For Christmas Eve, I went to my grandfathers
>house, where I found a metal clarinet. It needs some
>serious refurbishing, which I will try to get done as
>soon as possible. But when looking for a company name,
>all I found was an engraved "Carl Fischer" on it, and
>above the serial, it says "made in Italy". So those
>are the only clues I have as to it's status, that and
>the original mouthpiece, or what I am guessing is the
>original, which is Noblet. I have the serial number.
>Any way I can find out when it was made? I don't see
>too many metal clarinets around so I'd like to find
>out more about this one.

Carl Fischer imported and/or stenciled instruments from many makers. I
have an A clarinet of undetermined origin with that marking. AMONG the
instruments they imported at one time were Buffet clarinets, but they were
usually clearly marked with both the Buffet AND Carl Fischer names. For an
imported Italian instrument, it is very improbable that any information can
be determined from a serial number, as no list is likely to be
available. Noblet is a French make, dating from the mid 1700's, later
taken over by Leblanc. It would NOT be original to this instrument. Metal
clarinets were popular in the early 20th century, as cheap substitutes for
wood, before hard rubber and plastic came into common use. Photos of early
jazz bands of the 19-teens and 20's often show metal clarinets on the
stands of the doubling sax players.

Bill Hausmann

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

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