Klarinet Archive - Posting 000373.txt from 2004/12

From: "DWH" <dwh46@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: metal clarinets
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 08:47:13 -0500

I wonder if any of you can answer a question about the BT clarinets for me.
I picked up one about three years ago thanks to Henry Cuesta. He was in town
for a concert and stopped in our shop one morning looking for BT's and
mouthpieces. The two BT's he was carrying at the time were pinned everywhere
you can imagine, but after playing one of his I was hooked, and he was kind
enough to write and call me a month later when he had found one for me.

My question concerns the bore. Mine dates pre-occupation, and his were even
older. We measured the bore of his two at his request, and they were .593.
Mine measures .594, and I've had the chance to check a couple others in
recent months that measured .593 and .592. I'm just curious if they were
concerned with specific specs back then, or just made them to ballpark
measurements as long as they played up to spec...I realize that machinery
and tooling has become more sophisticated since. Like Kurt, I learned to
play jazz on whatever I was using at the time, but this clarinet is my jazz
favorite. It had/has no cracks, which I am thankful for and find unusual for
an old Selmer (must have been fairly well-cared for). I learned to play on
one of those 1400 Bundys, and remember what a shock the difference in
resistance was when my folks bought my first Buffet.

Someone mentioned jazz mouthpieces...I have an old Brilhart hard rubber one
that works well on any instrument I've tried, and an old Hawkins mouthpiece.
But I've tried the newer Vandoren jazz pieces and like them very much, so
much that I bought one to have as backup in case I never find another of
these old Brilharts.

> >Ralph Morgan was telling us the other day that many jazz players played
> >the Bundy that was made from 1948-1957, until it was changed. It WAS the
> >old BT (Benny Goodman's clarinet), but made of plastic. (Ralph was the
> >salesman for Selmer in the southeastern states back in '51.)
>
> The"change" was probably the introduction of the model 1401 with the .577"
> bore. However, the original .590" Bundy was still available as the model
> 1400, and in fact is STILL in the Conn-Selmer catalogue as the Selmer 1400
> (the store where I work carries them). You can tell the difference
easily,
> since "577" is prominently stamped on the Bundy 1401's. Later ones, after
> the Bundy name was dropped, are simply marked "1401."

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