Klarinet Archive - Posting 000341.txt from 2005/08

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Lamps
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:01:06 -0400

Ormondtoby Montoya wrote,

>I received a catalog in the mail (from a CD outlet).
>$249 for a lamp which claims to be built from a
>"genuine almost new" used wood clarinet.

Too much. You can get one at a flea market for less than US $50.

>I couldn't help wondering: what are the odds that
>repairing a clarinet lamp could yield a better instrument
>(after repairs) than buying a junker on eBay?

>I'm not about to find out by actual experience --- the
>odds are probably against it --- but I couldn't help
>wondering.

If anybody does decide to try salvaging a clarinet lamp, check with the
dealer first and find out whether the butcher, oops, I mean the fine
artisan, drilled the bell for the cord and the barrel for the harp
hardware. Often, drilling splits the wood. The artiste then fills the
split with wood putty and camouflages it with black paint. Check to see if
all the keys, rings, levers, etc. are there, too. A lot of clarinets end
up as lamps because a repair shop already stripped them down for spare
parts.

Saw some beauties at the Quinns' auction in Falls Church (Virginia) last
week. Good news first: all cheap, student- quality instruments (clarinets,
saxophones, a trombone, a tuba, trumpets)--no loss to the world of music.
Bad news: salvage from a T. G. I. Friday's restaurant that closed. All of
the instruments had been drilled for hanging on the restaurant wall. The
drill bit evidently wasn't very sharp and the person who did the drilling
wasn't particular. The drill had deeply dented all of the metal
instruments and had split the wood of the clarinets. The wall hangers,
over time, had further cracked or ripped the tops of the holes. I don't
know what those alleged musical instruments sold for, but none of them sold
to me, that's for sure.

I think it's a waste of time and money to try to salvage this kind of
wreckage, unless the instrument started out as something truly special.
Most of the time, undoing the damage would cost more than the instrument is
worth. If I saw a C. G. Conn baritone sax from the 1920s on the wall of a
restaurant, if it still had all the right parts, I might make an offer,
because I know a repairman (Peter Ferrante, at Presto Brass & Woodwind in
Arlington) who farms out work to a guy (Valenti) who's a genius with a dent
ball. For a Bundy clarinet from the 1950s, no way.

Lelia Loban

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