Klarinet Archive - Posting 000187.txt from 2009/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Bass Clarinet-Bundy-what did RAlph Morgan say?
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:30:57 -0500

At 10:37 PM 1/9/2009, Kurt Heisig wrote:
>Hey Bill thanks for the info.
>
>Do you know any more on the Barbier? We have had a couple through.
>Were they the early Bundy wood?
>
>What happened in 1957 according to Ralph, is that a certain
>character that was a competitor insinuated his employee into the
>plastic company that made the Bundy clarinet. Once he found out the
>formula for the plastic, he quit and went back to his clarinet
>making company, that company started using the"Selmer" plastic.
>Ralph told me he was astounded at the reaction Selmer had. (Was it
>Groliman?) The Selmer execs went to the new bore-BUT they also
>changed to an inferior plastic so as not to be making from the same
>plastic as _____.

Selmer (USA) sold several brands of mostly imported clarinets before
the Bundy we all know (and love(?)), including an imported G. M.
Bundy model. The Barbier I was working on was almost a dead ringer
for an early Bundy. The heritage was clear. It had a wood body but
composition bell and barrel. My own wood Bundy is wood throughout -
the fancy model!

There certainly was a change in the plastic formulation, from a
fairly brittle, heavy, and dense material to more of a common
thermoplastic somewhere along the line. It does seem like a strange
reaction, but economics may have played a role, too.

Bill Hausmann

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

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