 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wullie Marr
Date: 2001-03-05 17:20
I inherited a metal one piece clarinet. It was made by Martin of Paris circa 1920/30.
Unfortunately it has no serial no. but it is fitted with a full bohem system I have been told. I am getting it refurbed for my son to learn as I am not a player myself and would like directed to information about the history of the maker and instrument any help would be grateful(sites litrature etc)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-03-05 20:14
If it is a FULL Boehm, you have a prize. Count the keys and rings, the usual [standard] clarinet has 17 keys and 6 rings. The F B in woods I've seen are 20/7, and there are in-between varieties [I have a 19/7 as well as the Fulls]. Martin has been and [Mark?] prob. still is a good French-Italian [?] maker. There have been many learned discussions of various metals here. Search! Luck, Don
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-03-05 21:47
Regardless of the quality of this metal horn, I recommend getting something else for lessons and school bands. Although there were some good metal clarinets made, their reputation was tarnished by the tons of low grade student metal clarinets that were made. Very few instructors will accept a metal instrument in their classes or bands as they have generally only heard about the poor ones and don't know that there were also good ones. It would be very hard to change this mindset.
If it is as old as 1920, have the pitch checked. There is a possibility that one this old might be High Pitch. If so, it can not be properly tuned to play in a modern band. If it is 1930s or later it's more likely to be in modern pitch. A High Pitch horn will register about 50 cents sharp on a tuner (or may show it as 50 cents flat to the next higher note). Be sure to have some one knowledgeable on clarinets check this.
Note that metal clarinets were made as late as the 1960s.
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2001-03-05 21:49
Wullie,
Down the front of the clarinet are six holes, which are covered by the fingers. On a normal clarinet, the five of these have metal rings around them, which are held down when the fingers cover the hole, and which spring up when the holes are uncovered. One of the holes, the third from the top, has no ring around it. On a Full Boehm clarinet, there are rings on all the finger holes. Beside the last hole (closest to the bell) there is a neat array of keys. On a normal Boehm clarinet, there are two rows of two keys. On a Full Boehm there is one row of two and one row of three keys. These are two of the four features which makes a clarinet a Full Boehm as opposed to a normal Boehm clarinet. The other two are a small key between the fourth and fifth finger holes (similar to the one between the fifth and sixth finger holes) and an extra key for the left little finger, which I really can't describe if you are not a player and not familiar with the normal layout of keys.
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