 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-09-13 08:32
A few days or so back, My wife and I were having a look through an antique arcade. Buried in the back of a cabinet I found a very nice Boosey and Co. Pocket cornet, in fair condition and complete. After a bit of haggling I bought it (I’m a sucker for old musical instruments, our house is full of them). That night I thought it would be a good idea to do a bit of research on pocket cornets, and Google brought up stacks of information. I Googled “Boosey and Co. Pocket Cornet” and there was my cornet. It was the 1895 pattern, and the serial number identified it as being made in 1915.
In the footnotes at the bottom of the page was a blue hyperlink titled “Fakes and Counterfeits”, so I had a quick look. Again, there was my cornet. It said “Beware of hexagonal key-tops, Boosey never used them”. Yes, hexagonal tops. Next it said “Check that the spit valve has actually been drilled through the tube” Not on mine it hadn’t. Last and most damning, “Check the serial number against this list”. There it was! As far as I can tell, my antique cornet was made by a gentleman in Pakistan about 2 years ago. Still, I didn't pay a huge amount for it, so it will make a good desk ornament. My band director declared it a playable instrument, just, and produced the first few bars of "Bugler's Holiday" from it.
Tony F.
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2012-09-13 09:02
How playable are Chinese made counterfeit Yamaha clarinets? Counterfeit Buffets? I've seen evidence of supposedly precision items made in Pakistan that are hardly usable in any fashion. Pakistan, for example, churns out gads of Indian Fighter kites for pennies each. If I make one myself it takes hours and theirs take minutes. You can order two dozen of them and only find two or three that are reasonably balanced. Taking shortcuts like not drilling out the spit valve indicate a nearly useless piece of garbage.
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2012-09-13 14:53
" Taking shortcuts like not drilling out the spit valve indicate a nearly useless piece of garbage."
Can't argue with that. I've drilled the spit valve and put lighter springs in the valves. I'm pretty sure that the originals started life as front suspension springs in a chevy. With my very limited skills as a brass player it will now produce scales, but I don't plan on using it as the basis of a concert career. Makes a good paperweight.
Tony F.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-09-14 18:48
While we're on this subject, another warning: Beware of "Civil War bugles" at flea markets unless you're very sure (as I'm not!) what the correct markings and attributes ought to be. Some of these instruments, especially if they have long decorative silk ropes with tassels (a bit like drapery tassels) hanging from them, are genuine modern Pakistani military bugles. They're the type shown in TV news reports a few years ago about border conflicts between Pakistan and India, at the point where it looked as if open warfare might break out. Troops from both countries march up and down at a border crossing and blow belligerant bugle calls at each other.
Some of these instruments are solid brass, playable and not bad at all for the low prices, typically under $50, if people buy them in full understanding of what they really are. If you question the dealer in a knowledgable way, the dealer will put on that phoney-baloney face of sublime innocence and claim, "Oh, I didn't mean it's an authentic *American* Civil War bugle! Oh, no, of course not. Gee, I'm so sorry if you *misunderstood.* It's an authentic bugle from the [Indian / Pakistani; take your pick] Civil War." Uh-huh, thanks ....
But there's other stuff out there with the same labelling that's utter, total, worthless junk, clearly made to deceive. The junkers are very lightweight and flimsy base-metal with a brass patina. They come with unplayable mouthpiece-shaped objects, easy to spot even from a distance, if you know what a much heavier real trumpet or bugle mouthpiece looks like. These commonplace cheapos, which I've seen for sale for as little as twenty dollars on up to hundreds of dollars, are really only toys or, as Tony F says, paperweights. Some unscrupulous catalogue dealers sell these brand-new fakes to equally unscrupulous flea market vendors who certainly know better -- an honest dealer showed me one of these catalogues a few years ago (the colophon page was in Chinese -- this is the same catalogue I've written about before that offered things like "Baffet" clarinets and "Selner" saxophones) and there was no mistaking the wink-nudge attitude embodied in the claim of "genuine Civil War bugles" ... somehow available wholesale in conveniently large quantities!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2012-09-14 18:50)
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