 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: darby
Date: 2001-08-31 17:15
Hi, Darby here with a question about a metal clarinet made in Germany. It's a
Nuernberger. Do any of you know of this brand and it's quality? If it's a German clarinet does that mean a special mouthpiece is needed?
Are there any metal clarinets that are better than others? Did anyone manufacture
an Eb metal clarinet?
Thank you, Darby
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Author: David Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-08-31 18:31
Last year I renovated and sold a William Nuernberger "American Professional" (made in Germany) metal clarinet, which is what I suspect you've got. There seems to be a fair number of these around. I thought mine was nicely made and played well. No special mouthpiece needed, it has standard bore dimensions (if yours is like mine was). Certainly some brands/models of metal clarinets were better than others ---- there are two folks in particular here on Sneezy who are very well-versed on metal clarinets, Dee and Jim Lande ---- do a search and find their previous postings.
I've seen a couple of metal Eb clarinets on eBay, but they're pretty rare as far as I can tell (but I suspect that's because Eb clarinets in general are relatively rare --- I would venture a guess that during the era of popularity of metal clarinets, the proportion of metal eefers compared to wood eefers was comparable to the percentage of metal Bb clarinets (beefers??) to wood Bb clarinets). Just a guess.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2001-09-01 02:39
See old posts re. the better brands. I have no idea which are the best. I suspect it will depend strongly on personal preference and style of music. However, the most expensive (based on eBay) seem to be the Haynes, the Selmer, and the Conn double walled, in that order.
Various folks made Eb, C, Bb, A, Eb alto, and Bb bass clarinets in metal. LeBlanc still makes metal Contra Alto and Contra Basses. Only the Bb models are common. (As in 100+ per month are auctioned on eBay.)
I have just finished restoring an eefer and I think it is a lot of fun. However, I have never played any other model eefers, so I don't know how they compare to same vintage wood models, much less to today's models. (My opinion is that even the best metal clarinets are not as good as today's entry level pro models and probably were not as good as the pro wood horns from the same era. However, they are loads of fun.)
I am almost certain that the William Nuernberger "American Professional" was not a top quality model, but I have never held one. Dave and I have talked about getting together, and perhaps he will have an opinion after he has tried a couple of my horns. Sooner or later. In any case, I am fairly certain that the Nuernbergers were made for export to the U.S. so they would use a standard French style mouthpiece. I have two Mueller metal clarinets that were made in Germany. However, since they are marked "Germany", and are boehm fingering, I suspect that those too were intended for export.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-09-01 15:22
To add to Jim's several good metals, I'd suggest the Cundy-Bettoney Silva-Bet as the best US make [have patent # if desired], the lesser C-B's are only fair IMHO. Don
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