 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: fiddler
Date: 2003-01-24 20:40
Two metal clarinets were passed down to me: (1) an "American made Easy Play - superior quality," and (2) a "Greville - Paris." A search of the web revealed that the Greville was imported by the US Government, but I couldn't find any information on the "Easy Play."
QUESTIONS:
(1) Are either of these instruments of sufficient quality to warrant having them restored?
(2) Why did the US Government contract for the production of clarinets?
(3) What French company produced the Greville?
(4) What US company manufactured the "Easy Play?"
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-01-24 21:03
(5) Have you done a search on eBay?
(6) Have you contacted the local lamp factory?
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-01-25 04:11
The U.S. Government has purchased many huge lots of music instruments to supply it's military bands over the last couple of hundred years, and most "uninitiated" people would be surprised at how many bands there are in the military.
Perhaps there are not as many as there once were, as some time ago even units as small as battalions had their own bands, but still, U.S. Armed Forces bands probably number in the thousands, even as we speak.
That's a lot of musicians and a great number of instruments. It makes for some very lucrative contracts...Weapons, uniforms, vehicles, clarinets with lazer sights? Hmmmmm...
Did you try looking them up in the Langwill index here on the WW/BB? There are some U.S. Military purchases listed there. Don't get your hopes too far up, as it seems that many of the instruments purchased by the U.S. Government in past years, especially in the hayday of the metal clarinet, were stenciled instruments and existing stencil records are very few and very far between.
I wouldn't turn them into lamps. Instead, I might clean them up, put them in playing condition and use them as "historical" conversation pieces, even if their value, historical or otherwise may not be very much.
If you do make them into lamps, make sure you put either a wide, or a heavy base on them, as otherwise they are very unstable due to their height!
Good luck in your search.
Peter
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Author: brenda siewert
Date: 2003-01-25 15:15
You can always list them on eBay at a fairly low beginning price and no reserve and see what happens.
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Author: Rob
Date: 2003-01-25 18:22
Brenda said:
"You can always list them on eBay at a fairly low beginning price and no reserve and see what happens."
I did that a couple of years ago with a baby grand piano that was in numerous pieces on the floor of my sister's living room (please don't ask why it was in pieces just understand that sometimes, divorce can be a wise choice). I listed it for one dollar and noted in the auction description that it could actually be had for free if someone would just come and get the thing out of the house at their own expense. It ended up selling for nearly $700.00. It turned out that the piano (all of the parts were there) was manufactured by Steinway and sold under some other name I can't recall, but the buyer sure knew all about it and drove about 500 miles just to pick up the pieces.
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Author: Sandra F. H.
Date: 2003-01-25 23:15
Mark Charette has a reference chart on this website for the various imported clarinets from the first half of the 20th century. Research this site to find it.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-01-26 04:31
These were student models, and possibly less desirable ones because nobody (that I have run into) knows who really made them. There were dozens of makers of metal clarinets and in some cases, the same name was stenciled on instruments from different job lot manufacturers. Still, if restored, they may be comparable to current student models and better than the Kmart/Wallmart varieties.
As to value on eBay, check
http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=37222&t=37222
http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=70853&t=70853
One reason there were so many service bands was that they were available to play military funerals. I met a flute player who spent four years doing this during the Viet Nam War. Horrible duty, but safe.
Sadly, I recently went to the funeral of Richard 'Bones' Thomas, who was a master at playing the bones. He was a WWII vet -- a truck driver in Patton's army. The "band" provided by DOD consisted of a single soldier holding a trumpet that had mute shaped insert that played taps. I believe that it contained a synthesizer and a speaker, rather than just a tape. It sounded OK. However, I think we should do better by our vets -- and casualties, if it comes to that.
And Mr. Synonymous Botch " (6) Have you contacted the local lamp factory?" I think metal clarinets make better punji sticks. Be very careful when you go out to play. You never know if someone has used some to make a heffelump trap.
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Author: Jean
Date: 2003-01-27 19:59
Actually there are very few military bands in the US these days. Cutbacks in the military in the 1970's led to bands being (pardon the pun) disbanded. It used to be every base had a band. That is not the case anymore. My dad played in the Army in the 1950's and played on a wooden clarinet. The clarinet he played on belonged to the military even though he had one of his own. I couldn't say when the metal clarinet fell out of favor, but I have seen pictures of my dad in the early 1940's holding his first clarinet (a metal one). And I have the entry in my grandpa's journal that it cost 16 dollars.
Jean
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