 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: beth
Date: 1999-11-05 22:03
I bought a metal clarinet for my son. He plays many instruments. Woodwinds, brass, strings, guitars, percussion, etc. I like to let him know about the instrument. Most instruments I can find info about. But this clarinet has me stumped. I have been to the library and the local bookstores, and music stores but noone seems to be able to help. I figure it was a marching band instrument in the forties. It is a Le Maire from paris sn 4226. If anyone could give me some backgroud it would be apprciatted.
Thanks, Beth
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Author: Tracy
Date: 1999-11-06 02:04
I believe that the metal clarinets made actually of nickel are decendants of French Military Clarinets. The reason they are so "skinny" is that they don't have the thick wood bore (obviously) so the size of the horn is actually the size of the inside bore of a regular wood clarinet. They are generally good instruments. Though I really know about that particular brand of instrument, I do know that they sell many of those horns on ebay all the time so perhaps you could look there for more information. I hope that I helped you a little bit sorry I cannot do more for you. I wish your son the best of luck with it though.
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Author: jim lande@ erols.com
Date: 1999-11-06 03:31
In case you didn't notice, our webmaster provided the
following information from the Langwell reference book:
Le Maire, M. - Trade name.
Used for US-imported woodwind instruments
MARK:
M. Le Maire, Paris
(a "stencil" clarinet)
What this means is that there was no "le Maire" company. It was simply a name that was stamped on clarinets by some importer. It is possible that that particular importer stamped the name on instruments from more than one manufactuerer. The importer would then distribute the clarinets through music stores. There were hundreds of models of metal clarinets, so it is unlikely that you will ever find out who actually made it.
If I had to guess, the clarinet was made between 1930 and 1950 (but not in the WWII years) and was sold as a student quality instrument. It might be silver plate over nickel but more likely it is silver plated over brass. It can be repaired as long as it is complete, has no broken keys, and the screws are not rusted too badly. A competent tech likely will charge between $75 and $200 for the work, depending. Also, it is possible your son will want a different mouthpiece. (Many people like the Hite Premier for beginners with 2 or 2 1/2 strength reeds.)
Good luck with it.
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Author: Willie
Date: 1999-11-06 06:58
If its silver, it can be polished up real nice, but don't use silver dip type cleaners on it as the acids in this stuff will totaly destroy the springs. That can add up to a big repair bill. Some of these old "lightning rods" can be fixed up pretty good and with proper adjustment(key/pad clearances} tonality can be improved over what they sounded when new. Most were mass produced so fast as student models that intonation was kinda over looked in favor of production speed. So far I've seen two that were in storage for years with original pads & corks and the regulation was terrible(one was played only a couple times befor being stored for over 50years).
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