 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-01-16 03:13
Just a note to metal clarinet fans to report very good results from a new (to me) 1927 Buescher True-Tone.
This is a 3-piece, singlewall instrument with tunable barrel, screw-off bell, and soldered toneholes (interesting considering Buescher saxes of the era had drawn toneholes). This particular example has brown leather pads.
Tone is very strong, clear, and nicely refined – easy-blowing and without hiss even at p and pp, right up into the altissimos. The one problem note is a slightly fuzzy throat G, which clears up somewhat by opening the side Eb/Bb key. Intonation, for a clarinet of this era, is excellent.
There are a few action issues. The 3rd finger trill keys are fat, curved high, and a bit easy to sideswipe in fast passages. Side Eb/Bb sits high too, and of course its position can't be changed due to the unjointed tube.
But these are minor problems at best. The Buescher plays easily as well as my metal Conns of that era – maybe better in some ways.
Post Edited (2004-01-16 03:16)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-01-16 13:57
Sax holes being larger plus sax production probably being much higher than metal clarinets they probably couldn't justify tooling up to draw the clarinet holes. Sounds very interesting.
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-01-16 15:23
Doubtless right about the lower production. These horns are pretty rare, as Buescher in its heyday was not known for clarinets.
Then again, maybe it was stenciled for them – if I posted a picture maybe someone could recognize it as another make...
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-01-16 16:27
I believe that in the later years of both Buescher and Conn, they combined, but carried on marketing using their traditional names. Also a point to be considered, as best I know, sax bodies were/are mainly brass [for ease of fabrication], while many metal clarinet bodies were steel [for cost reasons], so they may not be readily compared. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-01-16 17:33
Maybe, Don, but 1927 is hardly the latter years — in fact, about midpoint in the history of both companies. Further, this Buescher doesn't look, feel or sound like an economy instrument. What little wear I can see under the silver plate suggests nickel silver construction.
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2004-01-18 05:21
Maybe those Turkish metal clarinets in G are made out of some iron based pot metal, but no traditional metal clarinet was. The student model bodies mostly were made from brass and then either lacquered, plated with nickel, or plated with silver. (90% the latter) . The pro models, like the Buescher, mostly were made out of a nickel compound and then silver plated. (occasionally gold plated.) Penzel Muller made a few student models that had copper bells. Many Silver Kings had silver bells, and the Haynes were silver plated. Almost all metal clarinets had nickel keys with silver plating.
The walls of metal clarinet bodies are thicker than sax bodies which may or may not have made it more difficult to draw out chimneys. Most clarinet pads are smaller than most sax pads. I am guessing that it is easier to draw out larger holes
Based on serial number lists, many many thousands of metal clarinets were made. More than a hundred sell on eBay each month and don't forget that untold numbers were snapped up by restaurant decorators. I can’t believe that production economies were better for saxes. It has to be a technical reason. Maybe with the thin metal of the sax body, it was more difficult to solder on chimneys than on a metal clarinet. Another thought: while the clarinet bodies have some flair, they are enough cylinder shaped so that you could mill a tube of metal to fit onto the body by using a cylindrical grinder. Because of the flair in the sax body, you would have to use conical grinding surfaces.
Very good question.
Note on Bueschers. The early ones were the 730 series (731 had seven rings, another number or two up was the full Boehm, etc.) A few years later these were replaced by the 740 series, which were advertised to have undercut tone holes. I can’t tell the difference between the 730 and the 740. The big difference is the design of the barrel. A lot of 730s on eBay have broken barrels. Partly, I think this is because there is a set screw that some folks didn’t loosen before twisting too hard. Anyway, be careful with it.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2004-01-18 08:42
Yes, I also have a very good metal clarinet with the name Buescher on it's curved up bell, like a saxophone. The top is angled toward the player to complete the picture. This is the only one I've seen like this but some early jazz players used curved bell clarinets, I'm told. The Silva Bet full Boehm metal clarinet in my closet also plays quite fine.
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