 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2024-11-13 04:38
Hello again.
I have been a member of this community since the mid-1990s. Clarinet was the foremost passion of my life from that time (when I bought an "Emil Jardin" clarinet at a flea market for $65). But I have many other passions (piano, drawing and painting, writing), and I take long breaks from clarinet. To date, I have not played clarinet for 2 years.
A professional clarinetist once described my many (many) postings on this forum as "ubiquitous." I am not a professional. I describe myself as a collector. I am 99% self-taught except for a brief period with Ed Cabarga of the NSO.
At last count I owned 74 vintage clarinets. I have every Selmer model from Winged Globe to Centered Tone. My mouthpieces are beyond counting but I have made an index of them. My favorite clarinets are Buffets from 1935 to the war. My most prized acquisition is a late 1930s Buffet A that is two serial numbers away from a B-flat I have. I am that hated thing -- an equipment junkie.
I once owned a "new" clarinet -- a Selmer Recital. Worst pinched B-flat I ever heard.
The best mouthpiece I ever played is a (reputedly) untouched Kaspar Cicero. The second best is an untouched Bettoney that has the interlocking C's indicative of Chedeville. I found it in a thrift shop.
I am preparing to return to playing. For that difficult, slightly scary return I've chosen my newly refurbished Jerome Thibouville Lamy B-flat.
I remember the days of Dan Leeson and that Buffet guy ... Alvin Swiney. My favorite technians are Vytas Krass (he has no peer in clarinet restoration), John Butler, our wonderful Ramon Wodkowski, and an underappreciated refacer Terry Guidetti (he is marvelous). My favorite poster on this forum has always been Ken Shaw.
So I return. Please no haters -- I am a (very) humble amateur. But I've been around since the dinosaurs.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
Post Edited (2024-11-13 05:11)
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Author: smokindok
Date: 2024-11-13 06:32
Welcome back, Bill! Glad you are well, and good to read you here again. I always enjoy your knowledgeable posts on vintage instruments.
John
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-11-13 16:40
Sounds like you've been failing somewhat in your ubiquitousness then 😂
Welcome back!
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: kilo
Date: 2024-11-13 17:51
Wondered where you'd gone to – good to see you back here!
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2024-11-13 18:26
......and thanks for the mention of the favorite techs. I find myself, once again on the hunt.
..........Paul Aviles
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2024-11-14 03:10
Welcome back Bill!
My introduction to this forum twenty+ years ago was a heated discussion between Ken Shaw and Tony P.
Got me hooked!
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-11-14 16:17
Indeed!.....Reading the forum during the winter months can definitely lower your heating bills..... just one of the many reasons behind its great popularity.😅
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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