 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2003-07-28 00:56
Just rediscovered two clarinets in my loft !
1) an old Martin Freres Bb. It was my wife's starter instrument about ? 45 years ago.
I've searched the BB archives and found Mark's link for this company's info, and read the other posts as far as I could.
This clarinet does not appear to have a model name anywhere on it but does have the serial number 32142.
The very nice insignia (on all parts) is simply:
Martin Freres 1740
Paris France
I found no mention of "1740" in Mark's link. but seemingly appears on most MF clars
2) A Selmer Sterling A clar which was one of a pair bought as a step up from 1)
I've looked at the Selmer and other sites but don't get satisfactory results here. It's serial number is simply 4371 with no letters so at this stage don't know if this is a student model of some sort. The SN only appears at the top of the lower joint.
It's insignia says simply :
Selmer
London
Sterling
Made in France
Anyone have any more info or links for me ?
Sorry if I've missed something in my searches.
BobT
BobT
Post Edited (2003-07-28 00:58)
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-07-28 03:09
The Sterling is a stencil. Some of these I have encountered are very definitely made by Mariqaux and others by Cuesnon. If it has push out rods rather than screw in it is German made. Made in France, like Yamaha's claim for many years of Made in Japan, may be a little misleading, likewise the addition of the Selmer name. The country of origin is generally defined as the country where the greater part of the works cost is incurred. For example a Yamaha clarinet with Japanese components and assembled in Indonesia can, or could be it seems to have changed a little, be labelled made in Japan because the cost of the components, design etc. is more costly than the Indonesian assembly. Unless somebody has more info or serial number lists on these types of stencils I don't think you are going to find a lot more info. I have encountered a half a dozen or so Selmer London woodwinds in my workshop and have made the above assumptions based on comparisons with other horns. At the moment I have a Selmer Gold Seal piccolo of unknown parentage although the words France and England both appear. It looks as though it may in fact be American. I base this on the pivot screw design and thread size which looks like Selmer/Bundy/Vito. Resotone screws fit it.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-07-28 13:57
Martin Freres clarinets were definitely made in France, are fairly common on eBay (many of which are labelled '1740), and as far as their playing qualities I only have one data point, the one I restored 3 years ago played lousy --- hopefully it was not representative of their entire output!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-07-28 16:50
In my cl buying/selling "career", I've had several Martin Freres [Brothers] woods, IMHO at least fairly good horns re: tuning/tonality, of "Intermediate" character. I retrieved [from son] a LaMarque [I assume its a stencil name] wood, Paris, France [also says made there], ser# H [not HP!] 23xxx, which I date to the 1950s, in case there is a relationship to Martin. I also recall several Martin saxes which were quite good. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-07-29 14:55
Don,
There is no relationship between the French Martin Freres company and the American Martin Band Instrument Company (of whose saxes you speak).
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