 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Paul Wusow
Date: 1999-02-19 21:08
I was given a C clarinet that has the trade mark "Boston Wonder". It looks very old and is made from a synthetic material. It needs some work, (okay... alot of work) but the notes that do play (left hand) are pretty good. The bore looks nice and shiny. The BIG WONDER is can this clarinet be played or should it be made into a lamp?
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-02-19 22:06
If it is in "C" and is modern pitch, it's worth bringing back to playing condition. New "C" instruments are expensive and used ones are hard to find.
Even broken keys can be re-soldered in most cases. While other items such as new pads, springs, and corks aren't that big a deal.
If you don't want to bother, I'm sure that there are several who might consider buying it (even I might want to).
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Author: Paul Wusow
Date: 1999-02-19 22:30
I think I may talk to Tim Burdick (my repairman) to see if he thinks it is worth repairing. The pitch does seem to be "modern" but it is difficult to tell because the pads are so bad. The left hand notes from C to A are pretty good as far a pitch. (I think if the instrument was sealing well it would be better... ) 
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Author: Andy
Date: 1999-02-20 02:59
Well, if it's worth keeping keep it, but if it's way to broken go ahead and make it into a lamp. I'm sure it would look quite different as a lamp. hmm... i've never seen a clarinet lamp...i wonder what it would look like.
Well good luck!
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-02-20 03:33
Andy wrote:
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Well, if it's worth keeping keep it, but if it's way to broken go ahead and make it into a lamp. I'm sure it would look quite different as a lamp. hmm... i've never seen a clarinet lamp...i wonder what it would look like.
Well good luck!
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I've seen pictures of clarinet lamps and they are dreadfully ugly. No clarinet deserves that fate. If it can't be made playable, hang it as a wall decoration. They look much nicer this way.
About the only thing that is not repairable is if the keys were made of what is called "pot metal" and one of the keys themselves has actually broken (springs are of course easily fixed).
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Author: Paul Wusow
Date: 1999-02-20 05:12
Actually, the body and keys are great... it just needs some pads and corks... the only draw back is that in order to determine for certain what pitch the clarinet is, I have to get it repaired first, as is's not playable now. :(
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-02-20 16:20
Dee wrote:
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I've seen pictures of clarinet lamps and they are dreadfully ugly. No clarinet deserves that fate. If it can't be made playable, hang it as a wall decoration. They look much nicer this way.
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I like the looks of clarinet lamps! I've seen a few (even a bass clarinet as a floor lamp!). Well done ones are kind of cute.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 1999-02-20 16:22
Dee wrote:
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Andy wrote:
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Well, if it's worth keeping keep it, but if it's way to broken go ahead and make it into a lamp. I'm sure it would look quite different as a lamp. hmm... i've never seen a clarinet lamp...i wonder what it would look like.
Well good luck!
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I've seen pictures of clarinet lamps and they are dreadfully ugly. No clarinet deserves that fate. If it can't be made playable, hang it as a wall decoration. They look much nicer this way.
About the only thing that is not repairable is if the keys were made of what is called "pot metal" and one of the keys themselves has actually broken (springs are of course easily fixed).
Several junktiques malls in the Washington, D. C. area offer clarinet lamps for around $50 or $60 each, although they don't seem to sell. A store in Ellicott City, MD has had the same two Bundy lamps for sale for at least three years now. (I know they're the same two because I was curious whether or not they'd sell and I copied down their serial numbers.) But hey, if someone's decorating taste runs to fake leopard fur couch covers, "gas chamber green" long shag carpets, lava lamps, genuine Naugahyde beanbag chairs and Elvis painted on black velvet, then clarinet lamps might fit right in.
One suggestion about hanging a clarinet on a wall: Don't wreck the instrument for good by drilling a hole through it. I've passed up several otherwise interesting musical instruments that have been mutilated this way. Just put a long nail into the wall at an angle and set the thumb hole over the nail.
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Author: Mark P.
Date: 1999-02-22 13:32
I have a friend who told me he had a Selmer full Boehm that he had made into a lamp. Luckily he had not put any holes in it. I gave him an old cracked no name clarinet so that the Selmer could be liberated. Last I heard, it's in the shop now for a complete overhaul and new center tenon.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-02-22 23:40
Mark P. wrote:
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I have a friend who told me he had a Selmer full Boehm that he had made into a lamp. Luckily he had not put any holes in it. I gave him an old cracked no name clarinet so that the Selmer could be liberated. Last I heard, it's in the shop now for a complete overhaul and new center tenon.
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AMEN for that. That really was a sin converting a full Boehm into a lamp.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-09-03 19:51
A recent query to me about the "Boston Wonder" included a patent no. A quick search on the USPTO site brought up the fact that this clarinet was made by the Harry Bettony Company, patent filed Jan. 31, 1927, approved Mar. 19, 1929.
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-09-03 20:53
to check out the tuning (of the upper joint at least) you can lift up the "closed keys" and put a square of scotch tape under the pad (sticky side down)..... close all the keys this way and you can test f/c, e/b, d/a and c/g which will give you a good idea about the tuning/pitch of the instrument.
never use scotch tape in this way on a working instrument- it's only ok here as the clarinet will get a full overhaul if it's going to be played...
donald
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-09-03 21:11
At one time Bettoney was the premier U.S. clarinet manufacturer. I believe they had the major contract for clarinets for the armed forces for WWI.....metal ones, as I recall. I have 2 metal Bettoneys. You don't have to alter straight clarinets to make lamps out of them if that's your fancy.
Bob Draznik
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-09-03 23:17
I have two words for you . . .
David Spiegelthal
(although technically not "words")
I received an obscurely named A clarinet from him, and, although it is obvious that he made some major modifications (tone hole filling, undercutting, etc.), it plays very well. And I think that for the cost of some type of custimization of this type, it could turn out to be a very good investment for you.
Alexi
Retired, playing more sax than clarinet, but still playing clarinet and still loving it!
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2005-09-04 00:38
Yea I would think clarinetists would like clarinet lamps, and they probably should me made from a really crappy clarinet....and who would hang up a crappy clarinet. My old jazz band teacher had one, very cool imo.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-09-04 09:35
There are plenty of brand new, brightly coloured plastic clarinets that should be made into lampstands, though they'll probably melt very quickly.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2005-09-04 11:50
This thread started back in 1999, I notice. Since then, I bought a "Boston Wonder" in Bb that I haven't restored yet. It's silver-plated metal (17 keys, 6 rings) with no center joint, and looks to me like a decent instrument. H. Bettoney and Cundy-Bettoney clarinets generally rank among the better early metal clarinets--certainly among the best in my (small) collection. I haven't seen any outright junk from either of those manufacturers. They're not lamp base material, that's for sure!
I have a 1929 Cundy-Bettoney magazine ad (from "Music Era") that identifies the Boston Wonder as a Cundy-Bettoney product. This ad is for metal clarinets only. (The strange punctuation in this quotation is original.)
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The popularly priced 'Boston Wonder' metal
clarinets are "good for a lifetime," They are
practically indestructible, being substantially
constructed of high grade materials,--of white
'clarinet' metal (not brass). The finish and
general playing qualities are such as discriminating
artists demand.
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Since the original set of messages, I also acquired a Xerox of an advertising flyer from some time in the 1930s (I can't fix the exact date), for the related H. Bettoney company. The ad is for the H. Bettoney top model, the Silva-Bet, but the flyer also promotes the company generally, including a plastic the company called, "Bettonite." This may be the material used in the Cundy-Bettoney clarinet the original inquirer asked about. The punctuation and grammar are sic..
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"BETTONITE", this new material, has all of the
good properties without the poor properties of
wood. It is stronger, will not crack, shrink, warp,
or change its color, can be frozen, baked or
boiled and will not change in dimensions,
character or substance: it looks like ebony,
can be highly polished, its parts readily replaced,
and produces a UNIFORM and WONDERFUL tone.
The "BETTONEY-BETTONITE CLARINET" weighs
but one half-ounce more than the ordinary wood
Clarinet. When the substitute hard rubber has
been used for the main body of Clarinets, it has
been found to be brittle, easily broken, hard to
mend, and under certain conditions warps and
turns green. There is no rubber in "BETTONITE".
The bore in most Clarinets enlarges after use:
this sharpens the instrument and makes it out of
tune, not so with the "BETTONEY-BETTONITE".
Bettonite is a wonderful substitute for wood
in replacing cracked wood joints, parts, etc.; we
have been using it for several years with great
success.
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I came back later to put in those dashed lines to set off the quotations. Sorry about the lack of block indentation down the left-hand margin of the quotations. I entered extra spaces down that margin, but the clever bulletin board auto-formatter knows I did that, and frugally deletes the extra spaces!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2005-09-04 11:54)
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Author: Henning
Date: 2007-04-23 09:13
Hello, thanks for the nice information about the Boston Wonder metal clarinet.
Since some time back I have an overhauled B.W. that I wonder if anybody can give me info (age) about. It´s stamped: " PAT. PENDING, Bb, P3824 in the upper part of the body.
In the bell: TRADE MARK, BOSTON WONDER, REG. U.S. PAT. OFF
Does anybody have a Boston Wonder with a serial number or a U.S. pat.?
Henning
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