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
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Post Edited (2005-09-04 11:54)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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