 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Leopold
Date: 2006-09-01 18:09
Attachment: NobletLogo.gif (253k)
I need a help in classifying my "new" clarinet. I've bought it recently on eBay as a backup instrument for vacation. What I got is a wonderful clarinet with so fine grained grenadill as I didn't have seen before. The Bore is now after oiling and cleaning shining nearly as fould on a plastic instrument. But surely it is wood. I will try to add a jpeg from the logo and would be glad if anybody could tell me more about this instrument line. It is a professional clarinet I guess.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2006-09-01 18:35
Hi Leopold, Welcome, We have discussed D and other Noblets many times here, and SEARCHing [see above] will bring up 200+ "posts" of info, which will likely answer most of your questionS. The D [for Denis] was {I believe} dropped when they joined Leblanc, perhaps as early as the 1940's . Prob. our webmaster Mark Charette, or GBK have posted this history, and others have discussed quality at length, so take the time to select the info which is pertinent to you. Luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Leopold
Date: 2006-09-01 19:47
Well, excuse me, but I saw some postings to D Noblet. There were details discussed about marking wich I can't follow without a photo. So I did one, and now we can talk about concretely brand name style.
Thank you, Leo
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2006-09-02 01:40
The Noblet line is considered intermediate, between student and professional models. These are popular with doublers who play saxophone, flute or other woodwinds since these usually play well and aren't nearly as expensive as professional models. The trademark in your picture would indicate that you have a Noblet 40 dating from the 1940s through 70s, depending on the serial number. Leblanc (owner of the Noblet line) has never published serial number lists, so there is a lot of speculation about what serial numbers go with what years of manufacture. It ought to be a good instrument.
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Author: kal
Date: 2006-09-02 15:09
I don't know about the 70s thing; whenever I've asked LeBlanc about mine - and I've spoken to several people there - I was always given the impression that the oval was used from the early 40s to at least the mid 50s, but nothing definitive after that. And although the instrument may be essentially a model 40, I really don't know that the 40/45 designation was around at that time (again, the general consesus of the LeBlanc folks I've talked to). I'm fairly certain that by the late 60s the oval had given way to the oblong (or "TV-shaped") logo, and these were definitely called 'model 40'.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2006-09-02 15:13
Just my opinion/observations, but I think the "TV" logo goes back into the late 50s, and that Leo's clarinet bears a logo from not later than the 1940s. I'd put the clarinet in the 30s/40s. Early 1950s at the outside.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
Post Edited (2006-09-02 15:14)
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Author: DougR
Date: 2006-09-05 03:46
I have an instrument with exactly that logo on it, sitting here in its battered case, which served me well through junior high, college, and a few professional gigs much later (including a couple of outdoor semi-rainy dates I didn't want to risk my R-13 on).
It was bought new in 1957, cost $189.50, and there were 2 versions, one made of resonite and one of grenadilla. Mine is grenadilla.
It was in the middle tier of clarinets Leblanc imported at the time; the top-tier was the pro model, badged as Leblanc; the middle tier was the Noblet (different acoustic properties and keywork from the Leblancs); and the bottom tier was strictly plastic horns...I think "Normandy" was the model designation, and whether they were the same body & keywork as the Noblets, I couldn't tell you.
My impression of the Noblet vs. R13 is that the Noblet is more resistant, bordering on stuffy, and the sound is a lot smaller and the tonality less varied. But I'm playing it on my R-13 mouthpiece (Borbeck) and of course you'd want to pick a mouthpiece for the horn that suits THAT horn.
Hope this helps. Enjoy the horn!
doug R
PS the serial number is 8167D, if that's of interest.
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2006-09-06 00:13
I was going by information posted at; http://www.saxmaniax.com/snclarinet.htm . But, I screwed up the dates anyway. Thanks for setting me straight.
They say the round Noblet emblem was in use from the 1940s through about 1962, then the diamond emblem to about 1990, and the TV sreen starting about 1973 and overlapped with the diamond, depending on model number. There is also a Noblet and Normandy partial serial number list posted on that site.
By the way, my Noblet effer (round logo) is s.n. 13114, so it's way back there.
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Author: Leopold
Date: 2006-09-06 06:17
Thanks a lot for all postings. The serial# is 9218B so I assume it is made in the fifties. I will come again and will show some jpegs when repad is closed.
Leo
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