 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2007-04-05 02:28
I just picked one up. anyone own of these monsters? it has a mouthpiece that literally engulfs the bass clarinet mouthpiece. the mother of all mouthpieces. geez this thing is huge.
http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/slideandodd/linton_contrabass_clarinet/
Couldn't find any other information about this instrument other than it takes a huge lung capacity to get those notes. I find my vision shaking when i play the lowest note..... freakin awesome. Anywho, any info on linton contrabasses?
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: rsholmes
Date: 2007-04-05 03:12
Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that Linton's clarinets all were stencil instruments. At least some of their basses were made by Malerne. I have a plastic Linton alto; I don't know who actually made it. As for the contrabass, I've seen one or two on eB*y and have never seen another like it. Though apparently Buffet once made (or marketed) a metal contrabass. The Malerne basses and my alto both are Boehm, but I notice the contrabass seems to be Albert?
These days Linton makes (or markets) only double reed instruments.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2007-04-05 04:15
It's true that most of Linton's alto and bass clarinets were made by Malerne, as were some of his Bb soprano clarinets (I believe some were also made by Buffet). I think I read (maybe on this BB?) that the Linton contrabass clarinet was made in Italy by Romeo Orsi -- can anyone confirm or deny this?
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Author: ned
Date: 2007-04-05 04:22
''I just picked one up. anyone own of these monsters? it has a mouthpiece that literally engulfs the bass clarinet mouthpiece. the mother of all mouthpieces. geez this thing is huge.''
It would be interesting to see a picture of yourself with the whole kit.
Is it pitched in Eb or Bb?
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2007-04-05 05:09
Linton metal contras are made by Orsi.
What size of reeds do you use? And ligature?
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2007-04-05 05:53
Crappy reeds and crappy ligature. it's not like i can go to a music store and ask if they have any contrabass mouthpieces that have a 1.75 inch (yes it is 1.75 inches) exit bore x 6 inches long. this mouthpiece is the biggest i've ever seen. open to recommendations for mouthpieces that size =) tough to sustain the air coming from clarinet.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-04-05 11:32
I think that same instrument has been sold multiple times on eBay over the last few years, perhaps because nobody can get it to play.
I always play double lip, particularly on contra, to keep my brains from getting scrambled.
The mouthpiece is amazingly big, but I've never seen a photo of the reed it uses. As far as I know, the widest reeds are the Vandoren contrabass ones, with a drawing of a Leblanc paperclip contra on the box. For me, contra works best with the softest reed that doesn't make a flapping sound on the low notes.
Ken Shaw
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2007-04-05 15:23
Interesting looking horn. Is there any chance that the mouthpiece pictured is actually 2 parts? It looks like a smaller mouthpiece that fits into the "sleeve" that goes into the clarinet irself.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2007-04-05 18:04
According to Jack Linton, Malerne made harmony clarinets for Linton, including Eb piccolo's, altos and basses, but not Bb sopranos. According to him, during the approximately 12 years Linton sold a wooden Bb soprano, the instruments were made by Buffet. Plastic student models were made in the U.S. by Linton. (Though I once made a side-by-side comparison of a Buffet plastic Evette and a plastic Linton from the same time period. I could not find a single difference between the two other than the logos and the country of origin.) Buffet Lintons are not, BTW, R13's. I have two of them and they more closely resemble an Evette and Schaeffer (or perhaps an Evette). I've never tried to determine whether they are polycylindrical (they're still in my "project box.")
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: John Morton
Date: 2007-04-05 18:45
I heard from Jack Linton several years ago in response to a query about the origins of my metal looped contra alto. He said they were only made for about 2 yrs., and that mine was probably from 1972.
Linton phoned me later and supplied some interesting details, most of which are in Jack Kissinger's post that is quoted in this thread: http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=47378&t=47302
Jack Linton did say the metal contras were made in Paris, but I don't recall that he mentioned the name of the builder. He never mentioned contrabass instruments, but did say that the contra alto was made from a Linton design.
John Morton
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Author: rsholmes
Date: 2007-04-05 19:49
Were all the Linton altos by Malerne, or just the wooden ones? Who made Linton's plastic altos?
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2007-04-06 12:54
Malerne made many, many alto and bass clarinets (under their own name as well as those of over a dozen other companies) in both single-piece hard rubber (not plastic!) bodies and two-piece wood models. So I believe Malerne made both the wooden and hard-rubber Linton lower clarinets. Some other brands stamped on the Malerne instruments include Conn, King, Olds, SML/Marigaux, Evette-Schaeffer, York, Lyon & Healey, Penzel-Mueller, Boosey & Hawkes, etc. There are so many 'stencil' nameplates on Malerne-made instruments that I've forgotten half of them! In a previous post here on the BB we discussed some of the telltale Malerne features that can help identify them.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2007-04-06 17:36
Dave S.,
Do you have specific documentary evidence the Malerne stenciled SML/Marigaux and Evette and Schaeffer instruments or are drawing this conclusion based on design similarities you have seen?
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2007-04-06 17:55
I have had these in my possession, having overhauled more than a dozen alto and bass clarinets under the Malerne and 'stencil' brands, I can tell you the instruments are IDENTICAL -- not just similar. Please contact me offline if you'd like to know all the design features I'm talking about. I have no "documentation" -- but as a degreed mechanical engineer I can tell you that either the 'stencil' instruments I mentioned are total carbon copies of the Malernes, or they were in fact made by Malerne. Since at the time of their manufacturer the Chinese had not yet developed their current "instrument-cloning" industry, I would venture that the instruments I've worked on were in fact Malerne-made and not someone's identical copy. There are many Malerne features that (to me) are instantly recognizable.
If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it must be......
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