 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-10-12 14:12
If you're in the market for a basset horn, a Selmer Series 9 as come up on eBay at http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=465412747. The seller appears not to know what it is and identifies it as an alto clarinet, but it has keywork down to low C, so it has to be a BH. The keys are tarnished and the case looks ratty, so it may need some restoration work, but with circumspect bidding (not letting the seller know you know what it is), it may be a bargin.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: ted
Date: 2000-10-12 17:08
Ken,
...just curious as to how you knew the difference. I could probably only notice the difference if they were side-by-side since the alto is in the key of Eb and the basset is in F.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-10-12 18:58
I dont presume to answer for Ken, but I'm also sure the 2nd Selmer 9 "alto" [on EBAY alto cl search, finalizing on Monday] is either a B H, or an extended range alto cl[which I've never heard of] because of the "basset keying", 6 rt lf touches and the rods and the length of the lower joint. Yes, we should bid quietly!! Don
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Author: gRAHAM gOLDEN
Date: 2000-10-12 19:42
HI,
I called selmer. THe people at selmer USA dont know exactly what a basset horn was until I explained it to them. Then I was transfered to someone who did. He said selmer has never made an alto clarinet with an extention beyond Eb. He didnt think selmer made a series 9 basset horn but he wanst certain.
I emailed the seller and the reserve is$1,499.00.
It has a conn case though. It was a bass clarinet case I think. THe space for the top joint is to big and the space for the bottom joint has been cut away to allow for the extra length. The neck and Mouthpiece are where the conn neck should go.
IT says conn in the middle of the top part of the case.
The neck is alot shorter than other series 9 alto clarinets I have seen on ebay.
Graham
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-10-12 20:37
I've seen maybe two alto clarinets with a low C extension, but almost all basset horns have it. I based my identification entirely on the presence of the low C extension.
The $1499 reserve is a good price. Woodwind & Brasswind sells a new Selmer for $7810. However, remember that the one on eBay dates from the 60s, when the makers were merely guessing about the appropriate bore. The first modern BHs were simply alto clarinet bodies with the holes relocated. Since alto clarinets regularly go down to low Eb, they only had do extend the body by a half step to reach BH low C. It's almost certainly a "large bore" BH, which uses an alto clarinet mouthpiece, rather than the "small bore" model, which uses a Bb mouthpiece. There has been quite a bit of discussion on the Klarinet board and here on Sneezy about the bore question. Most modern instruments have the large bore, though the best music for the instrument (Mozart) sounds better on the small bore. The Chicago Symphony players record of the complete Mozart BH music is on large bore instruments.
Assuming it's not cracked irrevocably and that it isn't a worn out school instrument, it would be worth the price. I wouldn't buy it without a right to return it if it were unrepairable. The lack of an original case is worrisome, but even a school basset horn could be in good condition, since there are practically no band parts for it.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-10-14 02:28
One thing makes me a little uneasy about that clarinet. I notice on the picture that the Selmer logo shows very clearly on the upper section. On the lower section, where the logo appears on every Selmer clarinet I've ever seen, including my own 1979 Selmer alto and every alto in the 1931, 1935 and 1958 catalogues, I see no logo. It may be that the clarinet catches the light in such a way that the logo doesn't show up. It may be that all of the pigment has worn out of the lower logo (but not the upper logo?). However, I'm a bit uneasy about seeing no logo on the very section with the anomaly of the six pinkie keys, when Selmer says it never made an alto clarinet with low C. (My Selmer alto goes to low Eb, as do many Selmer altos.) However, Conn *did* make an alto clarinet and a bass clarinet with keywork to *low D*. That's a very oddball configuration. (It stuck in my mind, because recently someone offered me one of those low D Conn basses for sale. I turned it down because I have a Conn Bb soprano and I don't like it much.) And this eBay Selmer clarinet is in a Conn case, not the original....
So I have to wonder, is this clarinet on eBay possibly a marriage of two different alto clarinets, with a Selmer upper stack and a Conn lower? Altos are very often owned by the school and not by the student. School instruments often end up "married". Before bidding on that eBay instrument, I would very strongly recommend asking the seller to check the serial number on *all* sections of the instrument and to check also for a logo on the lower stack -- on everything, for that matter. If the clarinet is a Selmer, then the logo should be the same size as the one on the upper section, and located partially under the rods down at the bottom of the lower section. Some trace of it should be there even if the pigment is all gone.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-10-14 11:54
Another possibility is that the purchaser of a Selmer 9 alto clarinet had someone else custom-make a basset extension on special order. That would account for the lack of the Selmer logo on the lower joint; and the new extension wouldn't fit in the original case. If that's what this is...was the extension grafted onto the original bottom joint somehow? Or did the manufacturer use most of the keys off the original in crafting a completely new stick of wood with the extra length and additional keywork? Or use a newly-made special set of keys? I gather that some of these early custom-made basset extensions played well and some didn't. I'd be interested in knowing who made it, and when, if that's what it is.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-10-14 13:48
Lelia - I know that people have made basset clarinet extensions, but I'd never hear of alto clarinet to basset horn extensions ... not that people haven't done stranger things ...
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2000-10-14 14:59
Being of a devious mind and another generation, have you considered that the gentleman may know EXACTLY what he has (marriage not excluded) and by his "I Know Nothing" statement believes the controversy is sure to make this item reach his reserve price and maybe much more? It would be well to get a "try it to buy it" provision on the sale.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-10-14 15:21
There's a bug somewhere in the BBoard code that has messed up the replies field. I'm working on it.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-10-16 17:45
If you checked the site, I bid on it and it was cancelled, possibly because it was too low, possibly because the seller found out it is [or may be] a basset. So I'll look for its re-appearance and post. Interesting to a few of us?? Don
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