 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-03-22 05:35
I've just purchased a Gebruder Moenning bass clarinet in an auction. While the seller didn't know much about it, it appears from the photos to be a low-C model. (Extra long lower joint and a bell that looks like it came off a bari sax...). While I await its arrival, can anyone tell me anything about this manufacturer? I can't find anything online.
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Author: Lam
Date: 2009-03-22 06:00
Gebruder Moenning is the german name for "Moenning Brothers" , i think they have conbined with Oscar Adler already
Below are some history : http://english.moennig-adler.de/pitcms/.holzblasinstrumente_engl/hauptordner3/e1_o1/nav_f.htm
By the way, is the bass clarinet a German system one, or Boehm?
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-03-22 12:58
It's a Boehm system. I'm looking forward to it getting here, as my old instrument (a Malerne BC) has been showing signs of wear and age.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-03-22 15:13
You beat me out of that auction! That's OK, I had one just like it about 8 or 9 years ago, I've discussed it in some previous posts --- despite its really cool appearance the one I had turned out to be one of the worst-playing bass clarinets I'd ever played. Yours, by the way, is missing a plastic mushroom-shaped cap over that lowest vent tonehole (which provides the low-Eb as opposed to being provided by the bell as on most Boehm-system basses). It's kind of a silly design, as it adds unneeded extra length to the instrument. I don't believe yours is a low-C bass, I think it only goes to low-Eb (or low D perhaps if you can add a mechanism to put a pad over that low vent and close it off, you'd have to experiment a bit). These were distributed in Los Angeles by one of the old music stores, Baxter-Northrup.
See this old thread: http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=148925&t=148923
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2009-03-22 15:28
"Twas many years ago, when I had some money, I shopped in a grungy pawn, and bought a Moennig oboe. [Pinafore?] No more poetry ! It was/?is a "simple system" [?military?], but of good wood , rather mediocre to my poor playing. I believe it is in the Fiske Museum [Al Rice] collection, if not its at NMM [USD] Debbi Reeves. Don't recall much more, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-03-22 19:06
"You beat me out of that auction! "
I always wonder who I'm bidding against. I'm hoping that the neck from my Malerne will fit it. It looks like a cool design and a change from the Bundy/Vito bass clarinets that everyone around here has. What does the cap for the tone hole look like? Does it plug the hole, or just cover it from view? If it just plugs the hole, I can make on on my lathe. In any case, the new case that comes with it should be worth what I paid for the whole thing.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-03-23 01:56
Re: neck -- if I recall the instrument has a double-register-vent system with the upper register vent on the neck -- so even if your Malerne neck 'fits' it won't work properly unless it's from one of the older (and much less common) Malernes with a double vent.
My F. Arthur Uebel Oehler-system bass has a similar "mushroom" vent, I'll email you a photo to give you some idea what it looks like. It doesn't plug the tonehole, it extends it.
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-03-23 04:41
Thank you. I got the photo, and I think I can make one like that. I also sent an email to the Moenning company asking about a neck.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-03-23 09:59
From what I remember about the Moennig Los Angeles bass I once worked on, the crook doesn't have the usual crook key like most basses with the double register mechanism, but the upper vent goes through the socket and the crook tenon has a corresponding hole in it (through the cork like a full Boehm middle tenon). There was a projecting lug soldered to the socket ring and a small post on the crook on this particular bass to correctly locate the crook so the holes lined up.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2009-03-23 13:47)
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-04-01 15:47
David,
It looks like you were fortunate that I beat you in the auction. The bass clarinet arrived yesterday, and the post office just about destroyed it. The new case was, apparently, a "universal fit" bass clarinet case, and the blocking all came loose in shipping. The right-hand side keys are twisted around each other from an end-impact (imagine dropping the upper joint and it landing on the bottom end), the lower keys on the bottom joint are all bent, and the case is ruined. Our local repairman is estimating two to three hundred dollars worth of damage, and the post office won't pay on the insurance because they said it wasn't packed properly. I'm now dealing with the seller, and will see how that goes. At least I paid with PayPal, so I have some recourse there. Oy!
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-04-01 17:26
Hmmm... how nice of the postal service to play rugby with it.
Hope this matter all gets resolved for you, and soon.
So it's not just the UK postage/courrier services I should be worried about.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2009-04-01 17:56
I don't think it's our Postal Service's fault, from the description of the incident. The USPS can do nothing about a package that poorly packed internally. I've shipped literally hundreds of items via the USPS and nothing that was packed properly inside ever got damaged. The few items of mine that did get damaged were clearly my own fault. Sounds to me like the seller blew it.
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-04-01 21:58
I just got off the phone with the seller, and he's giving me a refund, including shipping both ways. Still a disappointment, though, as I was looking forward to an upgrade from my ancient Malerne plastic BC. OTOH, my wife's new bagpipes arrived today in excellent condition.
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