 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: William
Date: 2009-09-30 21:20
A local clarinet teacher was recently given a set of clarinets that were found in an attic. Any help regarding info would be appreciated. He wrote, "On all three bells is listed " Root& Sons Music Co" with Chicago underneath. All three thumb rests contain the initials "JTL". Dan Woolpert thinks JTL stands for Jerome Thibouville-Lamy who regestered the JTL trademark in 1866. Dan also thinks that because all three horns lacked the little fingers key rollers, they might be Muller system rather than Albert system models. As far as the smallest clarinet, it is a C .I found an Eb mouthpiece
that has the same wood grain as the other three mouthpieces. This mouthpiece incidentally
has FRANC label So,it is a matched set of A-Bb and C ..............system clarinets.
The instruments came in what appears to be the original three clarinet case and were supposed played in an "orchestra" by the students grand or great-grandfather. They also came with five mouthpieces: three Bb (2 wood, 1 rubber); a (what I think is) wood grain C mpc and a wood grained Eb mouthpiece (which I did not see). Thank you for any help in identification, etc.
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OK, Google provided a lot of info and some pics. What would really be interesting is discovering what orchestral pro played them, and where. Root & Sons Music has a rich Chicago history and the Root name is associated with lots of compositions for singing schools and keyboard. However, no mention of a clarinetist named Root. I'll have my friend here in Madison question his student further--maybe a name and place will surface.
Regarless, thanks all.........
Post Edited (2009-09-30 22:17)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-09-30 22:19
JTL is Jerome Thibouville-Lamy.
A lot of recent Albert/simple systems didn't have rollers - even the Boosey ones from as recently as the 1920s didn't have rollers but did have the patent C# mechanism (the RH F/C is doubled as it still is on German/Oehler systems).
Do you know if these clarinets have rings for RH fingers 2 and 3, or plain fingerholes with a closed B/F# vent key running up the side of the joint (for RH3)?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: William
Date: 2009-10-01 14:50
No left hand rings. The clarinets (three) that I saw appear to be older with no labeling on the bell other than Root & Sons Music.
I'll try to get some pics of the clarinets as well as all the mouthpieces and try to post them. Thanks for your responses.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-10-01 22:11
That's pretty standard Albert/simple system keywork that you'd find by most makers of this period, though they are top quality instruments - you don't often see metal lined sockets so these would have been pretty expensive clarinets in their day.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Kalakos
Date: 2009-10-03 02:54
Thanks for posting those pix. It seems to be a nice one. A couple of points. The left hand, index finger, G# (Ab) key is very uncomfortable when it's the long one as on this clarinet. You end up having to use the middle finger instead, and that's hard to get used to. This key configuration is very common on many of the British clarinets, and those made in Belgium. There are Buffet Crampon simple system clarinets which sound fantastic, but they also have the smooth joint rings and those uncomfortable G#/Ab keys.
Very nice looking clarinet, though.
Are the others the same?
John
Kalakos
Kalakos
Kalakos Music
http://www.TAdelphia.com
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Author: Chris J
Date: 2009-10-04 13:43
Sorry if I have caused confusion. The OP of this thread, William, who has described a collection of 3 clarinets, did not have photos of the clarinets.
I put up photos of my clarinet to ask if they were similar, as mine is a JTL too.
The photos above are not of the clarinet mentioned in the the first post of the thread
Chris
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