 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Stargatto
Date: 2010-06-06 17:22
Hi guys,
I've recently bought an old alto clarinet (Eb) made by CONN. The body of the instrument is made of wood and it has the usual low-Eb key and also a right-hand Ab/Eb key. The serial number of this horn, written almost clearly on the upper and lower joint, is 327. Curiously for a CONN, the instrument is marked as "Made in France".
The keywork of the instrument isn't so bad (even if the instrument misses some corks) although the double register mechanism on top joint makes a few notes hard to play (A, G#).
Even the sound is quite good, expecially the lower notes have a dark and woody tone.
The main problem is the intonation. The horn is horribly sharp, about a quarter tone, so it is impossible to play it along with other instruments. Currently I'm playing with a cheap plastic yamaha 5C mouthpiece and 2 1/2 vandoren reeds (for alto saxophone...).
After this brief description, here are some question for you:
1) Why the instrument has this bad tuning? Has the wood volume/density changed during the years?
2) what would be the age of the horn? I cannot find any info on the CONN site.
3) Should I spend money for a full overhaul of the instrument?
4) I would change the 5C with a Vandoren B40 or B44 alto clarinet mp. Would this purchase improve the tuning?
Thank you!
Carlo
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-06-06 18:42
I suspect that this instrument was made by Robert Malerne and stenciled for Conn. He made all of the Conn bass clarinets that were marked "made in France". As far as I know Malerne was active from the 1930's through the mid-1970's. I think his Conn stencils were made towards the end of that range.
As for tuning problems I would suggest taking the instrument to a tech and having them check for leaks and mechanical problems first. After that experimenting with different mouthpiece and reed combos would be a good idea.
Whether or not the instrument warrants the price of a full overhaul depends mostly on your own situation. Most Malerne instruments were decent quality and can be made to play very well after some tweaks by a good tech. However, the alto clarinet is not called for much these days so I would want to make sure I would have sufficient opportunities to play it before I decided to invest a lot of money in one. To me at least it doesn't make much sense to invest a lot of money in an instrument that will be sitting in the case most of the time.
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Author: Don Gross
Date: 2010-06-06 19:14
Somewhere along the line, someone may have "replaced" the original neck with one that's considerably shorter. Is there indication that the neck is the original like matching stamped serial numbers? We had that same problem with a "vintage" alto clarinet in the Los Angeles Clarinet Choir. It was so sharp we thought it might be a basset horn!
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Author: Stargatto
Date: 2010-06-06 19:18
Dear Steve,
Thank you for your answer. I'm thinking that the horn is an High Pitch clarinet, even if the aren't any "HP" or "H" marks on its body. In this case I believe that even after a full overhaul the instrument would be almost unplayable in modern ensembles... for this reason I would to know its real age!
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Author: Stargatto
Date: 2010-06-06 19:35
Dear Don,
there isn't any engraving or serial number on the neck, so I don't know if it is the original one; on the other hand also the bell has no signs. As I wrote previously, I believe that many vintage alto clarinets are high pitched instruments... I noticed that the intonation of this instrument is quite consistent though all the registers, but almost a quarter tone sharp than the regular (440/442). I tried to pull off the mouthpiece of 0.5 cm: the tuning become better, but the chalumeaux notes (G#, A, Bb) become obviously flat :-/
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2010-06-07 11:54
I've seen an old Paris Conn E-flat alto clarinet where the serial number was lightly engraved in the wood under the upper stack trill keys, where it was almost impossible to find. Check there and under the other keys.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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