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Re: Old Conn Alto Clarinet

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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