 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: louis
Date: 2001-01-04 23:59
I saw a vintage wooden clarinet in a antique shop today. Since my teen-aged son loves to play, I decided to have a closer look & check on the price. The brand name was hard to make out, it looked like "Priesner - New York" in a circular mark. What was really neat about it was the ROLLERS on some of the keys! I have never seen a clarinet with rollers on the keys, neither has my son. But, it also looked like 2 keys are missing. Anybody have any idea of it's value? Would it be worth fixing? The asking price is 65.00 which I am sure they would take 10% off if I asked. A note along with the clarinet says it was used in the UNITED STATES MARINE CORP BAND by ????? (i forget the fellows name). So, anybody familiar with this clarinet? Thanks, Louis
PS: no case, and the mouthpiece is chipped. It does have an extra barrel ...
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Author: louis
Date: 2001-01-05 00:01
sorry for the mistake. My email address is "greek38@home.com"
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-01-05 00:22
Preisener or Freisner isn't listed in the New langwil Index (or anything else I could see that was similar)
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Author: Willie
Date: 2001-01-05 00:31
By your description, it sounds like an old Albert system clarinet. These were popular here in the US about a 100 years ago and there are still a few folks who still play them today. The keys (and therefore the fingering) is different from the modern Boehm system types now being sold today. If your son wants to start clarinet, I would recommend a Boehm system as you probably not find a teacher that knows ANYTHING about an Albert system. Plus there is the problem of pitch. If it is a low pitch (marked LP) it will becompatible with modern instruments. If it is the older high pitch (some times marked, HP) it will not be compatible as it will very sharp.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2001-01-05 02:48
Louis -
I'm not familiar with that particular 'brand' (Preisner -- please look again, it's probably a Prueffer), but Willie is correct; your description is that of an Albert system clarinet. The rollers are not used on modern horns. I'm not an 'authority' on this subject, I just play Albert system horns.
Unless your son already plays the Albert I would strongly recommend that you look at Boehm system horns for him. As Willie says, most clarinet teachers (in the US today) don't know what an Albert system horn is, much less how to teach it; the fingerings are quite different. He'll get along much better if you get a Boehm instrument to start with. If you still aren't sure which it is, after looking at it again, ask a teacher or another clarinet player to have a look at it.
$65 isn't a bad price for the instrument if it's standard (modern) pitch and in decent condition, that's not the issue. It's not the best bargain if there's no one who can help him learn to play and improve playing on it. Alberts are not manufactured in the US today and the ones you're likely to find are considered antiques and turn up where you 'found' this one - second-hand stores. Unless you like collecting/playing old instruments, your better option is a reputable local music store that sells band instruments. You can find some pretty good reconditioned horns there that won't put too great a strain on your budget. However, they're likely to be (quite) a bit more than $65 .
ron b
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Author: Cass
Date: 2001-01-06 22:41
One minor correction -- "LP" for "Low Pitch" *is* modern pitch, of a=440 Hz. The one to avoid is "HP" for "High Pitch" which is way too sharp to play with modern instruments. Pulling out or using a longer barrel with tuning rings really won't work with one of these HP instruments, because lengthening at the joints messes up the spacing between some of the holes -- so instead of the whole thing being sharp you end up with the whole thing being all over the place and totally hopeless. HP instruments are too sharp-pitched even to play in Germany today, even though the Germans tune sharper than the USA.
If it was made after World War II and doesn't say either HP or LP, then there's nothing to worry about, because by then nobody was using HP any more. It;s the ones between about 1920 and the end of the Depression that are likely to say one way or the other. The instruments made before the 1920s can be either sharp or flat depending on what country they were made in.
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