Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2012-03-18 04:11
Steve Galonska wrote:
"We must have different definitions of what is "quite old"."
We probably do. But I also think we need to make a distinction between "models" and "product lines." By "older model," I meant a model that has been replaced by a newer version in its manufacturer's current offerings. It's "older" in the sense that there is newer model marketed under a different name. By "older discontinued model," I meant a model that is no longer included in its manufacturer's current product line.
The Selmer Signet is a product line that has had a number of models over it's life which, as you know, extends back to before World War II. Just going from memory, I can think of the Signet, the Signet Soloist, the Signet Special and (I believe the last in the line) the Signet 100. There are probably more. Filling the same role as the Signet 100 and perhaps essentially the same clarinet is the CL100. The other models are all discontinued AFAIK. My main point though is, if you find a clarinet marked Signet, it may be around 15 years old or it may be more than 50. To me, that's potentially quite old.
Noblet and Normandy also had a number of different models over the years. There were current models in production when the factory closed. But there were also older models that had been discontinued, some potentially quite old. Also, Normandy clarinets were a student, not an intermediate, line. Leblanc's intermediate line was the Noblet.
While you may be correct that the CL100 is essentially the same clarinet as the Signet 100, Yamaha would not consider you correct in making the same claim for the YCL-34. According to Yamaha, the YCL-34 (at least in the U.S.) was discontinued [their term] in 2001. It was replaced by a new intermediate model, the YCL-450 (which also replaced the YCL-52). To me it is an "older discontinued model" -- discontinued and older than the (different) current model. Quite old? Perhaps not Its dates were 1978 - 2001 -- certainly not as potentially old as a Signet, Noblet, Normandy, Boosey and Hawkes, or Evette and Schaeffer (K-series).
As you point out, the Boosey and Hawkes clarinets were discontinued in the early 1980s and the Edgware was around for quite a few years before that. I would classify them as "quite old discontinued models." I know there are some people on this Board who love to recommend them. I don't know why. IMO, the Edgware was always a very low-end (student) clarinet. I rebuilt one for a friend. It had cheesy keys, and a plastic-coated barrel and bell. I think there is a reason these clarinets almost never bring $100 on eBay and it isn't that they are undervalued.
The Evette & Schaeffer Model was re-branded the E13 in the early/mid 1980s. Was the E&S model discontinued and replaced by the E13? Probably not. For one thing, the serial number list continued unabated. The important thing to note, however, is that any clarinet marked E&S will be at least 25-30 years old -- an older model even if not technically discontinued.
Best regards,
jnk
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