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Re: Who plays Fritz Wurlitzer clarinets?

Author: Hansdenijs
Date: 2012-05-08 18:14
Attachment: FW Reform Böhm 0002.JPG (570k)
Attachment: Neidhardt Es 0001.JPG (650k)

I would only add a short notice about the standard of quality of the Fritz, Herbert and later Wurlitzer clarinets.

First of all i'm a great admirer of the soloist clarinets from Fritz and Herbert. I'm in a lucky position to play a lot of this kind of older instruments in all pitches and periods. Fritz and Herbert both have tried to improve their instruments in e.g. bore and keywork details. Also techniques has been changed over many years, mostly leading to improvement or cost reduction. (e.g. handforged keywork is very scarce nowadays)
In short very brand has his good, better and less good days, besides a (small) variation in quality on individual instruments.
In the time I wrote my comment (12 years ago) the Herbert Wurlitzer reform Boehm clarinets was in massive decline in the Netherlands within the professionals and high schools due to lack of constant quality, tuning problems and most of all: a not very optimal service and attitude to the client. I know this has been completely changed and improved nowadays. Most of the professionals in Holland has changed their Wurlitzer instruments to Leitner and Kraus (former Meisters of the Herbert Wurlitzer Werkstatt) - this was no rumour but the facts!. So it is not my personal meaning but an observation of the situation in the Netherlands, which is very representative, because the (Wurlitzer) reform-boehm instruments are traditionally played by most of them.

I could be the case that the recent HW instruments are very good now (I have no personal experience with recent instruments). For this reason it makes not so much sinn to defend or attack the "constant" quality of all instruments of a builder during his lifetime. It depends on the period and is also a matter of luck and having relations to find or get the "golden" ones.
At the end i have attached to photos of a nice FW reform-Boehm set from 1964, in my opinion the best period for this kind of instruments in the FW period (very nice tuning around c"') and an example for a still (!) better reform boehm system in e-flat pitch made in the Neidhardt Werkstatt in the same period in the same area, 10 kilometres from Erlbach.
Greeting from Holland,

Hans

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