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mid-1960's Noblet 55(60) bass?

Author: tdufka
Date: 2020-12-07 04:33

I am looking to supplement my low C bass with an inexpensive low Eb and have noticed many accomplished jazz players and improvisers playing the older Noblet basses.

I am curious as to what is special about these instrumenst given that they neither have an adjustable neck nor double register vent. Are they a larger bore design? Are there certain models with the Eb/Ab fork fingering?

Is the current LeBlanc L60 worth considering?

Thanks to the collective, in advance.

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Re: mid-1960's Noblet 55(60) bass?

Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2020-12-07 07:01

There is nothing special about any Noblet bass clarinets, in my opinion. With only minor differences in mechanism, they are identical in acoustic design to almost the entire Leblanc Corporation line, from Vito through Normandy through Noblet through most of the Leblanc-Paris instruments.

Vitos and (most) Normandys were made of plastic; Noblet and Leblanc of wood. Vitos, Normandys and Leblanc-Paris have metal sleeve necks; Noblet had cork tenon necks.

The bores and toneholes are essentially identical across the line, and most of the mechanisms can be interchanged.

I believe the current Leblanc L60 is actually the former Noblet, rebadged.

Can't say much about the fork Eb/Ab mechanism, I believe only the Leblancs were offered with it, and on two such instruments I overhauled years ago, the mechanisms seemed to have no real effect on anything.

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Re: mid-1960's Noblet 55(60) bass?

Author: ebonite
Date: 2020-12-07 12:59

I had a Noblet for a while. It played sharp, and I had to pull out the neck quite far to play at A=440. The problem was that the neck joint was just a standard cork tenon, so, when it was pulled out, it became unstable and it kept wobbling.

One good point was that the throat Bb had a nice full tone. The mechanism is designed so that the throat Bb has its own dedicated tonehole. But, the downside of this mechanism is that there was only one register vent for the whole clarion register. The response at the lower and upper end of the clarion register wasn't great.

I sold it and upgraded to a used Selmer.

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Re: mid-1960's Noblet 55(60) bass?

Author: Chris P
Date: 2020-12-07 15:51

I do like the RH forked Ab/Eb mechanism on pro level Leblancs as that makes things much easier than having a LH Ab/Eb lever (which should be standard on all instruments built to low Eb and lower). I don't think any other makers fitted that forked mechanism to their basses - it would be nice to have a forked Eb/Bb for the LH main action on basses, but that would take some doing what with all the fingerplates.

The forked Ab/Eb mechanism has the advantage over the LH Ab/Eb lever in that a repeated low Eb-Ab-Db passage can be played slurred without having to slide any fingers. Low Eb-Ab slurs can't be done as easily on instruments without any form of duplicate Ab/Eb mechanism, but the forked Ab/Eb mechanism frees up both the RH and LH pinky in certain circumstances.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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Re: mid-1960's Noblet 55(60) bass?

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2020-12-08 08:54

>> I am curious as to what is special about these instrumenst <<

Very low price for half decent quality.

I don't know what low C bass you have, but if it's one of the better Buffet or Selmer ones, then it's very likely that you'll be disappointed with the Noblet in comparison (I was).

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