 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2021-07-10 19:20
My great friend, Tony Coe, is very keen on his recently acquired and overhauled Penzel Mueller Artist clarinet. It appears this is a large-bored clarinet with rather a German-like taper/flare. Do any of you have any experience of this instrument? What brought about the demise of the Penzel-Mueller company?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
Post Edited (2021-07-10 19:21)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-07-10 19:50
"What brought about the demise of the Penzel-Mueller company?"
Buffet.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2021-07-12 01:21
Dear Chris, have you ever come across this make and model of clarinet? What did you think of it? Thanks.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2021-07-12 01:57
I've restored several Penzel-Mueller claris. They can be very good indeed, but I've found that the build quality can be quite variable. The later examples I've seen have been nowhere near the quality of earlier examples of the same model.
Tony F.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2021-07-12 10:39
Thank you for the information Tony. What would you call the earlier models? The 1940s?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2021-07-12 17:19
Hi Ruben,
I don't have a list of P-M serial numbers, so I can only estimate, but I'd suggest that the fall in build quality may have had something to do with the economic effects of WW2. The last years of P-M manufacturing would have been the late 40's and the 50's, so the better quality instruments would have preceded that. Probably from the late 30's back. Note that this is all guesswork and extrapolation, so I could be talking through my hat.
Tony F.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2021-07-12 17:37
I had one for a while. It was very likely a later one, going with Tony's post possibly from the 50s. It had a few nice things (the basic tone was very good... for part of the range), but it had pretty bad build and other than tone it was barely average. I was happy to get rid of it. The problems were far more than is possible with a one off, but who knows for how long they were made that way (maybe the one I got was from a year they were the worst...).
Post Edited (2021-07-13 07:31)
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2021-07-13 06:18
Years ago I restored several P-M Bb clarinets which I believe were from right around the WWII timeframe, they were all nicely made and played well. Possibly as late as the 1950s.
I've just restored a nifty little P-M Eb clarinet, Albert/Oehler system, and it has a nice warm sound in all the registers and tunes well, I'd have to say it plays better overall than the prewar Czech (unbranded) eefer I've played on for years, or the more recent Kohlert/Grazlitz (the latter two both Boehm-system) I overhauled a few months ago.
Acquired the P-M eefer quite a few years ago but set it aside because at that time I couldn't play German system, but now I'm pretty comfortable doing the Oehler thing so am looking forward to playing the little screamer! I would say the wood is very nice, the keywork not so great (the metal is cast and fairly porous, one key snapped and was a bit difficult to solder - certainly not as bad as the dreaded zinc/Mazak, but not as good as forged).
Maybe not terribly relevant to the current discussion, but it's some data.....
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-07-14 00:20
Penzel-Mueller clarinets are far better known in the US than the UK or Europe as they were made in the US. Some may have been imported to the UK, but not in significant quantities compared to European imports.
The only Penzel-Mueller clarinet I've seen was an Artist Eb clarinet (Boehm system) which had most of its keywork missing and had an ebonite B&H Imperial bell. I don't know what happened to it as it was at a previous job and I wanted to adapt or make new keywork for it. And from memory, the barrel had solid silver socket rings.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: tyleman
Date: 2021-07-16 13:19
I own a G.L. Penzel full boehm, single body clarinet from either late 1800s or early 1900s. It has a wrap around speaker key. It's a fine playing instrument although it's not my daily player.
I've owned an Artist, likely from the 1930s, and a metal Artist from likely the same time. Both were very good playing instruments. I current own a hard rubber Dyna-tone which I believe is post WWII and it's also very good. It's capable of some real volume and has a very full tone.
Many years ago one of the family members had a website and was trying to put together a serial number list, but I think the page is long gone now. It might be retrieved with the "way back" online search engine. I haven't tried.
Considering the low prices these clarinets generally command, even if one pays for an overhaul I think they represent good value.
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