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Re: Identify this clarinet

Author: Chris P
Date: 2022-09-22 02:28
Attachment: r4430.jpg (330k)

With that serial number, that's a Centered Tone (or 'CT') you have there from the early to mid '50s - it should be identifiable by the large hexagonal speaker bush on the back of the top joint.

They normally have 'Centered Tone' engraved on the top joint (between the Selmer logo and the throat A pad cup) but some don't which is rare - I have one without it myself which I recently sold to a former Royal Marines bandsman who drove all the way from either Devon or Cornwall to buy it off me (in West Sussex) there and then without even trying it first.

The HS* mouthpiece was the stock mouthpiece that was supplied with them and is an excellent mouthpiece (as is the rest of the clarinet). Yours is complete with the original stock case they were supplied in for the US market and has the export engraving on the bell - the ones sold in the UK and Europe only have the Selmer logo and 'Made in France' on the bell without all the extra info engraved in between.

The keywork and fittings on yours is all unplated nickel silver and that can either be left as is or can be polished to a bright finish should you want to when it's being fully overhauled. Unless the keywork is heavily tarnished and all manner of shades of green, orange and red, then I'd personally leave the aged patina it has as that's part of its character. Unplated keywork can always be cleaned by washing or ultrasonic cleaning as part of an overhaul to remove surface dirt, grease and grime while still retaining the aged patina if you prefer. I'd fully restore your clarinet in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity!

At some point in their production run towards the late '50s, Selmer replaced all the steel screws (which can rust up solid in the key barrels) with stainless steel screws which don't rust. My first set of early '50s Selmers was found in an attic and all the screws had rusted, making some of the rod screws near impossible to remove without resorting to cutting the keys off and drilling the rod screws out. A later CT of mine (see attachment) has stainless steel screws throughout which was fortunate as that clarinet was a right mess when I bought it, having previously been kept in damp conditions and I'm glad it could be transformed to the beauty it is now.

I've had several Selmer CTs over time since the late '80s and they are by far my favourite clarinet - some I deeply regret selling, but the buyers were insistent and I very reluctantly gave in. They're excellent clarinets and have a devoted following and while mostly favoured by Jazz and big band players, they are perfectly suited to any style of playing. My clarinet teacher was a Buffet player, yet he admired how easily the altissimo register pops out on these old large bore Selmers. Attached is a photo of my favourite Selmer CT which is a 1958 full Boehm which I completely rebuilt and had all the unplated nickel silver keys and fittings all silver plated by the company that does silver plating for Buffet.

Selmer only made the one model clarinet at that time which is a professional level clarinet and it wasn't until the early '60s when they offered more than the one pro model which was the Series 9 and Series 9* (with a much smaller bore than the CT and Seires 9), both of which replaced the CT. Then the Series 10 and 10G (with even smaller bores), then more and more different models after that - the Selmer Recital from the '80s onwards being a unique clarinet having very wide diameter (and perfectly cylindrical) joints and by contrast, a very narrow bore by modern standards. Selmer then began making intermediate level clarinets in the '90s with the Prologue which was in direct competition with the Buffet E13, Yamaha YCL-64 and either the Leblanc Esprit or Sonata (I forget which, although they're both perfectly decent clarinets).

Read up more about them here:
https://www.woodwindforum.com/clarinetperfection/selmer-paris/#CT

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

Post Edited (2022-09-22 16:46)

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