 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dawn Anthes
Date: 1999-06-10 20:56
Hello,
I recently purchased a couple of old clarinets of a brand I've never heard of before. They came as a set, a Bb and an A. They were manufactured by the G. Preuffer company probably between 50 and 100 years ago. These are NICE pro quality instruments, beautiful sound. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the G. Preuffer company or these models of clarinets.
The Bb has standard keywork with 5 rings, many of the tone holes are lined with metal. The keys are silver. It is stamped G. Preuffer Providence R.I. Artist Model. It is also stamped with a Pat. Pend. and a Patent number, and the words Wonder Wood. It is a regular wood instrument though, not some fake wood conglomerate, or plastic.
The A has a full Boehm keywork system with 6 rings, the extra C#/G# trill key for the right hand, and a low Eb. The keys are silver. The body is a one piece, the bell, barrel and mouthpiece come off, but the body itself is one piece. The register key wraps around the side to a raised tone hole 3/4ths of the way to the front. The wood for this instrument in particular is beautiful, lighter in places with almost a glowing, reddish tint.
The Bb has a big beautiful resonant tone, and the A has a very liquid, flowing sound. The high notes pop out more easily for me on this instrument than any other I've tried, except perhaps for a LeBlanc Opus.
Both instruments are in need of a complete repad and recorking, but I am terribly excited about these instruments. I like them better than my Buffet r-13 I had, but then I've just never been a big Buffet fan.
Any info you may have would be appreciated, I already checked the list of odd clarinet brands kept on this server and it was not listed.
Thanks
-Dawn Anthes
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-06-11 03:23
I have a G. Pruefer Artist Model, SN 9021, which I know to be over 55 years old. It could be older but I have no way of telling. The keys are what is referred to as german silver, which in reality is (I believe) a nickel alloy. It is a standard Bb clarinet with Boehm keywork. Yours is probably a bit older since it has the wrap around register key. Mine has the current style of register key.
The inscription on mine is as follows:
Fancy intertwined GP
Then an oval containing these three lines
G. Pruefer
-MFR-
Prov, R.I.
Below the oval are the following lines
Carl Fischer (in script)
Exclusive Distributer
One time I did a web search on "Pruefer" and found that the company was in business until the early 1960s (if I remember correctly) and that in the earlier part of this century, they had some military contracts. I'm not sure but don't think the company was in business 100 years ago. You might try a web search and see if you can find more info. Unfortunately, I didn't save my printout. If you do this search, you'll need to be very careful on the spelling. There is only one "f" in Pruefer.
Could the metal lining of some of the tone holes be a repair? Mine does not have anything like it. However, my particular instrument does have the metal tenon cap at the top of the upper joint.
As far as sound goes, it matches the tonality of my Leblanc Symphonie II very nicely and was my first clarinet. My older daughter played it until she switched to oboe and my younger daughter is currently using it.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-06-11 03:43
Check this site on Moennig. It states that he worked for Pruefer when he first came to the states in 1923. It also states that Pruefer was well known at the time.
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~ggholson/unitus/clar/MOENNIG.TXT
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-06-11 04:11
Congrats, you have a great find. Interesting [unusual] that the A has a low Eb. I searched what I could on-line re: Pruefer but turned up only 2 not-too-old patents on flute head-joints. Please post the pat # and serial # since I bought a Pr via EBAY, which should arrive shortly, so I can help you date it. My cousin in Detroit had a Pr back in the mid '30's and as I remember, it had the "modern" register key. Also the "Artist Model" is interesting, since Penzel-Mueller [Long Island, NY] used that name, possibly some time later, [inherited by merger?] I believe both of these companies had severe competition from Bettoney in Boston and Conn et al in Elkhart and from France of course, which prob. led to their demise! Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-06-12 22:35
Mine arrived and it's a cut above a basket case but very interesting. It's ser no is 2501, is a single upper-lower joint which accommodates the artic. C#/G# beautifully, and has the 6 rings [on front, 7 in all] for the fork Eb/Bb and has the alt. Ab/Eb lever, but no low Eb !! It says B and more [unreadable as yet] above the A key. SOO, I'll try to recover it [has cracks] by Y2K. As before, please let me know the patent no [and country if not US] for dating purposes. What a project!!! Don
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Author: Fred McKenzie
Date: 1999-06-15 18:45
Dee wrote:
-------------------------------
The inscription on mine is as follows:
Fancy intertwined GP
Then an oval containing these three lines
G. Pruefer
-MFR-
Prov, R.I.
Below the oval are the following lines
Carl Fischer (in script)
Exclusive Distributer
Dee-
I obtained a used "Carl Fischer Artist Model" clarinet, back about 1952. From other postings here, I understand it is a "stencil" model, actually made by someone else. There is a Carl Fischer emblem, but no other information as to who the actual manufacturer might be.
It does seem to play well with reasonable tone, but unfortunately is pitched somewhat high. I swapped the barrel for a longer one many years ago, so I wouldn't have to pull out as far. Even though it can be adjusted for the band's tuning note, other notes are WAY out of tune.
I think this intonation problem is partly to blame for my lousy sense of pitch!
Fred
<A HREF="http://www.dreamnetstudios.com/music/mmb/index.htm">MMB</A>
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Author: Dawn Anthes
Date: 1999-06-17 03:29
Thanks for all the interesting info on Preufer.
Here are the specifics on my clarinets:
Bb
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Serial #9947
The front is stamped with the following:
PAT. NO.
1.801.590
Then in a circular pattern it says "Wonder Wood Patent" with the name Pruefer in the middle.
Below that is stamped the fancy GP logo.
Below that is the circular G. Pruefer -MFR- PROV. R.I.
Below that is stamped "ARTIST MODEL" The word ARTIST is arched slightly. The keys are definitely silver on this one. All the tone holes in the top joint are metal lined, it isn't a repair, but they aren't on the bottom joint. That seems odd to me, but it isn't a Frankenstein clarinet made from spare parts, all the serial numbers match. The register key is the normal on the back variety on this one.
Also this one has the more standard 6 ring (5 on front, 1 on back) keywork.
A
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Serial Number: 1285
The front is stamped with the following:
The fancy G.P. logo.
Below that is stamped a big "A"
Below that is the circular G. Pruefer -MFR- PROV. R.I.
Below that is stamped "L P"
The keywork on this one is not silver, I was mistaken about that. Likely it is the German silver, it looks very nice all polished up. It is the 7 ring (6 on front, 1 on back) keywork variety. It has the old wrap around register key. It has the low Eb, which since it is an A clarinet, makes for one long clarinet! It's about three inches longer than the Bb. Also it is a one piece body.
The keywork on the Bb looks very normal, like what you'd expect to see today on a LeBlanc (if memory serves). The keywork on the A just looks different, a bit pointier, not so many rounded edges.
I'd guess from the serial number and the keywork that the A is a bit older.
Thanks!
-Dawn
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-06-17 17:25
Thanx for the info, Dawn. In my post "more x 2" I made mention of 2 flute pats -I didnt pursue them then- , which cite Pruefer US 1,801,690 [note the 6][issued 5/1931] head joint plate and "precious metal alloy" [added to the fl body to "improve tone quality"]. If you want to view the better one to see what I'm talking about , its # is 4,962,007 [available via www.USPTO,gov and www.IBM.com patent sites]. Its my guesswork, not having a copy available locally of Pr, that it relates only to the lined tone holes on your Bb [and not the A] since there is no "prior art discussion" in either pat. If I can get the pat and have some time to consider all this I'll let you know my conclusions, an interesting retiree project!! Don
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