 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ashlie Taylor
Date: 1999-08-03 18:03
I'm 16 years old and I'm trying to find information on this clarinet that I have. My music teacher gave it to me last year becasue mine needed too much work. He told me that it was his wife's clarinet that she played when she was in elementary school. That's about all I know about the history of it. The clarinet is wooden and the keys look very old. I tried to polish them but nothing really worked. In the center of the bell there is a circle with H Bettoney written in it. I assume that is the maker. It also says Boston USA. There is some type of signature but I can't make it out very well. I think it says CB Co. I've looked everywhere for information on this clarinet. I'm desperately looking for someone who might know anything about it...
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-08-03 19:41
You have a Cundy-Bettony. In 1920 this company was the largest manufacturer of woodwinds in America - 40,000 clarinets in 1920 alone.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-08-04 00:04
Yes, Harry Bettoney was a good American [Boston] clarinet maker, on up into the 1950's. I have an older Bet wood clar. of the 1930-40's [stencilled USN -navy] and it plays well, but not as well as the newer pro cl's. With Cundy they made many insts. and were most famous for high quality metal [silver-plated] cl's, the best was named the Silva-Bet. He also wrote reviews and comments in the earlier issues of the Woodwind publication of which I have several in my "archives". Mark and others can give you more info if you should ask. Have fun, Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 1999-08-04 00:28
I believe that CB Co stands for C Bruno & Co, a New York musical distributor of that time period. Re: the keys, they are prob. an early composition of nickel-silver, an alloy of zinc, copper and nickel, often called "German Silver" because of its ancestry. A good repairperson could prob. buff them to a near-white appearance. Don
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-08-04 00:32
Don - The logo described fits the Cundy-Bettony logo to a tee: H. Bettony and C B Co (cursive)
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