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 Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: MarlboroughMan 
Date:   2011-10-01 00:33

Question for techs who have worked with old instruments:

Check this picture of Benny out:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41hs43JhlKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I would have guessed he was playing a K-series Selmer in this photo, but there's something strange about it--can you see the additional metal banding directly below the barrel tenon and again below the register key hole?

Was this standard on a certain model Selmer that I've not seen before? Or is it something else?

I've only seen it on horns in two photos of Benny, from the same era (c 1938-39).


Eric

******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: SteveG_CT 
Date:   2011-10-01 00:51

Probably a banded crack repair. I've seen a number of clarinets that have cracked at the top of the upper joint and have this type of repair.

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: MarlboroughMan 
Date:   2011-10-01 03:02


Interesting.

From the horns you've seen, does this sort of banding tend to hold up well over time?


Eric

******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: SteveG_CT 
Date:   2011-10-01 03:54

MarlboroughMan wrote:

>
> Interesting.
>
> From the horns you've seen, does this sort of banding tend to
> hold up well over time?
>
>
> Eric
>

It depends on how well the instrument was taken care of. One of the reasons that banded repairs were supplanted by pinned repairs is that if the instrument is stored in low humidity and the wood starts to shrink the repair bands can get loose just like tenon rings do. However, I have seen a number of instruments with banded repairs that were likely done decades ago and are still holding up fine.

More recently many technicians have started using carbon fiber tows for the banding material instead of metal. There was an interesting thread about this a few weeks ago.

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: MarlboroughMan 
Date:   2011-10-01 04:05

Thanks, Steve!

Eric

******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: clarnibass 
Date:   2011-10-01 05:52

It's probably a metal band crack repair as mentioned, IMO an old fashioned method that doesn't really have a use anymore.

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: BobD 
Date:   2011-10-01 10:25

Of more interest to me is the ligature position with the 2 screws up top.

Bob Draznik

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2011-10-01 15:08

Bob -

Reginald Kell placed the ligature screws on top and then rotated the ligature about 30 degrees so that only the two horizontal bands contacted the reed. After BG worked with Kell, beginning around 1948 http://www.jazzprofessional.com/interviews/Benny%20Goodman_1.htm, he adopted this placement.

The photo is not detailed enough to tell for sure, but the ligature appears to be in the "Kell position." See http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/apr/27/benny-goodman-jazz. In that photo, he's playing a B&H, which has flat tenon rings and a bulge in the barrel.

Ken Shaw

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2011-10-01 15:27

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/apr/27/benny-goodman-jazz

Are you sure that's a B&H he's playing? B&H barrels didn't narrow in like that at the top end and are at their widest diameter nearer the middle instead of at the lower socket. That looks more like a Selmer barrel.

It's always a shame when I'm browsing eBay for CTs and find flush banded ones. Then again, it's a shame when I see badly pinned ones where the ends of the pins are showing or have been poorly filled. But finding a CT that hasn't split or had a top joint transplant (marked with * above the serial number) is pretty rare.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2011-10-01 15:54

Chris -

You're the expert, but I think I see flat tenon rings on the Guardian photo, and the "light bulb" barrel shape was, as far as I know, not used by Selmer. Also, BG's ligature is in the Kell position. I'll be happy to be corrected

Ken Shaw

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2011-10-01 16:13
Attachment:  clarinet_barrels 005.JPG (703k)
Attachment:  clarinet_barrels 006.JPG (712k)
Attachment:  clarinet_barrels 004.JPG (156k)
Attachment:  clarinet_barrels 003.JPG (165k)

Attached are photos of a selection of clarinet barrels of several popular makes. See if you can name which make of barrel is which (the lower two photos are the same but without flash and lower resolution).

I think it's the quality of the photo that makes the rings look flat - the angle and brightness of the light used will make decorative socket rings appear flat in a similar way people like to be photographed in bright light to make them look younger!

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

Post Edited (2011-10-01 16:16)

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 Re: Question for Techs: Strange Banding on Benny's horn
Author: MarlboroughMan 
Date:   2011-10-01 16:14

I've seen many photos of Benny with the ligature self-inverted, long before he studied with Reginald Kell, including the one I linked to above, which probably dates from the late '30s.


Eric

******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/

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