 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: dszpilman
Date: 2010-11-09 16:57
hi, all.
i need help. sorry if this is not the convenient board to ask this.
i have a clarinet in my grandpa house. the pad is a bit broken, it can produce sound but not quite good i think (dont know whether it was I who blow it not good :D ). i see that there are some number there, 152045 and 58-020 Made in England.
Anyone knows in what year is it made ? and where can i find some one to repair it ?
thnx.
szpilman
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-11-09 17:22
Well if the clarinet is marked "Regent" and "Made in England" then it is most likely a Boosey & Hawkes clarinet. The Regent model was their plastic student clarinet in the 1950's. Any woodwind repair technician should be able to get it back in playing condition but I'm not sure I'd want to put any money into it as this was a student level clarinet and you could probably get something better for the costs of the repairs.
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Author: dszpilman
Date: 2010-11-09 17:42
quoting steveG:
The Regent model was their plastic student clarinet in the 1950's
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but mine is made of wood not plastic.
yes it is boosey and hawkes clarinet. so afterall it is just a student level ?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-11-09 17:54
The early Regents from the '50s were wood but had mazak (die cast) keys that were easily broken and not easily repairable - the number on the undersides of them were the catalogue numbers for replacement keys, though you can't get them nowadays.
If you find a similar vintage Edgware clarinet that's been damaged (split joints or broken tenons) but still has a good set of keys, then they can be fitted relatively easily to your Regent.
The later Regents from the '60s onwards were plastic bodied and had drop forged nickel silver keys instead of mazak keys, so the keywork was at least durable on them - though they were prone to broken tenons through accident or mistreatment.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-11-09 18:04
I just checked and it appears that the Regent model was (surprisingly) available in wood as well as plastic and hard rubber. Nevertheless it was one of the student models for B&H.
In general I think B&H clarinets are pretty good and I often play one myself (a 2-20 model overhauled by Dave S.) I'm not sure I'd want to sink any money into a Regent though especially since the intermediate level B&H Edgware models are so cheap (I bought one for $1 a few days ago).
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2010-11-09 19:10
The serial no on body dates to 1957/58 so the 58 on body (which I have never come across before) probably relates to year 1958.
The wood on those early Regents was often surprisingly good and far superior to later plastic models whether Regent/Edgware/Emperor.
Acoustically the bodies of all these models were identical and modelled on the Imperial 926, the differences being largely in quality of fittings and finish.
As mentioned above grafting good keywork from a later plastic instrument onto this early Regent is a possibility.
All the keys were made on same jigs so fit shouldd not be a big problem.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-11-09 20:06
The number 58-020 could be one of the numbers on the undersides of the LH lever touchpieces.
So maybe as the keys were cast, the year prefix was incorporated in the mould. Having not seen too many of them as the survival rate for these clarinets is low (having mazak keys), I haven't taken any note of the key numbers to see if it correlates to the year of manufacture.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: dszpilman
Date: 2010-11-10 02:13
wow, such a good news. instinctively i recognize that this clarinet of my former gramp is a good one. i am a string player (violin,cello,viola) which often exposed to super sensitive tone, so it strengthen my (not so called) believe that this is a good wooden clarinet. the sound is calming when i played it.
is there any additional reference to confirm that this clarinet was made in 1958 ?
rgrds,
szpilman
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2010-11-10 13:25
The dates I gave came from a list given to me by B&H management at the Edgware factory in July 1996.
That list did not have a complete yearly tally for period 1955 (114630) and 1960 (183400) so I had to interpolate a bit to get the 1957/58 date.
It correlates closely with some data published by the Galpin society which gives a potential range between late 1957 and mid 1959.
I'm thinking now that the extra numbers on your clarinet may well be inventory numbers applied by the first purchaser of the instrument, maybe a school or some other institution. In which case it would strongly support 1958 as the year.
Many military instruments were given similar markings when brought into service.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-11-11 15:45
The thing with a lot of clarinets found or bought for next to nothing is that the figure paid for them shouldn't reflect on the amount spent to restore them to fully playable condition if they're worth doing.
Once all done up, they're worth as much as any new instrument in their price range (talking insurance value) and will cost a lot less than a new equivalent instrument to rebuild and you'll most likely end up with a better instrument than what's on the market now.
So just because you paid $1 for a recognised make of clarinet that was popular in its day, doesn't mean you shouldn't spend as little on it to make it playable. If you bought a genuine Stradivari violin for $1, that doesn't mean you have to restring it with the cheapest set of strings or fitting the cheapest bridge to it because your initial outlay was low, but take the quality and value into account.
My first clarinet was a 1965 B&H Series 2-20 (234701) I bought in 1986 at a junk sale in Texas for $7.75 when I was 14 (along with a silver plated Buescher TT alto for $50), I knew B&H were a recognised make as plenty of players in the UK played B&Hs from Regents to 1010s (it was either B&H or Buffet), so I bought and rebuilt it which got me started in both my playing and repairing. The clarinet was insured for the price of a Noblet Artist (£555 back then), just as well as it got stolen later on when I was at college.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: dszpilman
Date: 2010-11-11 16:03
oh, i really am sorry to hear that. i believe it must be one of your fave.
thnk you for such a good advice and made an analogy to string instrument, i really understand it now.
thnk u mr chris
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Author: donald
Date: 2010-11-12 00:56
In 1990 I decided to adjust the venting of a key on a students old Regent (an older wooden one similar to yours) and snapped the key off. Gordon Palmer, who sometimes posts on here, did a very good job of replacing the key with one cannibalised off a later model Regent he had for parts- so this is perfectly "do-able" as mentioned above. I agree that all of the older B+H clarinets I have seen had excellent quality wood.
dn
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Author: Chrisspr
Date: 2014-01-07 18:39
You never know there just might be a 1939 Selmer BA., Tennor, or a very posh Buffet Clarinette at the local car boot sale for the price of a beer. O'no, now stop dreaming or you might start getting really fussy.
Post Edited (2014-01-07 13:50)
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-01-07 20:18
A few months back I had an Edgware with the keywork in pretty poor condition. I was able to pick up an Emperor which had severe cracks and excellent keywork for a few bucks and swapped the keywork over onto the Edgware. It went very easily and the resultant Edgware-Emperor hybrid plays very well indeed.
Tony F.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-01-07 15:29
Most of the pillars are faced off with some kind of grinding wheel so the gap [ENTER]
between them will be pretty much the same on that same set from one clarinet [ENTER]
to another of the same style, so the keys should be interchangeable.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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