 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: johntownley
Date: 2016-05-14 18:00
I am awaiting the arrive of an Alexandre 5-piece metal Bb. It apparently has no serial number but says Alexandre Paris in the same lettering I've seen wooden Alexandres, plus France somewhere else near the mouthpiece. Is this a stencil from Germany, as suggested elsewhere, or something actually produced by Alexandre Selmer when he went back to France in the 1920s? Selmer (but Henri, I think) started making metal clarinets in 1927, but I don't knowhow long.
Elsewhere on the CBB Modernicus mentioned he had one, but didn't say anything about it. Because it's a multiple-piece affair (cheap ones were usually single-body) it might be better, and looks like it, but will know when it arrives...anyone have any tales to tell on this one? Would really like to know its background...
In the meantime, hope someone better at Anatolian music (and with bigger hands) than I gets my metal Ramazan Kor, which is really thunderous, hated to part with it...
John Townley, Sea Cliff, NY
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-05-15 15:12
As far as I know, Alexandre Selmer put his last name on clarinets, not his first.
There were other Alexandre companies that made mostly brass instruments. Their horns were widely used, and some are still played.
Please put up some photos when you get the instrument.
Ken Shaw
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Author: johntownley
Date: 2016-05-23 04:45
Duplicated this, see next one below, sorry...
John Townley, Sea Cliff, NY
Post Edited (2016-05-23 04:54)
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Author: johntownley
Date: 2016-05-23 04:51
Attachment: s-l1600.jpg (208k)
Attachment: Alexandre bottom bell.jpg (286k)
Attachment: Alexandre barrel.jpg (300k)
Attachment: Alexandre bottom front.jpg (318k)
Attachment: Alexandre top.jpg (300k)
Well, here they are. It appears to be identical to one “modernicus” had and loved but apparently then got rid of. I just saw the photo of it in the case on auction and was charmed...and mystified, since no real info, only suggestions (like it might have been an Alexandre Selmer). A relatively novice metal-clarinet fan, I’ve already got a 1928 Silver King (fantastic) and same pro sterling-keyed Holton (huge sound, from design and serial # maybe that brief line was Silva-Bet stencils)), and Oxford (lightweight and nickel, supposedly Boosey and Hawkes, surprisingly warm and mellow but not very fluid action).
Now this one is even more mystifying. The bell is very lightweight, smooth silver inside but outside matte silver plate like the body, but the rest is much more heavily-built. Further, the barrel is double-walled like a Silver King’s and it’s all very solid and well-made. And sounds it, not quite as big or accurate as the King or Holton, but close. Had to put in some new cork bits and replace one pad, the rest need to be but work OK, look like it was put away early and just left, could be all original from the late ‘20s, which is the feel all around (a bit like mid-line Bettoney’s). Came with Henri Selmer HS** “Made in France” stamped mouthpiece, ancient reeds in the case were mix of Diamond Cut 1 ½ and Rico 2 ½.
No further clues, except no serial number at all, only the Alexandre name with Paris underneath on the bell. So far, just love it, not quite the totality of the King or Holton, but lots truer and louder, more assertive than the Oxford. Anyone have a clue about this? There are wooden ones with the same typeface and label on the bell, and ones that apparently have serial numbers (haven’t seen pix). Looks just like the one Modernicus posted elsewhere on this forum, but his is smooth-finish all over, not matte.
Any thoughts, references, truly welcome...
John Townley, Sea Cliff, NY
Post Edited (2016-05-23 04:54)
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Author: modernicus
Date: 2016-05-28 06:06
Mine was indeed matte with a polished bell inside. I really loved the response and physical lightness. The keywork is plated brass on these as I recall, very light and snappy feeling in and of itself. Very pretty metal clarinets. Alas the more I played it, the intonation issues were increasingly apparent. A few notes were fuzzy/stuffy. Maybe others were made better!
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Author: johntownley
Date: 2016-05-28 19:58
My experience so far as well. Especially a stuffy low C# whose pitch is doubtful at softer pressures. Am wondering if undercutting that tone hole a bit (since it’s so accessible) might help. Certainly no replacement for the SK which is spot-on everywhere or the Holton pro which is the same, except heavy as a tank. But as it’s multi-piece it’s more portable (fits in a standard flight bag which a one-piece metal doesn’t quite), and thus has replaced my Oxford (which has less dynamic range, esp. just above the break) in the car seat next to me for playing in stuck traffic, carting about in general.
What it does do especially nicely (like the even-lighter Oxford) is chirp and skirl easily and is great for Celtic stuff with lots of Scotch snaps, Irish whistle bends, and so on, same with Middle Eastern and Baltic. And of course with a 5JB mouthpiece the pitch control is so in your mouth you get used to adjusting for spots where you know there’s a problem.
Which you can’t, however, do with the Ramazan Kor, whose giant tone I loved, but its pitch in the upper register was so highly sharp of the lower, impossible to play or record with anything else that depends on matching pitch across the range. But in Turkey, it’s usually played solo with percussion, so in its native context that doesn’t matter, and the physical sound is marvellous.
But, I’m still totally curious where the Alexandre came from to begin with. No serial number, such a lightweight bell, and yet the barrel is double-walled like a SK and the action is great. Who actually made it, and when? Certainly feels like late ‘20s.
John Townley, Sea Cliff, NY
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