Vol. 4, No. 3

Contrabass-list Thu, 2 Oct 1997 Volume 1 : Number 3

In this issue:

• ROBERT HOWE: Price help on contraclarinet
• Re: Price help on contraclarinet
• EDITOR'S NOTE:
• EDITOR'S NOTE:

Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 23:45:38 -0500
From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@vgernet.net>
Subject: Re: Price help on contraclarinet

FOlks, can anyone help me? I am a woodwind collector, I have a chance to buy a 1950 Eb contrabass ( or "contra-alto") clarinet by Selmer, in grenadilla, not rosewood, Boehm, range to low E natural, not Eb. She is recently restored and is in absolutely gorgeous condition. THe case is original and could house a small horse; the mouthpiece is original and marked "GJ", apparently it was reworked by a one-legged clarinet mouthpiece refinisher on the West coast. The horn plays like a son-of-a-gun, a wonderful big sound and a very nicely tuned scale.

THe register key is double, ie, there are two thumb touches. One opens higher on the horn for notes above E, the other lower on the horn for Bb through Eb.

THe seller is asking $2600, which seems a bit pricey. And he wants an answer NOW.

Advice anyone??

THanks, RObert Howe

Date: Thu, 02 Oct 1997 13:10:14 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: Re: Price help on contraclarinet

>FOlks, can anyone help me? I am a woodwind collector, I have a chance
>to buy a 1950 Eb contrabass ( or "contra-alto") clarinet by Selmer, in
>grenadilla, not rosewood, Boehm, range to low E natural, not Eb. She is
>recently restored and is in absolutely gorgeous condition. THe case is
>original and could house a small horse; the mouthpiece is original and
>marked "GJ", apparently it was reworked by a one-legged clarinet
>mouthpiece refinisher on the West coast. The horn plays like a
>son-of-a-gun, a wonderful big sound and a very nicely tuned scale.

>THe register key is double, ie, there are two thumb touches. One opens
>higher on the horn for notes above E, the other lower on the horn for Bb
>through Eb.

On the "plus" side:

I think the first consideration is the fact that this is a wooden contra, rather than the metal Leblanc that many of us are familiar with. It's my impression that the wooden horns cost considerably more than the metal Leblancs when new. Also, you already know that the horn plays well. Does it have an LH1 half-hole for altissimo, and all four RH1 side keys?

Old metal Leblanc contraltos are being advertised for over $3K (typically the "straight" model to low Eb: the newer "curved" model extends to low C, older curved models might only descend to D). WW&BW is listing a used one for about $3.5K.

Also, did you check it with a tuner? If you plan to play *with* anyone, it helps to know if the horn is tuned to A440, 450, 435, or what.

On the "minus" side:

The first thing that comes to mind for me is: how solid are the key posts? With a wooden horn that old, I would check to see if any were loose, and how much play there was in the keys. Of course, a contralto that old may have less actual "playing time" than most 10-year old soprano clarinets :-)

The range to low E instead of Eb is not a large disadvantage, although of course new Leblancs range down to C. I play the Eb contralto part frequently (transposing on my Bb contrabass), and don't recall ever seeing it written below low E (more frequently, the part only goes as low as F or F#). Syd plays contralto full time I think: perhaps he'll have a different opinion.

Also, the 2-octave key system can take some getting used to for a clarinetist. How does it handle the throat Bb? On most contras, the lower (or only) octave key opens a special tone hole above the A tone hole when both the A key and octave key are actuated. (I suspect that manufacturers used two octave keys out of a reluctance to make a single "triple-action" octave key to cover the Bb throat and upper and lower octave vents.) Is that the case with this horn? On the other hand, as an oboist, you're probably used to two (or three) octave keys already: you'll just have to remember that these work at different parts of the scale. :-)

Bottom Line:

Altogether, it doesn't sound like a bad price. If the horn is solid, tuned to modern pitch, plays well and sounds good, I think I'd go for it. In fact, it sounds tempting to me (just to avoid transposing another Eb to Bb contra part) :-)

Grant

Date: Thu, 02 Oct 1997 13:19:41 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: EDITOR'S NOTE:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Just a quick reminder that all list messages can now be sent directly to contrabass-list@contrabass.com. It works! By sending the posts to the list address, everyone who is subscribed in the "immediate" mode will receive the messages immediately, and won't have to wait until I log in and forward everything.

Grant

Date: Thu, 02 Oct 1997 16:06:38 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: EDITOR'S NOTE:

EDITOR'S NOTE:

As you may have guessed, Scott managed to increase the list limit to 200, so everyone is now "officially" on the list. All posts for the list can be sent to contrabass-list@contrabass.com , and all subscribe and unsubscribe requests may be sent to contrabass-request@contrabass.com (NOT contrabass-list-request@contrabass.com, as was the case with the former software). Anyone who would like to receive messages "immediately" instead of in digest form can change their subscription mode by pointing their browser at the Subscription Page and selecting "digest" or "immediate".

Thanks Scott!

Grant

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