Serious discolouration on my old Leblanc Dynamic H - any ideas?

Clarinetman182

Hey all! First time poster here and just have a couple of quick questions I hope somebody can help me with!

I pulled out my old Leblanc Dynamic H today, and the insturment seems to have large spotty patches where the black isn't as black, and some parts almost look white! It's been kept inside it's case for a year, so I'm a tad confused. Here is a pic - sorry it's not very clear, I'm having serious camera issues -_-

Body.jpg

I'm aware that sunlight can cause discolouration, but it has been kept inside of the case, in the shade of my wardrobe! I at first thought it might be surface mould or something, but after a (gentle) scrub, nothing seems to be coming off. The metalwork is all fine - it seems as though it is the wood/stain itself.

Every piece of the clarinet is plagued with this, apart from the mouthpiece (which has been covered with a metal cap). Even the sides which were face down in the case are affected!

So...

a) Does anybody have any ideas as to what this could be?

b) Is it purely cosmetic? Could there be repercussions down the line? (Wood too dry causing a crack or something)?

As said - the clarinet itself is an old Leblanc Dynamic H. As for how old it is - I've been trying to find that out for a while so I wonder if anybody could help me? I got in touch with the shop I got it from - all they said is that an elderly gentleman sold it to them about a year before I picked it up (2008ish) and that he had owned it for a while.

I can't seem to find any information online regarding serial numbers. I came across this,

http://www.dannychesnut.com/Music/Clarinet/Leblanc/LeblancSerialNumbers.htm

But I'm struggling to find anything that relates directly to the Dynamic H (and that website is playing up for me)!

My S/N is 546** - any ideas?

And if anybody could have a guesstimate of value, I'd be interested in knowing!

Thank you very much for any help anybody can give it, it is hugely appreciated!
 
Clarinetman182 said:
As said - the clarinet itself is an old Leblanc Dynamic H. As for how old it is - I've been trying to find that out for a while so I wonder if anybody could help me? I got in touch with the shop I got it from - all they said is that an elderly gentleman sold it to them about a year before I picked it up (2008ish) and that he had owned it for a while.

I can't seem to find any information online regarding serial numbers. I came across this,

http://www.dannychesnut.com/Music/Clarinet/Leblanc/LeblancSerialNumbers.htm

But I'm struggling to find anything that relates directly to the Dynamic H (and that website is playing up for me)!

My S/N is 546** - any ideas?
Click to expand...
1984. Leblanc used different serials for each model -- well, most of the time -- so you need to go by model number. Steve's website is nice enough to specifically list "Dynamic H" with model 1276, etc.

Dunno about the "spotty," but it looks kinda moldish to me. Even if it's in a case, unless the horn is in a humidity, light, and temperature controlled environment, it'll be affected by the elements.

My article on horn value. You're going to have to do some legwork on this one. One of the folks here that actually works on clarinets might be able toi give you advice re the "spotty" and can tell you how much that condition would affect value. All I can tell at this point is that it's aiming for "lower end," at the moment.
 
If it's a wood horn, then the wood has been stained. The discoloration in the photograph seems to be following patterns of the wood grain, and it appears to be "stuck" to the horn (as evidenced by the difficulty of cleaning whatever it is off of the body), so you really need to move to someone used to dealing with such issues rather than taking a "do it yourself" approach.

(An aside: is the problem apparent in the bore of the horn?)

As was stated above, the problem is pointing toward a downward value if left in this condition. Deal with it now or regret it later...
 
Thanks for the responses guys, it is much appreciated.

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Pete - Thanks very much! That page isn't displaying for me correctly for some reason. I'll blame it on AMD drivers, although that's probably not the case! Thanks for the link too - I've previously scoured eBay (+ the internet in general) but haven't been able to find too much on it. People seem to like discussing the Pete Fountain signature model more than this one!

I came across this - a couple of people seemed to get pretty excited about it, which is what piqued my interest about it's value!

http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=209418&t=209418

Not entirely sure about that though!

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SOTSDO - It is a wooden horn. To my novice eyes, it seems as though it is indeed the stain being less 'stainey' (for lack of a better word)! The bore is affected too! I'm definitely not confident enough to do this myself, so it looks like I'm going to a pro.

-------

Hope this isn't too expensive a fix - I've just put down loads of money on flights -_- Sods law in full effect here!
 
Clarinetman182 said:
I came across this - a couple of people seemed to get pretty excited about it, which is what piqued my interest about it's value!

http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=209418&t=209418

Not entirely sure about that though!
Click to expand...
I'm interested in a variety of instruments that have extremely low resale value, so people shouldn't get entusiastic when reading that I'm interested in something. The folks over on the Clarinet BB aren't exaclty "entusiastic." The gentleman talking about replacement value is essentially saying, "If you had to replace your Dynamic H with a new pro Leblanc horn, it'd cost ..." and not, "A Dynamic H is worth ...." To further drive home the point, a grand total of one Dynamic H and two Dynamic 2s have sold on eBay in the past month-ish. The Dynamic H, which has a crack in the upper joint, went for $375. The others sold in the $350 and under range. An eBay'er has a Pete Fountain Dynamic H for sale at $1900. "For sale." Not, "People bidding." Brief Google search suggested that under $1000 for good shape is typical for a Dynamic H.

Something I mentioned in the value article I linked to is that playability value doesn't necessarily equal monetary value. It looks like the Dynamic H fits that bill: plays as well as lots of other pro horns, but it's fairly inexpensive.
 
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