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Antique Rudall Carte Bass Clarinet

As mentioned in the thread about the JTL I received my Rudall Carte Bass Clarinet yesterday. Quite a few things need tightening up, but still gives a good idea of its potential (as far as any HP instrument has potential...).

I have been told how the manual double register keys work - lever above thumb is throat Bb to Eb, and then off that and on the one to the right for E and above. Thanks to Chris P on clarinet BB for that. Picture below

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Interesting UJ finger touches with 1st and 3rd finger having no tone hole beneath, but closing keys as below:

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Other photos for interest

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Chris
 
Very much like my horn that I bought a year or so ago. Same angle to the neck as I recall (it's currently reposing in storage, so I can't say for sure), same style of key castings, same layout and angle on the first finger left hand. Mine is an Italian job, but I don't recall the maker.

The register key system works as described, with the caveat that you can overlap on either side by a semi-tone without everything going south (or it was that way on the two Buffet horns that I have played for extensive periods of time). It's all up to some experimentation once you get the horn sealed up and ready to play.

On my horns from the past, the keys were arranged so that you could finger the lower register key first, and then just roll the tip of your thumb from the lower one to the upper one. It takes a while to get the drill down, but once you do it's second nature.

I started on one of these (although a wonderful Buffet horn, not something from once glorious Italy) in the sixth grade, only shifting to the Boehm soprano when I entered junior high school. I had to unlearn all of it at that time, but it's still there, tucked away in my reptile hind brain, and when I picked up my "new" Buffet back in 1967 (and when my latest one arrived last year), it was like second nature again.

I may have had a better time of it due to my habit of using the side trill key for Bb since I was a wee sprout. But, I'm the guy who can't chew gum and have sex at the same time, and I managed. So, you should be able to manage it too.

On my horn, what with the (literally) horizontal neck angle and the lack of any peg, it is very difficult to play effectively. I can play it, just not play it well. Although it didn't cost me all that much, I have chosen not to restore it (it is in good shape, body wise, with only minor dents in the bell and neck and only one missing spring), instead waiting upon the appearance of Buffet that I can purchase.

That Buffet design was really a fine piece of work for the time and place. Intonation was good, better than the Kohlers that the school had (which I never used), and the keywork was particularly facile.

I found the horn buried in the school's instrument room (along with off the inventory Selmer Mark VI soprano and sopranio saxes), spent a good part of the first quarter cleaning it up and removing the pads and cement, then getting it rebuilt from Thanksgiving to Christmas at my repair dude up in Saint Louis.

When I graduated, I attempted to buy it from the school, but they said no dice. It's probably up on somebody's wall these days...
 
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