I have a Leblanc Bass clarinet with the early makers mark. There is no model number and no marking on the bell. The wood is dark. Both bouts are stamped 1954. Any ideas what I have? Thanks.
Leblanc bass clarinet model/year
- Thread starter ParsonWilks
- Start date
Not to be piling on, but to point you in the right direction, please take a look at http://www.woodwindforum.com/forum/index.php?threads/help-us-to-help-you.21021/. A lot of us here have been doing instrument evaluations for a long time and the thread I reference really does have a good listing of stuff you can provide for us to help you.
I hope these help. I am more interested in the age and whether it would be a suitable
investment for my middle school clarinet player.
$700 plus I figure there's about $150 or so in cleaning and set-up
This model looks like the wooden counterpart of a (plastic) Yamaha YCL-220, a Jupiter 673 or the a Leblanc 7166. Probably a 400 model.
~$900 for a "woodie" isn't a bad price, many go for 3/2 or twice as much. Unless the middle school repertoire explicitly calls for a Low-C model, you should be fine. Don't forget to shop for a decent mouthpiece to go with it.
~$900 for a "woodie" isn't a bad price, many go for 3/2 or twice as much. Unless the middle school repertoire explicitly calls for a Low-C model, you should be fine. Don't forget to shop for a decent mouthpiece to go with it.
Rarely do you see music for Bb bass written to low C, particularly in middle school -- unless it's some big-time arts academy. The low C extension also doubles or more the price of the horn. Heck, I went three or so years of high school before even seeing a low C bass clarinet.
+1 on getting good mouthpiece. Also, if you don't have a peg for the horn (or strap, if you prefer) you should invest in one. A decent repair shop might either have one or might be able to get one, even from Leblanc.
+1 on getting good mouthpiece. Also, if you don't have a peg for the horn (or strap, if you prefer) you should invest in one. A decent repair shop might either have one or might be able to get one, even from Leblanc.
It looks more like an older "professional" model horn to me. I've used these in the past, and the two joint wooden ones like this were formerly Leblanc's top end instruments, equivalent to the Selmer and Buffet instruments. A mid level two joint horn intended for the "student" market would carry the Noblet imprint rather than the top end Leblanc one.
(The horrid Bundy student bass may have had a better means to implement the peg, but it was inferior in just about every other way.)
The "long rod on the back of the bass" linkage for the "triple hole" register system did not appear on "pro" Leblanc horns until sometime after the 1970s. Prior to that, all of their horns had the "no long rod on the back", "double hole" register system, the one still found on the majority of student level basses.
As compensation for this, Leblanc did give us the "fork Eb/Ab" on the lower joint. Fingered R|TH|•••|•o• to sound Eb, it was viewed (by Leblanc, at least) as a "better" alternative to the LH Eb/Ab lever which is now common on clarinets. On a loaner horn I once had to use, this "better" fingering was never quite right, despite herculean efforts of my technician to set it up properly.
The socket for the neck on Leblanc horns is a better way to attach the neck, as the metal neck socket is not as susceptible to cracking as a wood one. However, the metal socket can come "loose", causing equally significant problems as cracking.
(The horrid Bundy student bass may have had a better means to implement the peg, but it was inferior in just about every other way.)
The "long rod on the back of the bass" linkage for the "triple hole" register system did not appear on "pro" Leblanc horns until sometime after the 1970s. Prior to that, all of their horns had the "no long rod on the back", "double hole" register system, the one still found on the majority of student level basses.
As compensation for this, Leblanc did give us the "fork Eb/Ab" on the lower joint. Fingered R|TH|•••|•o• to sound Eb, it was viewed (by Leblanc, at least) as a "better" alternative to the LH Eb/Ab lever which is now common on clarinets. On a loaner horn I once had to use, this "better" fingering was never quite right, despite herculean efforts of my technician to set it up properly.
The socket for the neck on Leblanc horns is a better way to attach the neck, as the metal neck socket is not as susceptible to cracking as a wood one. However, the metal socket can come "loose", causing equally significant problems as cracking.
This is not what I experienced. But I haven't had too many Bundy or Leblanc basses in my hands to make a statistically sound statement.
Applied to the means of peg attachment, I have always found the Selmer method (one offset set screw, bearing on the rod) to be superior to the "notched rod, pointed screw" method of attachment. Applied to the intonation of the Bundy version of the bass, every one that I've ever played (in the hands of many, many students, back in the 1980s) was horribly out of tune with itself.
I found the Vito incarnation (the Leblanc student bass) to be a better instrument than the Bundy. Which is strange, since I dislike almost everything that Leblanc did with clarinets, up and down the line. But, there you go...
I found the Vito incarnation (the Leblanc student bass) to be a better instrument than the Bundy. Which is strange, since I dislike almost everything that Leblanc did with clarinets, up and down the line. But, there you go...
Regarding the low C extended range bass...
...I have found it chiefly useful when there is a bassoon part to be played in a show book, and the contractor/theater doesn't want to pay for an additional horn. The low C extension gets you down to the pedal Bb on the bassoon. It also means one less horn to rack, no bassoon reed to keep ready to go, and less chance of stabbing yourself in the face with the end of the bocal during a quick horn change...
(Is there such a thing as a quick horn change with a bassoon? I did one show (Little Abner) that allowed all of four bars of quick 4/4 time to make the switch from baritone sax. There's no way to make that happen, at least not without the above mentioned facial injury. (Ask me how I know...))
Doesn't work as well if you are trying to pull off a Wagner bassoon part (with low As), though. You'd need to purchase the elusive low B bass clarinet to make that happen.
Other than the occasional employment in art music and one or two Broadway shows, there's just not that much demand for the low C horn. Some concert band stuff uses it, but I'd not want to sink the extra thousands in one just to make some college or high school band leader happy. Play it at the octave, and smile after you are done.
And, of course, I own a low C Selmer from the Series 9 era, thank you very much, in addition to my other basses. But, I love the bass clarinet almost as much as I do my lovely wife, so it's understandable in my case.
...I have found it chiefly useful when there is a bassoon part to be played in a show book, and the contractor/theater doesn't want to pay for an additional horn. The low C extension gets you down to the pedal Bb on the bassoon. It also means one less horn to rack, no bassoon reed to keep ready to go, and less chance of stabbing yourself in the face with the end of the bocal during a quick horn change...
(Is there such a thing as a quick horn change with a bassoon? I did one show (Little Abner) that allowed all of four bars of quick 4/4 time to make the switch from baritone sax. There's no way to make that happen, at least not without the above mentioned facial injury. (Ask me how I know...))
Doesn't work as well if you are trying to pull off a Wagner bassoon part (with low As), though. You'd need to purchase the elusive low B bass clarinet to make that happen.
Other than the occasional employment in art music and one or two Broadway shows, there's just not that much demand for the low C horn. Some concert band stuff uses it, but I'd not want to sink the extra thousands in one just to make some college or high school band leader happy. Play it at the octave, and smile after you are done.
And, of course, I own a low C Selmer from the Series 9 era, thank you very much, in addition to my other basses. But, I love the bass clarinet almost as much as I do my lovely wife, so it's understandable in my case.