Vijon (and Topper as well)

PrincessJ

PrincessJ

Vijon (made in France), never heard it before. Probably a stencil of some sort, but from whom?
I posted this on the bboards with no reply yet but out of lack of patience I'm posting here.
It's definitely and obviously wood, the barrel is a lighter color than the rest of the clarinet, and the serial number is S 2xxx. It looks old, but not extremely old.


Also, anyone find anymore info on the Topper wood clarinet (made in England)? Answers on the other boards were very mixed and blurry, and all I really caught was a load of corny limericks from a couple folks. :emoji_smile:
 
There once was a basset horn from Dubuque...

They are quite proud of their rhyming ability over on the Clarinet BBS. It got a bit tiring at times.

Of course, they probably said that about every word that I ever wrote there...
 
can you provide some pictures.

With the Topper one sold on ebay a short time ago for a some minor change but it had a curved top cup arm on the top of the lower joint ring keys - which isn't very common (Malerne does it but they are French). and the separate stop for the spatula Eb key and large post bases. So that one had some identifiable marks.

As for the Vijon, once again need pictures.

Pictures are great otherwise you are asking something like .. "i just bought an old car. It has 4 wheels and a steering wheel. how old is it, who made it, and what is it worth and how well does it drive."

:)
 
Hahahaha. Thanks anyways. I suppose I shouldn't expect all you guys to be psychic.
As soon ad my camera gets "fixed" I'm going to provide some pictures of the topper. If it's okay for an Ebay link here's a Vijon, this guy's got a great camera.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=390282487233&si=%252ByEI8m%252FsEBKU1OlTy8%252BBA1AfsiY%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Also, for some mental stimulation, the bell of the Topper appears to be less contoured than the average clarinet. Almost like a traffic cone (until it flares out very suddenly with the metal ring). Strange shape, never seen it before.
 
Thanks Pete.

I may just have to break a "rule" for a minute though, one of my other horns has a little rust pattern that looks just like broccoli! I think of this place every time I see it. :)

Like I said I can't get all the pics necessary at the moment, but I figured maybe someone knew of or has heard the names and perhaps I've been living under a rock.


And don't be afraid to tell me they're lamps. You won't hurt my feelings guys, I'm thick skinned.
 
It is definitely hard rubber.
 
PrincessJ said:
And don't be afraid to tell me they're lamps. You won't hurt my feelings guys, I'm thick skinned.
Click to expand...
That's what I'm here for. Don't worry: we generally don't sugarcoat.

RE: Rubber barrel, while I'm nowhere near as good as Steve answering questions about vintage clarinets, I do know that "rubber horn" doesn't necessarily = "student junk," especially as there are a few hard rubber clarinets made today.

I've not seen a clarinet with just a rubber barrel, though.

RE: Lamps, I should also mention that Cybersax.com sold a saxophone lamp a few years ago. It was a Selmer Mark VI (high-end sax) that someone turned into a lamp.

I had a Conn Pan American metal clarinet that I eventually turned into a lamp when the pads were completely shot. Until then, it played great and had a nice, sweet tone. Very worth the $25 I paid for it.

The above examples are, of course, to point out that one man's lamp isn't every man's lamp.
 
i have a clarinet down in the dust bowls of my basement with just a rubber barrel too. Though I think it was a replacement as it's a very old Albert system. And I was guessing that her's was a replacement too, I just wanted to make sure it was a rubber barrel. That of course, increases it's value .. well, ok, maybe not. :)
 
It's interesting, tho. When I saw that clarinet ad on eBay, I just thought, "Mmm. Finish is kinda worn on the barrel." I didn't even think "hard rubber" until you mentioned it. It does look like a rubber mouthpiece that's either really old or put into water that's a bit too hot.
 
I'm pretty sure the instrument is pretty old, and without a doubt, the barrel is in fact old. It's more "light brown" than my 83-year-old ebonite mouthpiece, and the rest of the clarinet appears either well taken care of or much younger than the barrel.
Now I'm really starting to wonder... also, what's interesting is the barrel itself is stamped VIJON, so I doubt it's a replacement given the fact that it looks older than the horn itself...
 
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