A project with a 5 keys clarinet.

[Staffan]

Hi

Some years ago I bought 3 parts of what I first thought was a flute but
then I noticed the "thumbholder" on a lower joint and I recognize a
upper joint and a barrel. Then I desided to make it work. The bore is only
11,8 mm at the barrel.

The bell was missing and the mouthpiece too, so I bought a Eb mouthpiece
from China, but the chamber(?) and the bore is/was to large, 14 mm, so
I read a book from Arthur H. Benade, how to place a rod inside to get the
"intonation" right.

Then the bell it was more difficolt becouse I am not good on wood turning.
I tried a brass "trophy", with some extra soldering. I think a brassbell looks
nice...

But I made a bell in wood too in another chape.

There is a big difference in soundcharacter between the two bells. I think the clarinet is
younger than from that time the made 5 keys clarinets?
I had to do the 4 brassrings too.

Staffan

 

[Staffan]

Hi again

The funny thing is that there is a almost unreadable text on the
brass bell: IIP, 11K, -55 and the wood bell is from a peppermill...
I bought the 3 parts fom a flea-market for 30 SKR.

Staffan

 

[TrueTone]

It looks rather like a more (relatively) modern reproduction of a 5 key clarinet- 5 key ones typically had keycups that were square, yours are the normal post 1860ish round type. I've seen some Germanic clarinets from 1870ish to 1910ish that strongly remind me of yours in how they look, but none of those had 5 keys-they all had a couple more, at least a G#/C# key and a single trill key on the right hand side for Bb to C, typically a few more beyond that too.
Here's an example of one of those that had its auction end about an hour and a half ago: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Very-Old-W...34-well-in-C-Mood-for-Revision-/113800761174?
(ignore the fact that the link calls it a wurlitzer-ebay automatically "translates" things for me from other languages, and I don't know how to turn it off, which is annoying, as a lot of the time it messes up the translation.) It's not the same, but it's of a fairly similar design. (although the upper joint and barrel are from a different clarinet than the lower joint and bell, at least to my eyes; in addition to having a more complicated key system. Here's a similar one described in French that's intact, with a worse history than the one on ebay: http://rp-archivesmusiquefacteurs.blogspot.com/2013/08/clarinette-mi-bemol-de-zalud-terezin-un.html )

Is there anything written on your clarinet? I'd be interested in seeing more photos of it. I'm also pretty sure your barrel socket takes the same size mouthpiece as one of my 2 oldest clarinets-it, one made by Eugene Albert in the 1880s, takes a mouthpiece smaller than a modern Bb and larger than a modern Eb. So far I've had no luck finding a mouthpiece that fits, I might contact Steve Fox or Ed Pillinger eventually about it.

 

[Staffan]

Hi TrueTone

Thank you for your answers. Yes I think too it is not so old and the
bore is just 11,8 mm at the barrel. I was lucky to buy a Eb- clarinet-
mouthpiece from AliExpress that fits, but the champer is so big.
Therefor the rod inside.
Barrel socket(?) for a modern Eb-clarinet.

The text on the brass bell is just a juke...it is a sports-trophy.

There are no text or engraving on the wooden parts. I show a picture
of the part where it could have been..
.

Can I ask, is there a relation between the bore and the volume of the chamber...
mouthpiece? For a c-clarinet?

Thank you

Staffan

 

[pete]

Here's an example of one of those that had its auction end about an hour and a half ago: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Very-Old-W...34-well-in-C-Mood-for-Revision-/113800761174?
(ignore the fact that the link calls it a wurlitzer-ebay automatically "translates" things for me from other languages, and I don't know how to turn it off, which is annoying, as a lot of the time it messes up the translation.) It's not the same, but it's of a fairly similar design. (although the upper joint and barrel are from a different clarinet than the lower joint and bell, at least to my eyes; in addition to having a more complicated key system. Here's a similar one described in French that's intact, with a worse history than the one on ebay: http://rp-archivesmusiquefacteurs.blogspot.com/2013/08/clarinette-mi-bemol-de-zalud-terezin-un.html )

This intrigued me. More history at https://miejscezhistoria.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/dom-moich-dziadkow/

 

[TrueTone]

Hi TrueTone

Thank you for your answers. Yes I think too it is not so old and the
bore is just 11,8 mm at the barrel. I was lucky to buy a Eb- clarinet-
mouthpiece from AliExpress that fits, but the champer is so big.
Therefor the rod inside.
Barrel socket(?) for a modern Eb-clarinet.

The text on the brass bell is just a juke...it is a sports-trophy.

There are no text or engraving on the wooden parts. I show a picture
of the part where it could have been..
.View attachment 9677

Can I ask, is there a relation between the bore and the volume of the chamber...
mouthpiece? For a c-clarinet?

Thank you

Staffan

The bore size greatly affects it; yes, although most mouthpieces tend to have fairly similar internal volumes to make up for differences in bore size. I think an Oehler (German) system Eb mouthpiece might be a better fit, but unfortunately that's going to be fairly annoying to get ahold of.
(I will also read Pete's link once I have more time, given that it's not in a language I speak, I'm gonna have to resort to Google translate)