hi have just joined this group, have just bought myself after not playing for 20 years a clarinet, it is a Le Couture, the lady I acquired it off says it is approx 30 yrs old, and is from a factory in France, serial no is present but worn, any ideas if I have got myself a bargain? or ive been conned!
jackie.
As often, Google was my friend. Recently there was a La Couture for
sale on eBay, and from the looks and the description it looks like an Amati Special which is roughly comparable to a Noblet. (I overhauled about five or six of them, including two Cortons and a B&H 400). They are reasonably in tune, of reasonably build quality and have a - you guessed it - reasonable tone. Not too bad, not too exciting either, but a solid instrument.
But wait, La Couture Bussey is where Leblanc was Doing Things, and maybe it's what the lady was referring to. Ah, now look, there's
another one (scroll down to roughly the middle), this time it's apparently French instrument in a Leblanc Case.
For what it's worth, La Couture was what was Elkhart, Klingenthal or Graslitz - a concentration of many companies (Marigaux, Leblanc, Malerne) who occasionally bought each other and spun off each other.
But only you can tell us if you like it or how it sounds...
