[Dixielandjazz] Metal Clarinets

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

The only metal clarinets that I ever saw were Boehm system.  The biggest 
problem with the metal clarinets was by the time I got my hands on one, they 
were pretty used up as instruments with screws frozen and other ills.  I did 
have one, years ago, that was a pretty good instrument and played well in 
tune and sounded pretty good.

Many of them were stencil horns sold to music stores with the store brand on 
them.  I remember seeing Huneleth horns around.  Huneleth's was a popular 
StL music store up until the mid 60's.

I have one that I was going to use in parades.  I was in the Shriner drum 
and bugle corps for a short time and I wanted to clip it on my belt while 
parading.  I played harmony parts on the bugle and was the only harmony in 
their group.  At the end of parades they would serenade the fans with some 
Dixie tunes and I thought it would be cool to play clarinet.  But alas the 
idea of marching in parades got the best of me and good sense reigned.  I 
still have it but it is in sad shape.  Since I can't play clarinet any more 
it's unlikely that I will spend the money getting it repaired.

Metal clarinets were the student model before plastic became popular or 
existed for that matter (30's-40's).  They were used for outdoor playing 
instead of, the more costly and easily damaged by weather, wood clarinets.

They weren't for the most part bad but they weren't good either and some 
were just junk but as I said there were some that weren't too bad.  Did they 
sound comparable to a pro model wood?  No way but they were OK for what they 
were designed for.  My first school (62) owned about 20 of them.

If you want one ask around at the music stores.  They just might have one 
laying around that they will give you.  That's how I got the one I have or 
check E-bay.  I would doubt if one would cost very much.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike" <mike at railroadstjazzwest.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 10:41 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Metal Clarinets


>I read some time ago that Lester Young used to play on a metal clarinet. 
>What are the sound qualities and benefits to having a metal versus wood? 
>Were most of these metal ones an Albert system type? I think I remember 
>hearing that metal clarinets are long out of production.
>
> Mike
>
>
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