Full-Boehm B-flat (1958 Center Tone) and Full-Boehm A (1925) Selmer Clarinet Set

Description: This is a slightly abridged version of the description provided by these horns' previous owner, which includes an ample amount of detail and history behind each horn:"This is a set of extremely rare Full-Boehm clarinets in A and B-flat. Even though they’re roughly 33 years apart in age, they have very similar playing characteristics. I will describe them individually, and then at the bottom of this listing, you can read more about what makes the Full-Boehm system desirable and unique. 1958 CENTERED TONE B-Flat: This is probably the more 'desirable' of the two clarinets. Selmer's Centered Tone models have been highly prized by jazz players and were brought to fame by the great Benny Goodman. This is the only Center Tone I’ve ever seen with the Full-Boehm system, they seem to be fairly rare in my experience (very occasionally I’ll see one come up for sale that has the articulated G# feature, but none of the other Full-Boehm features). From my serial number research, this clarinet comes near the end of the Centered Tone years, just before they began the Series 9. It could be possible the bore on this horn is the same as or similar to the first years of the Series 9. It fits with my experience of playing earlier Series 9’s – very free blowing and agile. It’s always played very well in tune, and I’ve used it professionally for several decades now in a great many musical theatre pits and orchestral settings. It was also used for my masters degree in Woodwind Performance and Pedagogy, where clarinet was one of my tertiary instruments. This one really checks all the boxes for all the cool Centered Tone features. It even has the adjustable register vent with the hexagonal plate. The keys are solid German silver. The upper joint is all cork pads, and the lower joint is all Valentino. This horn was set up for me by the late great Sheldon Kanis of Portman’s music in Savannah, Georgia about 20 years ago, and it has never required anything beyond an occasional tweak of an adjustment screw. Sheldon used to do clarinets for many of the greats, including Kenny Davern and Buddy DeFranco. There are no cracks or pins on this horn. The only “damage” is a small chip out of the tenon at the bottom of the lower joint. All the corks are in great shape, and all the rings are firmly attached to the horn. The original barrel is included, and I’m also throwing in a like new short 62.5mm Selmer Series 9 barrel. I also had a small neck strap ring added to the thumb rest. Serial number of both joints match (R35XX). The upper joint has an asterisk stamped above it. I’ve read conjecture that this means it is a replacement upper joint because the original cracked during the warranty period. I don’t know if that’s true or not. 1925 A-CLARINET: This clarinet is really a great playing A-clarinet! Sometimes A’s can feel stuffy, resistant, and hard to project, but this horn feels really free-blowing and even. It’s an early enough model that it may be a cylindrical bore. I won’t lie to you – this one requires more work to play in tune than the Centered Tone, but the free-blowing nature of the horn and its big open tone make it worth the effort.I bought this clarinet roughly 12 years ago, and it was in pretty rough shape. I sent it to Eric Satterlee of Meridian Winds for restoration. It has several pins in the upper joint, but they were rock solid when I bought it (I can’t even see the cracks) so Eric just left them alone. Eric did a lot of work to the socket of the lower joint. There was a small split in the wood in that area, so he removed the loose socket, repaired the split, and then permanently secured the socket back to the horn. He installed all cork on the upper joint, and the lower joint is all white leather pads. Like the Centered Tone, it has German silver keys (solid nickel). The original barrel is included, and it works well, but I’ll also include the one I preferred - a Selmer Series 9 (built for A-clarinet) which says “2mm short” on the back side. It plays wonderfully on the horn and is easier to play in tune, and generally has more clarity than the original, in my opinion. Also, I’ve added a neck strap ring onto the thumb rest for comfort. I want to address the question of having a clarinet with wood that’s almost 100 years old – because I’ve heard many people say the wood gets soft when it gets old, and then you start to have problems. I beg to differ, this horn has stayed solid in sound as long as I’ve owned it and I’ve never had any issues with the wood being soft. All the posts are solidly anchored in the clarinet, and they have not moved or loosened one bit since I’ve owned it. Note that Selmer didn’t have model names on their clarinets in 1925, so there is no model name on this clarinet. Serial number of both joints match (56XX). DESCRIPTION AND BENEFITS OF THE FULL-BOEHM SYSTEM: First, here’s a summary of what makes these clarinets “Full-Boehm”: Ring over the left-hand ring-finger tone hole – allows for “fork” (1+3) Eb/BbThe lower joint is extended with an extra tone hole, making low E-flat (or a long B-flat) possibleExtra pinky key on right hand for the low EbArticulated G#G# trill key is added between the rings of the right handG# tone hole is corrected for proper size and placementLeft pinky E-flat key is also included The benefits of these features are mostly self-evident, but some of them are unusual enough to deserve comment. First, the extra tone hole at the bottom of the lower joint allows one to play a low E-flat. I know what you’re thinking – when are you ever going to play a low E-flat? Well, having this key allows you to play music written for A-clarinet by transposing down one half-step. So when you encounter a written low E, you can play that note with the low E-flat on your B-flat clarinet! But there are plenty of other very real benefits to having this tone hole. For instance, we’re all familiar with the issue of the low E on a standard clarinet being somewhat stuffy, with increased resistance, and it doesn’t project the same way as all the other low notes. This extra tone hole solves that problem. It really makes the entire low range more responsive, even, free-blowing, and projecting. Also, if you finger the low E-flat and use the register key, you get the middle B-flat instead. This can be really useful when you’re playing ‘long’ notes with the register key open. If your melody dips down to low B-flat and then turns around and goes back up, it’s often better to play the “long” B-flat instead of the throat B-flat. Avoiding the throat B-flat in this scenario makes sure you don’t have that one note that sounds out of place. (OP - You may also observe the occasional low E-flat in select wind band or solo clarinet literature, and it serves as a versatile addition for Jazz, Contemporary, Experimental, or otherwise Improvisatory music).The improvements for the G# are very important as well. On standard clarinets the G# is often thin and stuffy in tone. This happens because the tone hole is on the 'wrong' side of the horn (away from the audience), and it’s also really small. If this tone hole were located directly between the G and A tone holes on the front of the horn, it would have to go through the tenon. With the Full-Boehm system, they decided to go ahead and put it through the tenon. Doing this allows the tone hole to be in the right place with the right diameter. This way a Full-Boehm G# sounds great, just like the other notes around it, without requiring any work for the player to compensate and try to make it sound full, clear, or in tune. Speaking of G#, the articulated mechanism means that any time you push down a ring in the right hand, it closes the G# pad for you, even if you keep the left-hand G# key pushed down. This enables you to play true trills between G# and other notes (just like a saxophone). And if you prefer to trill G# with your right hand instead of your left pinky, well that’s covered - just play a G with the normal fingering and then add the extra G# trill key between the first two rings of the right hand. Lastly, let me reassure you – the Full-Boehm system does not require you to change anything about the way you play clarinet. All the ‘standard’ fingerings still work normally. The system only adds new capabilities; it does not disable any of the fingerings or capabilities you already know and use. If you don’t want to use any of the new keys, you don’t have to use them. But if you’re like me, you’ll quickly start finding ways to use the full capabilities of the system and make your life so much easier! THE CASE: Neither of these horns came to me with a case, and for a while I really struggled to find something to fit these horns. My final solution was to buy the Pro-Tec semi-hard double case and modify it to fit the extra-long lower joints. I’ve included pictures so you can see where I cut away the felt and foam. If you don’t like seeing the foam, you could easily get some blue felt and glue it over the exposed foam. As it is, everything is firm in the case and doesn’t shift or move around at all. Just remember that it’s not a hard shell case, and could be crushed if you put too much weight on it. Overall the case is in great condition. FINAL WORDS: These horns could be a great asset to anyone who plays frequently in musical theatre or jazz, or for occasional orchestral playing. They’re also great for “doublers” (especially sax players) because the articulated G# functions just like it does on sax. And they are, of course, a great piece of history that you will enjoy owning and discussing with all your other woodwind playing friends!"I will add that I have owned these horns for just a bit beyond two years since the previous owner, and have only played on them a few times each for observational and experimentation purposes, so all of the maintenance work and adjustments the previous owner mentioned should still stand.

Price: 3000 USD

Location: Greensboro, North Carolina

End Time: 2024-08-26T01:29:21.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD