Updates and Puzzlements
Okay -- sorry, I'm caught in the slipstream again, which is both good (for the writing) and bad (for the blogging). However, I've finished a Morganville short story, for an anthology that will be coming out for Borders sometime this year (more on that when I have details), and it's an all-Morganville March, as I'm midway through LORD OF MISRULE (aka, Book Five).
Other than that ...? Hmmm. I got my clarinet fixed up and started playing again -- sucked at first, of course, but I'm getting my tone back. Technique will be a little slower. Tonguing and note attack is going to be an uphill battle, armed with a wet twig, but I'll try.
Which brings me to the "puzzlement" section of this post. I'm hoping that someone out there with prodigious mad research skillz can help me find out about the instrument I'm now playing.
I used to play Buffet R13s (professional quality instruments) but when I got out of active performing I sold them, as they're pretty expensive.
Then I ran across this pretty little clarinet in a secondhand store, and upon examination, I found it was very very odd. It's only gotten odder as time went on.
It's a grenadilla wood clarinet, with silver keys -- real silver. I know the top end Buffet and Selmer models used to come with an optional silver key coating, but this isn't either of those manufacturers, and I don't know of anyone else who offered that.
The clarinet has several very odd and interesting features, most notably that it has some key rollers that usually only appear on Albert System clarinets, but the configuration is definitely Boehm System. I think some Selmers had those rollers, way back when. Again: it's not a Selmer, though.
The clarinet is marked very simply "Eric Pettersen Stockholm" on the upper and lower joints, as well as on the bell. There is a silver band at the top of the lower joint that has Eric Pettersen's signature engraved on it. (Awesome as it is, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, ERIC?)
Somewhat amazingly, the serial number for this clarinet is 867 -- obviously very low.
When I took the instrument in for repadding and alignment this week, I learned that weirdly enough, the pads were all LEATHER. We agreed, me and Mr. Repair Guy, that we had never, ever seen anything like that on a clarinet before (and neither of us were sure it was a good idea, either). He was pretty sure they were original to the instrument, not after market, which leads me to suspect this instrument is way older than I'd thought.
The only explanations that I've been able to come up with is that (a) either Eric Pettersen's company existed a longer time ago than I would have suspected, because I can't find ANY trace of it on the internet, or (b) this is a boutique line (kind of like a special Michael Jordan shoe) marketed behind a noted clarinetist in Sweden. However, (a) kind of disputes (b), so I don't know; although there are records of some clarinets being marketed by noted soloists in the 1800s, I still can't figure out who Eric was.
It's a lovely instrument in an exceedingly ratty case that is clearly not original to the instrument, so I can't trace it through the case, either. Didn't have a mouthpiece or ligature, I provided those myself.
Hmmm. Bueller? Anybody? Ideas?
It'll probably turn out to be so obscure it's not at all valuable, but I don't really care. It's a lovely instrument with a great tone, and if I can get the #^&@! F key to stop sticking closed, I'd be perfectly content with it. :goes to find some key oil: :and a new case:
Seriously ... any help you guys could offer would be much appreciated. It's sort of driving me nuts, having this strange, oddball instrument and not knowing anything at all about it.
Okay, I'm done technobabbling. Off to do something semi-fruitful, like, I dunno, laundry.
Cheers!
-- R.
ETA: Wow, I posted the question about the clarinet on the bulletin board at http://www.clarinet.org, and got an immediate response from a Swedish clarinet player. I had the brand name slightly wrong, it's Eric Petterson (I think my brain just kept sticking the extra "e" in there!) and evidently, his small company produced some very high quality instruments from the 1950s to the mid-70s. I would guess this to be pretty early in his run. Apparently, these instruments have a very good reputation and hardly ever come up for sale! WOOT! Mystery solved, kinda.
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rachelcaine) wrote,
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