Harry Pedler & Co./The Pedler Co. Thread

[Windsong]

The lumberyard find is a remarkable story.

300-500% is well more than enough to cripple an industry.  At some point, the plug must be pulled.


British Leyland?  Oh--I know a little about that!

The Chapter XI bankruptcy sounds well deserved, considering the dishonest business practices and tactics.

It all seems like they had been on a crash course for a decade or better.  The "post-war steam", as it were, could not carry a poorly run business or industry, for that matter.  When a product is already economically irrelevant even before its release, no "Buy American" campaigns will save a non-essential product.

[350 Rocket]

This arrived last week, but I wanted to play-test it before posting about it.

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This is a 1930 Martin Handcraft metal clarinet, which as you can likely guess by now, is a Pedler, which Martin had acquired earlier that year.

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I'm not sure what Pedler model this corresponds to; it would ostensibly be a higher-end one if Martin put their engraving on it, but not the top of the line, as the Precision Hand Made had a detachable bell as well as the "appliance". It has a gold-wash bell and appears to have had a tuning barrel, which was disabled.

It has about a .590" bore, which it shares with my ca. 1937 American. The keywork has plenty of differences which could be chalked up to being a different model and/or several years of design tweaks. The lower 2/3 of the barrel is the same as the American, and the thumbrest is the same.

It uses what I call a "crow's perch" on the F/C key as you can see below.

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The case is original and has Martin emblems outside and inside.

It plays nicely. It's a bit flat at the bottom of the chalumeau. It seemed squirrelly at the top of the clarion as well, but I suspect that's more me than the instrument. Tone seems very nice. The action is smooth, and the keywork feels light but sturdy. Spring tension varies a fair bit between keys but it's hard to infer much from that 95 years after it was made.

However, equally important is this: its 107xx serial number is stamped in the usual places for a Pedler, on the back of the body just above the bell and underneath the low F#/C# lever. There is another number stamped just above the bell on the front of the body, with a different set of stamps and by a different hand - 1012xx. The only logical explanation is that Martin added their own serial number to it. The Martin serial number chart, which looks precise enough to have come from factory records, puts that in late 1930, which fits the engraving style - it's similar to what Martin put on Handcraft saxophones at the time - and is very plausible given other Pedlers I've seen around that range.

If that's true, then this is a highly-accurate data point and it has me very close to being able to compile a serial number chart for metal Pedlers.

It would be fascinating to know if this was (however briefly) a standard offering in the Martin catalog, or if it was specially made for a Martin-endorsing saxophonist who wanted one for doubling. My favorite tenor sax is a Martin and I've paid attention to Martins for years - I can't recall ever seeing another clarinet like this.

[Windsong]

Rocket--
That is stunning.  What a rare and inherantly valuable horn.  I've not seen a better looking one, to be sure.

To have a marker for 1930 placing metal Pedler manufacture at 10700 is valuable indeed.

[Windsong]

Up close...

[Windsong]

Yesterday,  an alleged article from 4 August 1921 in The Montpelier (OH) Leader Enterprise was posted on that large social media platform by Jeremy Soule (AKA "The Vintage Clarinet Doctor") about the origin of Harry Pedler & Co.'s key forging process.
It was reportedly "submitted by an Enthusiastic fan".

[Windsong]

A quick, traditional internet fact check of A. F. Rowan turned up nothing, so I begrudgingly asked A. I., which I frankly do not trust as a general rule. ("Garbage in, garbage out", as they used to say.)  I actually trust A.I. much less than "grandpa's failing memory", because it is built oftentimes on fiction and what people search for, rather than factual data. My understanding is that the more it is searched for incorrectly, the more it becomes "the prevailing truth", and I have a big problem with that.

That said, here is what it produced, with the search term:
"A. F. Rowan, Rowan Tool and Die Works, Montpelier, OH, 1920s":


Rowan Tool and Die Works, based in Montpelier, Ohio, during the 1920s, was a specialized manufacturing firm known for creating high-quality tooling and die sets. The company is notably linked to the industrial production of specialized components for musical instruments, specifically the nickel silver, forged keys used by Harry Pedler & Co. (a renowned instrument maker) for their clarinets.
Key Details regarding A. F. Rowan and the Company:
Location: Montpelier, Ohio.
Activity Period: Early 1920s (specifically noted for activity around August 1921).
Specialty: The firm was responsible for creating specialized tooling (dies) for the forging of clarinet keys under high-pressure presses (approx. 60-ton).
Significance: Their work for Harry Pedler & Co. helped improve the quality of clarinet keys, which were previously known for being too "soft".
Industry Context: The 1920s in Montpelier, OH, was a period of expansion for industrial manufacturing, with the town becoming a manufacturing hub following its development as a railroad center.
The Rowan Tool and Die Works is recognized as a key supplier in the specialized, high-quality instrument manufacturing, contributing to the "golden era" of American woodwind production in the 1920s.


For a number of reasons, backed up by the profound lack of supporting evidence, but certainly with no shade cast upon those who have shared it in earnest, I must remain dubious as to the legitimacy of the article above.

It appears, quite literally, to have taken my own extrapolations from the article (which I have now deleted, so as not to feed the AI monster), and attempted to create "legend" from it.  We will all need to be extremely wary of what we read from now on.  We are entering a disconcerting time of subjective truths.

[Windsong]

Another Gronert-Pedler made its way to me tonite.  The photos from Shopgoodwill were not thorough or exceptional, as is typically the case, but I could tell for certain what it was. 

It turns out that I was only half right. 

Take a look at these two, side by side:  That Eb sliver key finally has validation!

The trill guides and the "crows perch" (😉 Rocket) are dead give-aways, and this shows the 1st effort at a rear register key and an intro to an adjustable Ab throat key (so probably 1918-1919).

Lastly, the lower joint sliver key cup (B/Gb) is the early design, as well. 

No name, no legacy, no inherant worth...and to me at least, historically priceless.

We've saved another one, folks.

[350 Rocket]

In November 2013, I bought three clarinets from Siwek Lumber in Minneapolis, all apparent castoffs from Minneapolis Public Schools. Two were Pedlers - a metal American and a wood 18-key/7-ring Premier.

Twelve-and-a-half years later, that spark has become this: Pedler serial number charts.

http://stockinstrumentrepair.wordpress.com/pedler-clarinets/

The only detailed ones so far are the one for metal clarinets and the one for the Grenolite; the rest are either very rough or generally nonexistent. However, these are at least something, while what'd heretofore been available was decidedly nothing.

A handful of military-issue instruments all appearing in quick succession last year established a reliable range of WWII production, and the Martin earlier in this thread cemented the early part of the run. Knowing that metal clarinets were still available in 1955 but gone by the end of 1957 gave me a narrow enough end point to run with it.

I hope to improve these as information becomes available, but since what I have now was a long time coming and anything more would likely be a long wait, now was the time to publish. Special thanks to Windsong for the research he's done in parallel.

[Windsong]

Brilliant work and beautiful presentation, Rocket.  This information has been hard-won.

[Windsong]

Here is an unusual Harry Pedler & Co.  It is an early one, and a Platt Promotional:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/206421105928?_skw=harry+pedler+clarinet&itmmeta=01KYB2GGWBPS9AXBZTDFVCK2C6&hash=item300fa81d08%3Ag%3AAnkAAeSwYttqWbwD&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xAMRCP9ZqQoMuaci6ptnZQIuSG0wTr9H23VdZyoUYKwu8%2BnzlbPUTDia2iYfgjr8BKqqBDPcoR308eSWmstjQ3OG9OHmS6IWR2eGKygMKagfn2hMCLahkHgItA51h166%2Ba%2FFe%2BYDgQtH7yGO%2FiTo7RdfOZIKJ0gMdaKfXg2gcdGO37DdAN68Hlx6gaY0XGhYfxI7dhpVIJl%2FIE4dowB15Oepuj3jj%2FltiCY8L0LFu1Vr0LnYe6u%2Fd7O13eTyGzP%2F40PysJhQaMqtEIAcqY1KWM8WHMU7KFxPU0LBSeRGy7lrg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6aOwuLyZw&keyword=harry+pedler+clarinet&sacat=0&relatedSearch=true

From Wikipedia:
"The Platt Music Corporation, founded by Benjamin Platt in 1905, was a national retailer.[1]"

[ghostler]

Twelve-and-a-half years later, that spark has become this: Pedler serial number charts.
http://stockinstrumentrepair.wordpress.com/pedler-clarinets/

The only detailed ones so far are the one for metal clarinets and the one for the Grenolite; the rest are either very rough or generally nonexistent. However, these are at least something, while what'd heretofore been available was decidedly nothing.

I find it interesting from your blog that Grenolite was Pedler's entry into the plastic clarinet world and short lived.

Just curious, but in high school, my father was the electric shop teacher. Thus I had access to the school's tools and soldering equipment. I repaired a donated old early 1950's? 5 tube (valve) AM radio using 5 octal tubes. It was in a dark brown Bakelite plastic case.

I am curious but were there any clarinets ever molded out of Bakelite? It was a hard plastic but somewhat brittle. Broken it resembled hard rubber.

A handful of military-issue instruments all appearing in quick succession last year established a reliable range of WWII production, and the Martin earlier in this thread cemented the early part of the run. Knowing that metal clarinets were still available in 1955 but gone by the end of 1957 gave me a narrow enough end point to run with it.

Your mention of the military bands reminded me of this. During the early to mid 1970's, I was a clarinet player (primary) and saxophone (secondary) instrumentalist in the 264th Army Band, Honolulu, Hawaii. While searching the band's music library, I came across a few old arrangements passed onto the band from earlier bands no longer around. Interesting, they had sarrusaphone parts.

This January I purchased from eBay a 1940's René Dumont (Paris) Reverbohm metal Bb soprano clarinet for $65.58 total. It appears to be nickel plated brass and little used, no dents and complete with barrel and mouthpiece, original case. A search netted that R.D. clarinets were used by US military bands. Feedback I received is that this clarinet is possibly a stencil and possibly of intermediate quality. It needs cleaning and overhaul.

Here is an unusual Harry Pedler & Co.  It is an early one, and a Platt Promotional:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/206421105928

From Wikipedia:
"The Platt Music Corporation, founded by Benjamin Platt in 1905, was a national retailer.[1]"

That is a very nice clean example in original case no less, Albert system?

[Windsong]

Gren-O-Lite may have survived if Pedler had stayed in the market, as a weather resistant option for beginners since it was extremely light.  As a guess, I would say it is a noticeable 15% lighter than hard rubber or wood, which are essentially the same in terms of weight. 

It feels odd to the touch, and is extremely brittle, and generally inflexible to impact.  I bought a broken one so I could experiment with it.

Bakelite was used pretty frequently in the 1920s, and less so after that but into the 1930s as well.  Several manufacturers (Including Harry Pedler, Pruefer and Penzel Müller) used Bakelite for their bells, seemingly interchangeably with Hard Rubber.

[350 Rocket]

I don't know if anyone used Bakelite per se. (I rather hope not, since true Bakelite contains a filler which was sometimes asbestos.)

I've read of "ebonol" which was paper-filled and used for fingerboards/fretboards and, supposedly, woodwinds, but no information on when it came about.

The earliest plastic clarinet I'm aware of is the Pan-American Zyloid from the latter half of the 1920s. It doesn't seem quite like Bakelite to me, but the wire-brushed finish might be impacting that.

The plastic clarinets of the '50s are clearly a different material than modern ones. I have a Grenolite with the lower tenon broken off as well as a '50s Bundy stencil with the center socket broken off, and the brittleness of the material is clear. The way the plastic sometimes flakes away around serial number stamps is a sign as well.

There were at least a couple different plastics then. The earliest plastic Leblanc (the Normandy Reso-Tone) had a noticeably heavy plastic with a surface that isn't entirely smooth. Conn, ironically one of the last to fully change from hard rubber to plastic, seems to have used a similar material for the barrels and bells of their hard rubber student models.

[Windsong]

Rocket,
With all the great success of the naturally superior hard rubber at the time, it is not surprising that few other "concocted" materials were used.  That said, Bakelite-like bells accompany several of my early horns.

I am wondering if this is Zyloid?
It looks a bit different than what I am accustomed to, but also appears to be phenolic of some sort.
(https://shopgoodwill.com/item/271591422)

Like you, I have long suspected embedded asbestos.  It does not particularly concern me in this hardened state. I have couple of these bells that are disposable to me for the purpose of providing replacement stock, research and enlightenment, etc.  It is rather brittle, and chips crudely around brands.  It is birefringent, and phenolic.  It would be nice to know for sure.  Perhaps I should send one to be tested.

[Windsong]

I frequently forget about this one, among all the others in the stable.  This is a fantastic player with really easy ergos.  It's got very impressive projection from a typical, medium bore clarinet. 
(.586/.582 on the top joint.)

A 7-Ring, art. C#/G#, Pedler Appliance, with the joint-locking mechanism is a rarity among the Pedlers.