Gotta see these!

I have read Clark Fobes work on tuning the clarinet.  Other than making new barrels for 3 of my clarinets, this is my first attempt at further improving intonation of a tone hole.  So far, so good!

I've been interested in Penzel-Mueller for a while (I got a P-M clarinet years ago, before you could research these things on the internet, but never took learning to play seriously until recently).  I have read through this thread a few times as a guest. It seems generally assumed that Penzel-Mueller stopped in the late 1950s or 1960. I found these interesting P-M price lists on Reverb (I don't collect memorabilia and it's not my item): https://reverb.com/item/35945607-penzel-mueller-1968-and-1970-price-list

The price lists are labeled "68" and "70" and the seller calls them from 1968 and 1970. That might be a leap, but the address on the first page uses a 5-digit zip code. ZIP codes were introduced in 1963 and not everyone used them right away, so it roughly supports the seller's dating, or at least says that Penzel-Mueller still existed in the mid 1960s. They advertised a line of several clarinet models and were importing/representing Borgani saxophones and a variety of other instruments.  An image of the 1970 pricelist is attached.

The lists are also marked "E. Chiassarini Division" - not sure if P-M was a division of Chiassarini or the other way around. I can't find much about Chiassarini other than that an Evaldo Chiassarini imported reeds in the 1920s.

I have a later PM Jean Aubert model that is hard rubber and was apparently made in Paris for PM.  Phil Pedler reviewed it and initially thought it wasn't a PM, but then found a clear more modern PM logo on it. 

Bueno Suerte, Dave!  Try to stay dry!!!


I bet a ship would be a neat place to practice!

Well played Larry!


It may help for you to keep your fingers closer to the keys.  Not a problem with this piece, but when fingering faster it pays dividends.

I've solved the intonation problem by making a new barrel.  It's about 1.5 mm shorter than the original.

Now all of the tones play reasonably in tune, though the low E is still Al little flat.  Another smidgen shorte might help, but that's more trouble than it's worth.

 

I've started working on the tuning of this PM Artist. With the barrel that came with it, it played very sharp and alternating between G4 and G5 would not play either in tune.  So, used my adjustable barrel and got those tones to play ok about 3 - 4 mm longer than the original barrel.  Went out to my shop to make a new barrel, only to discover that the original barrel from my 1888 Buffet is the right length.  Bore a mm or so small, but test played the PM Artist with it, and obtained much better tuning.  Then I bored that barrel out to 15.2mm to match the mouthpiece and upper joint. Voilà, this horn now plays about as good as it gets.  Only remaining issue is that E3 plays flat.  I suspect that's because the Bell that came with this horn is a mis-match.  It's a Chedeville low-pitch.  The Artist is also marked LP.


Looking at the Bell/lower joint junction from inside, they two bores seem to match although one of them is apparently slightly out of round.


Any suggestions about what to do?


TIA