Henri Frenier HP C Albert System Clarinet

[DaveLeBlanc]

I just got myself a Henri Frenier C albert system clarinet for 50 dollars.

My question is: was it worth the money?

Also, can this be played with a modern day?  Or does the fact that it is HP make it not so.  Will I be able to play music written in C with a HP C clarinet?

[philpedler]

Sounds like a really fun instrument to own and display. You probably won\'t be able to play it, since it is HP. That is A=546 verses 440. Pulling it out far enough to make some notes in tune will make others way out of tune. At least that is true for Bb clarinets, and I assume the C would have the same characteristic.

[DaveLeBlanc]

Aw shucks!  I was hoping I\'d be able to take this one to play at church.  Woe is me.  But, like you said, it would be cool to display and would be a great addition to my collection!

[DaveLeBlanc]

[attachment=19]Here are some pictures of the clarinet.

The clarinet has a SUPER short barrel (almost half the size of a Bb barrel), but somehow, a Bb mouthpiece fits.

The clarinet is marked \"Henri Frenier Paris France\" once on each section (barrel, upper section, lower section, bell).  It is also marked \"HP C\" once on each section.  There is no serial number.  It is made of some sort of dark-reddish wood, though the bell looks almost ebony.  
The thumb hole is lined with metal. (does this signify higher quality?)
It does NOT have rollers, which I THINK would date this one to maybe 1920s??  
The eBay listing said it was recently serviced, and that seems to be the case.  It is very clean, with few scratches.  It has some new corks here and there, new pads, new springs, and a repaired register key post.  However, there is one problem pad that makes this difficult to play.

The clarinet seems to be pitched almost a half-step high (when I play a G, the tuner registers G#).  Strangely, some notes just don\'t sound right.  Can this be because of the Bb mouthpiece?

I think this is my second rarest clarinet (first should be the metal albert plateau system Bb)

Also, was 50 dollars a good investment on this thing?  I feel it is...