Martel a Paris, B Flat Clarinet
This is the quintessential French clarinet; possibly the finest ever French makers were Martel Freres. Each instrument was completely hand made and undercut, this last process alone took 2-3 days, until a perfectly even scale was achieved. Hawkes and Co. came to the surviving Martel brother after WW1 to help them design their own legendary Hawkes' Martels, as played by Reginald Kell, Charles Draper etc These evolved into the Boosey and Hawkes pre-war 1010 from which the genealogy of fine English wide bore instruments can be traced to the present day.
This example is stamped " Martel Freres a Paris" and is a commission sale for Clarinets Direct. The wood is in superb condition for a clarinet that is approximately 100 years old, with all pieces matching and original. There are no cracks or repairs. All Maillechort key work and springs are in excellent order. The clarinet has recently had a partial overhaul, some pads are brand new whilst the majority of the fish skin pads are used, all are sealing well. The supplied Paradis m'piece is elderly, but any modern standard French bore m'piece tunes the clarinet well at A=440. The case is old & possibly original, there re some tears to the lining but it is fully functional.