However, the Leblanc family became unhappy with the amount of work involved in making adjustments to the instruments after months of travel at sea from France. Vito opened a small store front and began building his own student level instrument, leaving Leblanc to focus on the full range of professional instruments.
In , Vito hired his first educator to help develop a focus on programs and materials specific to the area of music education.
In , the brand Vito was created with a complete line of composite student clarinets. As Leblanc France was considered a National Treasure by the French government, it was difficult to process an entire purchase agreement with an American company. In , Leblanc was acquired by Conn-Selmer and a new era of manufacturing began. I don't know anything about the relationship of these instruments to the Normandy that's unquestionably the Leblanc Normandy made by at least the mids.
It could have been a situation similar to that with Selmer and Buescher, for instance, where Buescher started out as an independent company founded by Gus Buescher, who had worked for Conn, back in the days when "American" Selmers with a New York mark on them were actually made by Conn! It's possible I have no good evidence except for the fact that Normandies without Leblanc brands do exist that at some point early in the 20th century, either there was an independent "Normandy" company that Leblanc bought out, or Leblanc used that name for its student-grade clarinets considered not worthy of the Leblanc logo at the time -- although these may be good student or step-up models by today's standards.
As for the Noblet clarinets, my younger brother owned a wooden Leblanc Noblet Bb clarinet that my family bought used in about , from a woman in her mids, whose parents had bought it for her new about 10 years earlier. In other words, his Noblet must have dated from the early s. His Noblet had the Leblanc logo on it and came with a Leblanc case. Though sold as a student model, this Noblet was a considerably better clarinet than my wooden Conn Director.
The Noblet's intonation was far superior to the Conn's. When our parents tried to find information about the Noblet, a Leblanc sales person said that the wooden model was the high end of the Noblet line.
The company also sold a plastic Noblet that cost less, and had recently discontinued a metal Noblet. Sorry, but we don't have that clarinet in the family any more, so I can't help with dating the serial numbers, but if you go to the web site, www. I'll see if I can find it and put it here in a different message. My computer hasn't got enough memory for me to go to a web site and use a newsgroup at the same time! As Lelia has indicated, this instrument is a Leblanc Normandy clarinet with a Noblet mouthpiece.
So you are looking for a 46,xxx serial number Normandy. If you believe the case is original and can describe the style, material, color, and latch style of the case that can also help narrow the time frame. When Leblanc introduced the Vito, they upgraded the Normandy to wood and made it a step up horn. This appears to have been around the early s. One thing is certain, since it is definitely pre, you will not be able to get help from Leblanc. They, like many other makers, did not keep records of what serial numbers by year at that time.
I would speculate that your instrument is late s or early s since you said it was only lightly used but it is just speculation. This is based on the ones that I have seen on eBay. None of them had case styles that would indicated them to be older than the s. Still this is not solid data.
Purely coincidentally, this morning a fellow member of the local civic band with whom I was practicing duets on C melody and alto saxes, brought his clarinet to show me. His clarinet is virtually identical to the one I'm considering buying, but with a slightly newer serial number 52,xxx.
He purchased his used in a garage sale situation in , so both horns are clearly a fair bit older than that. My first thought when I saw that was that the upper joint was cracked, but I could not find any evidence of a crack anywhere, and -- as I indicated -- if it were a repair done afterwards, it was done with precisely the same materials. Seems like an incredible coincidence Now to start woodshedding with it Accurate as of July Since Leblanc apparently hasn't got that information, it would be useful if Mr.
Surber or someone else has tried to correlate known purchase dates with serial numbers to put together an approximate guide. If anyone has made progress on such a list, posting it here or on www. It also is a fantastic replacement for an older Leblanc Dynamic or L7 model. Silver plated keys, wonderfully modern smooth keywork. Leblanc Sonata. The Sonata is an entry-level professional instrument and considered to be the best instrument to be offered at its price level. The Sonata is remarkable for its roundness of tone, perfect scale, playing ease and agility.
Leblanc Classic Disc. These were paper lists faxed to me. The computers only had a few years in them by comparison. A really old Leblanc emblem from probably the s. This is identified by a letter above the serial number. You can see this in the Noblet and Normandy versions. Pre-Classic sn — notice that even the old Leblancs used an extended register tube pip first picture rather than flush like Buffet.
L7 — L70 — L27 — replaced the L7 in late s L — Leblanc Sonata The Sonata is an entry-level professional instrument and considered to be the best instrument to be offered at its price level. Key: Bb.
0コメント