CLARINETS DIRECT

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SELMER, PARIS, CENTERED TONE FULL BOEHM Bb CLARINET, £795

This is a Selmer Paris, Centered Tone, Full boehm Bb clarinet, which is a commission sale for Clarinets Direct. The Centered Tone was the penultimate large bore Jazz Selmer clarinet, only the Series 9 was larger. Thereafter Selmer switched to making smaller bore clarinets more in the manner of Buffet. The current owner, a noted American collector, has difficult personal circumstances due to his wife's ongoing illness. Consequently some extremely rare and valuable clarinets are offered to the market.
This Bb clarinet features all the usual Full Boehm refinements: Fork Eb/Bb, alternative LH Ab/Eb, articulated C#/G#, and low Eb The serial nos. are R9031, which dates to 1959. The instrument has Nickel silver plating in good condition; there is very slight wear to the LH ring keys 1 and 2, also slight wear to the RH rings, and RH pinky keys: Overall the plating is about 95%. The wood throughout is in very good condition with no cracks or repairs, only slight surface scuffs and scratches [the worst of these is photographed, see photo 9]. As mentioned earlier this instrument is the property of a fastidious collector, the condition is very good. The fish skin pads, whilst not new, are all in good condition & sealing well, the register key pad is in cork. As is the case with all Selmer Centered Tones the upper joint bore is a reverse taper, it measures, 15.1mm at the top of the upper joint narrowing to 14.7mm at the bottom. The original case is in good used condition.