Silva-Bet is a trade name used by the Cundy-Bettoney company, a woodwind maker and distributor in Boston, Massachusetts. Although some other products were marketed under the name Silva-Bet, including flutes and clarinet reeds, it was primarily attached to the company's flagship metal clarinet.
The Silva-Bet, which debuted in 1925, is generally acknowledged to have been the first successful metal clarinet. [1] [2] Shortly after the appearance of the Silva-Bet, other woodwind makers entered the metal clarinet market, including Selmer Paris in 1927 [3] with their Master Model as well as American companies Buescher with their True Tone model and H. N. White with the Silver King. Penzel-Mueller and C.G. Conn, which had each tried the metal clarinet earlier with commercially unsuccessful double-walled models, returned with single-walled models—P-M with the Artist and Conn with the 514 and later the 624. Metal soprano clarinets were common during the 1930s and 1940s, but never gained enough acceptance among professionals for top-of-the-line models like the Silva-Bet to remain viable.
The Silva-Bet was still being made, or at least distributed, in 1940, but had been discontinued by 1951. (Precise production records are difficult, if not impossible, to find.) H.N. White continued producing high-quality metal soprano clarinets into the 1960s, and Leblanc continues even today to make their professional contrabass and contra-alto clarinets of metal, but most professional metal soprano clarinet models had been discontinued by 1945 (In Italy, ORSI continues till today to make metal soprano clarinet). The retooling of factories for wartime production probably contributed to their demise.
The Silva-Bet, body and keys, is made of an alloy variously known as maillechort, German silver or nickel silver, and is plated with silver. The toneholes, except on the earliest examples, have widened tops to improve the sealing and durability of the pads. First made with a one-piece body with detachable barrel, the Silva-Bet clarinet was later available with a two-piece body plus detachable barrel. The barrel of the Silva-Bet features a telescoping mechanism for tuning the instrument. There are at least two varieties of tuning barrel, one with a thick head and two slim rotating rings at the top, the other with a thin head with a single rotating sleeve in the middle. [4]
There are also at least two varieties of thumb rest, one with the platform and rest a single curved plate attached to the body by a rail, the other with the platform a box attached to the body all around and the rest soldered to that box. Earlier examples of the Silva-Bet have serial numbers beginning with S, usually followed by four digits. Later models have serial numbers beginning with V. The serial number is marked near the top of the body just below the barrel tenon, and rarely at the bottom of the body just above the bell seam. The last two digits of the serial number are stamped into the bottom of the keys.
The soprano Silva-Bet was made in the keys of E flat, B flat and A, with the B flat being by far the most common. Alto and bass Silva-Bets were also made. Standard boehm keywork (17 keys, 6 rings) was usual, but (at least on the A and B flat sopranos) some extended boehm configurations (7th ring, articulated G sharp with extra trill key, low E flat, left-hand E flat lever) were available, as was standard albert keywork (13 keys, 4 rollers, 4 rings).
After a kind of backlash against them in the mid-to-late twentieth century, metal clarinets have returned to favor in some quarters. The tone quality of a fine metal clarinet like a Silva-Bet is difficult or impossible to distinguish from that of a fine wood clarinet. [5] The best metal clarinet models are both usable and collectible today; the finest or most unusual examples can be highly collectible.
Cundy-Bettoney was probably the most prolific maker of metal clarinets in the world. The Silva-Bet was their top model. The Boston Wonder and the Columbia Model were just below their top quality, as was the H Bettoney model, which was widely supplied to military bands in the U.S. The Cadet model was a better-grade student instrument while the Three-Star was the least expensive. [6]
They also produced many, many stencils marketed under other distributor's names, including Martin Handcraft metal clarinets. At the time Bettoney was making Martin's metal clarinets, Martin was making the saxophones sold under the H Bettoney name. Most high-quality stencils are essentially identical to the Boston Wonder, while most of the cheaper stencils are essentially identical to the Three-Star.
The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell.
The oboe is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites.
The saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to produce a sound wave inside the instrument's body. The pitch is controlled by opening and closing holes in the body to change the effective length of the tube. The holes are closed by leather pads attached to keys operated by the player. Saxophones are made in various sizes and are almost always treated as transposing instruments. Saxophone players are called saxophonists.
The Boehm system is a system of keywork for the flute, created by inventor and flautist Theobald Boehm between 1831 and 1847.
The sarrusophones are a family of metal double reed conical bore woodwind instruments patented and first manufactured by French instrument maker Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. Gautrot named the sarrusophone after French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876), whom he credited with the concept of the instrument, though it is not clear whether Sarrus benefited financially. The instruments were intended for military bands, to serve as replacements for oboes and bassoons which at the time lacked the carrying power required for outdoor marching music. Although originally designed as double-reed instruments, single-reed mouthpieces were later developed for use with the larger bass and contrabass sarrusophones.
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B♭ clarinet, it is usually pitched in B♭, but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B♭ clarinet. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, but are very rare. Bass clarinets regularly perform in orchestras, wind ensembles and concert bands, and occasionally in marching bands, and play an occasional solo role in contemporary music and jazz in particular.
The basset clarinet is member of the clarinet family similar to the usual soprano clarinet but longer and with additional keys to enable playing several additional lower notes. Typically a basset clarinet has keywork going to a low (written) C or B, as opposed to the standard clarinet's E or E♭. The basset clarinet is most commonly a transposing instrument in A, although basset clarinets in C and B♭ and very seldom in G also exist. The similarly named basset horn is also a clarinet with extended lower range, but is in a lower pitch ; the basset horn predates, and undoubtedly inspired, the basset clarinet.
The contrabass clarinet (also pedal clarinet, after the pedals of pipe organs) and contra-alto clarinet are the two largest members of the clarinet family that are in common usage. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitched in B♭, sounding two octaves lower than the common B♭ soprano clarinet and one octave below the bass clarinet. Some contrabass clarinet models have extra keys to extend the range down to low written E♭3, D3 or C3. This gives a tessitura written range, notated in treble clef, of C3 – F6, which sounds B♭0 – E♭4. Some early instruments were pitched in C; Arnold Schoenberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke specifies a contrabass clarinet in A, but there is no evidence such an instrument has ever existed.
The contra-alto clarinet, E♭ contrabass clarinet, is a large clarinet pitched a perfect fifth below the B♭ bass clarinet. It is a transposing instrument in E♭ sounding an octave and a major sixth below its written pitch, between the bass clarinet and the B♭ contrabass clarinet.
C. G. Conn Ltd., sometimes called Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, is a former American manufacturer of musical instruments incorporated in 1915. It bought the production facilities owned by Charles Gerard Conn, a major figure in early manufacture of brasswinds and saxophones in the USA. Its early business was based primarily on brass instruments, which were manufactured in Elkhart, Indiana. During the 1950s the bulk of its sales revenue shifted to electric organs. In 1969 the company was sold in bankruptcy to the Crowell-Collier-MacMillan publishing company. Conn was divested of its Elkhart production facilities in 1970, leaving remaining production in satellite facilities and contractor sources.
The Buescher Band Instrument Company was a manufacturer of musical instruments in Elkhart, Indiana, from 1894 to 1963. The company was acquired by the H&A Selmer Company in 1963. Selmer retired the Buescher brand in 1983.
Eugène Albert was a Belgian woodwind instrument maker, primarily known for his clarinets, based in Brussels. His work started around 1839, and his sons, Jean-Baptiste (1845–99), Jacques (1849–1918), and E.J. Albert, continued making clarinets until the end of the World War I. The model of clarinet he made is still widely known, especially in the U.S., as the "Albert system", although this model is basically the same as Iwan Müller's 13-key instrument, with the addition of some improvements inspired in his tutor, Adolphe Sax. Sax was the first to use ring keys on the clarinet. In 1840 he made an improvement in Iwan Müller's 13-key clarinet, adding two rings, or brille (glasses), to the lower joint. This resulted in the 13 keys / 2 rings clarinet. In the same year, Albert, based on Müller modifications and Adolphe Sax's rings created a new keywork system, adding more two rings to the upper joint, resulting in a 13 keys / 4 rings clarinet. His instruments are reported have had "better tone and intonation than Boehm models of the time".
The Boehm system for the clarinet is a system of clarinet keywork, developed between 1839 and 1843 by Hyacinthe Klosé and Auguste Buffet jeune. The name is somewhat deceptive; the system was inspired by Theobald Boehm's system for the flute, but necessarily differs from it, since the clarinet overblows at the twelfth rather than the flute's octave. Boehm himself was not involved in its development.
A saxonette is a soprano clarinet in C, A, or B♭ that has both a curved barrel and an upturned bell, both usually made of metal. It has the approximate overall shape of a saxophone, but unlike that instrument it has a cylindrical bore and overblows by a twelfth. The instrument is also known as the 'Claribel' and 'Clariphon'. First Produced by Buescher Band Instrument Company between 1918 and 1921 under the name Clariphone.
Yanagisawa Wind Instruments Co., Ltd. is a Japanese woodwind instrument manufacturing company known for its range of professional grade saxophones. Along with Yamaha, they are one of the leading manufacturers of saxophones in their country of origin. The company currently manufactures sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones.
The Selmer Mark VI is a saxophone produced from 1954 to 1981. Production shifted to the Mark VII for the tenor and alto in the mid-1970s, and to the Super Action 80 for the soprano and baritone saxophones in 1981. The sopranino saw limited production until about 1985.
Vito is a brand name of Leblanc, started in 1951.
The Reform Boehm system is a fingering system for the clarinet based on the Boehm system. It was developed to produce clarinets with the Boehm keywork but with a sound similar to a German clarinet.
Backun Musical Services Ltd. (BMS) is a Canadian manufacturer of clarinets in B♭ and A and accessories, based in Burnaby, British Columbia.
A thumb rest is a device that helps the player of certain woodwind instruments to keep them in the correct position and to facilitate his playing. The instruments are mainly clarinets, oboes, saxophones and flutes.
