My family heirlooms.

[AdamL]

Apparently there was alot of musicians in my family untill my parents' generation. These first two pictures are a violin and a clarinet that my great-grandfather brought with him from Germany in 1881. The story goes that he played for tips on the streets of Germany to help pay for his trip to America. He left the day before his 18th birthday to avoid joining the Kaiser's army. He had family that had already settled in Booneville, Missouri. But he got stuck somewhere in Indiana with no money. So he got work on a farm and again played for tips when he wasn't working. Eventually he got here to Missouri.

[AdamL]

That was on my dad's side of the family. Now on my mother's side, my grandfather played alot of instruments, and was quite a craftsmen as well. Here is a dulcimer that he made himself:



Thanks for looking.

[KurtS]

All those are very nice...what great memories to have! 
Do you play any of these instruments?

[Nighthawk]

I don't know much about musical instruments, but those are fabulous!

[AdamL]

All those are very nice...what great memories to have! 
Do you play any of these instruments?

I'm afraid not. The musical talent seemed to die with my grandparents. My brothers and I took some lessons around our early teens (I played a little saxophone) but none of us stuck with it.

[S.George]

 
Happy to see the Musical Instruments and know about your Grand Parents.
Something different from the Rolling Discs.   Please check for German Thalers.
George

[Topher]

Can't speak much for the violin, but the clarinet is an Albert system clarinet made of boxwood.  We don't really see the Albert system of keys outside of the Germanic countries, since Theobald Boehm "improved" upon it with the system that is found predominantly in Western Europe, Britain and North America.  Boxwood fell out of favour for woodwind instruments because it cracked far too easily, and doesn't hold up like grenadilla.  Can you get clearer pics of the clarinet? the mouthpiece in particular, as the mouthpiece and reed make the biggest difference in the sound of a clarinet.

[AdamL]

Thanks for the info Topher. I'll try to snap a picture of the mouthpiece soon.

[AdamL]

Hey Topher, does this picture help? I know its a little blurry.

[Topher]

Yep.  It's the wrong kind of ligature, that's for sure.  Old German clarinets would normally use a harder, stiffer reed, which would be tied on with string.  That metal ligature is standard for Boehm system clarinets.  The German mouthpiece will also have a different "lay".  The lay is the size, shape and curvature of the opening.  I'd guess it's a matching mouthpiece, as they aren't made of boxwood anymore, either, and the lay looks to be pretty small, which would befit a German reed.  Believe it or not, today's best mouthpieces are made of hard rubber!

On another note, the barrel (the piece right below the mouthpiece) looks to have a crack running it's entire length, and even down the body of the clarinet.  I can't tell if it's been repaired, and if it has, I can't tell if they did it correctly without having it in my hands.  (Can you tell I used to repair clarinets?  I've got a few in my collection of instruments so far as well.)

While these cracks anything to be alarmed about, I would suggest (for posterity's sake), that you keep the clarinet away from the heaters and open windows.  Ideally, it would be somewhere with a 40-60% humidity level and at room temperature.  Don't worry about fixing them unless you plan to play the clarinet, or if you want it to look original.  Doing any work at this point, could end up damaging it more, and regardless of it's monetary value, I'd hate to see anything of it's age be damaged anyway.  I doubt that it has a metal lining in the barrel, but some old wooden clarinets did, as did many wooden flutes, and unfortunately, wood and metal expanded at different rates, so the barrels were almost guaranteed to crack.

Quite a nice piece of history you've got there.  Can you tell this is my other passion?  LOL

[AdamL]

Yes, I can tell, heheh. I don't think the crack actually goes all the way through the wood. This instrument seems to be pretty solid. I think that with a new reed it might actually be playable. I'm also fairly certain that there is no metal lining. I've been handling these instruments with the same cotton gloves that I use on some of my nicer coins. And I've been wondering how I could keep these items as dry as possible. The summers here in Missouri are pretty damn humid. Regardless, these are family heirlooms that are at least 127 years old, so if you have any other advice on preserving these instruments, that would be helpfull.
Thanks.

[Topher]

That's good if the crack doesn't go all the way through to the bore.  Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.  Either way, it's still a weak spot that could turn into a problem, albeit a fixable problem.  It does sort of look like someone tried to patch up the crack.  It's not the prettiest job, but it will probably prevent the crack from spreading.  Oboes are worse, as their top joint has very narrow walls.  Many good oboes have upwards of 15-20 pins in them to stop the cracks from spreading.  It's just the nature of the beast.

Handling with cotton gloves is a good idea, as the oils from your skin will get into the wood.  It'll stain it more than anything else, but boxwood was usually acid stained to begin with, which darkens the colour a bit and keeps it consistent.  I wouldn't keep the instrument dry at all.  That's what makes it crack in the first place.  Up here in Toronto, our summers are good, but it's from October to April when the humidity disappears and wooden instruments crack something awful.

If you really want to take care of them properly (as the same will apply to the violin), then you want them at a relatively constant temperature and humidity.  You can get a simple hygrometer to measure humidity level, and as long as you keep the instrument away from windows and heaters, the temperature shouldn't be as much of an issue.  do you keep them in cases? or are they on display?  If you kept them in a nice, simple glass display case, then that would help buffer temperature and humidity to a decent degree, and I would suggest putting a small plastic container of water in the bottom.  The woods will suck up whatever moisture they need.  I would still recommend keeping an eye on the humidity level and get a larger container for the water if the humidity is too low.  40-60% is an ideal range, much less and it's prone to cracking, and much more and it'll be prone to cracking when the humidity drops back within that range.

Don't hesitate to ask if you need more advice.  I almost went to grad school to become a curator of musical instruments, just in case you were wondering.  LOL

[AdamL]

Thanks for the information. They are not on display or in cases. But they are far away from windows. I think the temperature and humidity level in the house stays pretty constant, although I have no idea what the percentage of the humidity actually is. I've been meaning to find some kind of glass display case though.

[KurtS]

It's really fascinating to read about collector's diverse areas of expertise. 
Sadly, I no longer have my clarinet--which was nowhere near as nice as Adam's.