This is marked "R Wurlitzer and Bro Cincinnati"
The keys are the "salt spoon" variety, rounded cups! This is the 1st instrumet like this I've worked on. I really liked floating pads in these cups.
The instrument is pitched in C and is "high pitch", it seems to tune to A-457 or so which was the standard for much of the world at one point.
This clarinet also has some interesting keywork on the lower joint, notice the pinky keys for the right hand! One of them even has a little pivot rod that goes in to the clarinet body!
There were no real issues overhauling this clarinet. The body sections had no cracks and the keywork was tight, nothing was bent out of shape, the key cups were level, the leather pads seated easily.
The real hard part here is finding the right barrel/mouthpiece combination. I couldn't find the original barrel so I'm just going through the box of barrels I have trying all the C barrels I have. Its interesting going because I'll often find a barrel/mouthpiece that sounds GREAT, but when checked with a tuner the intonation is just awful.
My next lead on this front is an old wooden mouthpiece that I've found which seems to be made for C clarinet, its smaller than a Bb mpc and bigger than an Eb, and the tenon is sized so it fits in the Wurlitzer. I played it and the intonation was very very good, however, the facing was so short that I could barely play and also suspect an out of whack curve, so I sent it to my friend Peter Deley in Portland who will be fixing it for me. More on that when I get it back!
I'm keeping this clarinet. It is a joy to play and one of the nicest sounding instruments I've ever laid hands on! If you have a Wurlitzer from this era you would like to sell me , let me know!
Pics are from before and after.
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