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Clarinet, B-flat

Clarinet, B-flat

Maker: Asa Hopkins
Date: 1829-1837 ca.
Place Made:Litchfield, Connecticut, United States, North America
Serial No: none
SignedBarrel and bell: A HOPKINS / LITCHFIELD / CONN
Upper joints and both lower joints: A HOPKINS / LITCHFIELD
Markingsnone
Description5 sections: barrel, top joint, middle joint, bottom joint, bell. Simple system; 5 keys with flat, square key flaps; boxwood body; ivory or bone ferrules; brass keys. Asa Hopkins' first business was as a clock maker made with wood works. He launched his musical instrument business in 1829 using water power.
DimensionsMeasurements exclude tenons
Overall length (from tip of barrel to bottom of bell): 602 mm
Barrel: 65.6 mm
Upper joint: 181 mm
Middle joint: 102 mm
Bottom joint: 128 mm
Bell:115 mm
Maximum diameter of bell: 84.3 mm
Bore at bottom of top joint: 14.4 mm
Bore at bottom of middle joint: 14.4 mm
Bore at bottom of bottom joint: 19.5 mm
Mouthpiece: 66 mm


ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Credit Line: Arne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Not on view
Published ReferencesJerry E. Kramer, Clarinets Made between 1800 and 1880 from the Collections of the Shrine to Music Museum, MM Thesis, University of South Dakota, 1983. p. 65; Plate VIII p. 71; Appendix p. 177.

Phillip T. Young, 4900 Woodwind Instruments (London: Tony Bingham, 1993), p. 125 (18).

Deborah Check Reeves, "Historically Speaking," The Clarinet 35, No. 2 (March 2008), p. 24.

Deborah Reeves, "Historically Speaking," The Clarinet. Vol. 50, No. 3, June 2023, pp. 28-31.
Object number: 02721