Forum member KMR has THREE of these for sale -- go to the equipment wanted/for sale forum (in the marketplace section) and scroll down. He posted the notice on May 27.

 

I played a killer Grafton at the Saxofoonwinkel in Deventer, Netherlands. Go to www.saxshop.nl. Great people and great service.

 

I played that one too and i was really impressed, what a great horn!

 

They are murder to service.

There are regulating screws to adjust linkages.
You can't turn them unless the keys are removed! So it is very time consuming guess work. Crazy!

When you take keys off, tiny coil springs (instead of needle springs) launch themselves around the room.

Key cups often need correction to alignment with the tone holes. Put sufficient force on to do this, and the plastic mounting of the posts can collapse.

The plastic of the body becomes very brittle with age, and the instruments all have plenty of that.

I've forgotten all the other problems.

I would expect adjustment of one of these to cost several times that for a conventional sax. It is high risk for a technician to take one on.

But yes, I too like the sound of one that is working properly.

Interesting, considering the arguments presented in this forum promoting the importance of silver plating or gold plating, or solid silver neck, etc. for a good sound.

 

Now there's one on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16232&item=3727778515&rd=1

I also think they sound great. But I wouldn't be happy knowing I had an instrument that was unrepairable (if it cracked, or lost a post, for example). I think Ornette Coleman is supposed to have gone through several of them before they became effectively unobtainable. I guess Sommaruga's original idea was that they would be so cheap to produce that you could regard them as disposable ... when one gets crocked, you just get another. But it didn't work out.

Though servicing them sounds like a riot. If you ever get another one in the workshop, Gordon, you should sell tickets.

I once knew a man called Graham Lyons, who invented a plastic C clarinet (meant to be a cheap starter instrument for children). It had "snap-on" plastic keys, I recall. He would start demonstrations by THROWING ONE ON THE FLOOR (where it bounced, and keys flew off). Within thirty seconds or so he'd have snapped the keys back into place and be playing it.

Don't try this with your Grafton.

 

Though servicing them sounds like a riot.

Mine is currently at Stephen Howard's workshop. It is not mint, but very6 very close. His theory (which I agree with) is that the original pads give it a rather spongy feel. But you can't just put harder pads on, it is important to find something not so soft, but not too hard to get the ideal feel out of this horn. So that is what I am going for. He may now be regretting taking this on, he says it's his third (and final) Grafton.

 

Lyons Clarinet:
http://www.firstclarinet.com/
I've never seen one, but I wonder why they did not catch on.

 

Interesting web site.

To answer Gordon's question about why they haven't caught on, I would say that the primary reason, Lyon's claims notwithstanding, is that the thing is in C. The clarinet literature is in Bb. Keep in mind that these are primarily targeted at young students: What is a student in a school band with a Lyon C supposed to do, play flute parts? Or is the band director supposed to transpose the clarinet parts for students with this clarinet? A private teacher may be willing to do this, but I doubt that many band directors would have the time or inclination.

Lyon's clarinet probably hasn't caught on for the same reason nobody makes C Melody saxes any more. It might be fun to play around with the thing at home, especially if you have a lot of piano music, but if you are going to play in an ensemble it could be a real headache, either for the player or the director.

 

Why didn't the Lyons clarinet catch on?

I know the r & d took much longer and was more expensive than Graham anticipated. I think he had to sell out to another company in the end.

Pknight's reason is correct -- Lyons clarinet players would have to buy a Bflat instrument eventually to join the existing musical community.... So most parents would have thought, Well, let's go straight to the "real thing", let the kid have a sore thumb for a year or so....

But another basic reason was that they weren't quite cheap enough. To carve out a sizeable new market in the face of the expected scepticism, they would have had to undercut the price of a starter Bflat clarinet by A LOT. In fact they were not that much cheaper than the standard beginner's Yamaha (maybe two-thirds of the price? -- I don't remember).

But a very cool concept and (I'm told) a totally feasible pro instrument.

 

Why didn't the Lyons clarinet catch on?

I've just found this old thread by chance while researching the Grafton ........

The Lyons Clarinet is called " Clarineo" and it has been injected new life lately

http://www.clarineo.co.uk/listen.asp

Graham has been actively promoting his clarinet at several international fairs lately with a great success in the educational music instruments market

 

My store has a grafton alto in great condition. It's getting repadded right now! email me darklocke.1@gmail.com if you want pics/info

 

it would be nice and useful to record its repad for posterity............video the process, you are not likely to be doing this often and it would be useful for reference

 

I don't think we will be doing that. My repairman is most likely going to buy it unless we can find a buyer for what we are asking ($5000). But we won't make a video. My repairman Alvin has actually repadded a grafton once before in the 1980s. He was "tickled pink" to see another in such good shape.

 

Darklocke,

Just a heads up,

We have a policy of no advertisements outside of the Marketplace area, and a set of posting rules for those ads to remain in compliance. I allowed your link to remain here due to the scarcity of this horn and academic interest.

However if you are going to turn this into a full blown ad, it will need to go in the Marketplace "Horns For Sale" section.

Cheers..

 

My apologies. I wouldn't have posted anything if this would've been any other horn, however I doubt I will ever get a chance to see/hold one of these horns again. So far I've been showing this horn to everybody I can, and nobody I show it to has ever heard of or seen these horns. It's extremely rare!

I promise not to abusive your forums rules.

~Daniel J Miller

 

In defense of Darklocke but not for the sake of starting an argument. The OP did ask where he could get one. That said, I don't think it was too far out of line to suggest that he may have one for sale.

Just saying the whole thing started a little sketchy.

 

In defense of Darklocke but not for the sake of starting an argument. The OP did ask where he could get one. That said, I don't think it was too far out of line to suggest that he may have one for sale.

Just saying the whole thing started a little sketchy.

Just to clarify,

I am willing to let slide a link to the Ebay for sale ad as explained in my post, and reiterated by Darklocke, i.e. the rarity of the subject. However when the pricing of the item, the conditions under which the horn would be sold, etc. starts to enter the picture, this is beginning to turn into a full fledged advertisement.

As the rules clearly state, ads to not belong out of the Marketplace area, or piggybacked onto other threads. I think that Darklocke understands this now, which was the intent of the policy heads up.

If a general for sale ad isn't desired, a PM or email to the potential customer would be the way to go with this one.

I'm in no way singling out our new member (I'm confident he understands the purpose), never the less the staff has to remain on top of these policies, or abuse of the rules gets very out of hand across the board....BELIEVE me.

Cheers.

 

Sorry. I didn't think you were being inappropriate by any means. And thought you were being totally fair; I just started to think this thred may have been better off in a WTB section.

 

I understand fully my friend. I simply felt the need to clarify, lest anyone be left scratching their head about it.

Cheers.