Recorder update
Feb. 2nd, 2012 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
banjoplayinnerdWell, I'm home from a very nice night out with my family, I pulled out the tenor recorder, and guess what? It was made with German fingering. The Fount of All Knowledge says you can tell because the hole that's covered by the right index finger is larger than the hole covered by the right middle finger, and that's how this one is built.
So, I have a recorder that someone took the trouble to pitch in a baroque A=415 tuning, but with a non-baroque fingering that screws up a bunch of the notes. Forget that. I don't even know who made it. The closest thing I've found to a maker's mark so far is a stamp on the fipple that says "Made in Germany." Thanks for the specificity.
I'm highly tempted to sell the darn thing on eBay, but based on a conversation I had with the Mollenhauer people last year it probably wouldn't be worth a whole lot. The fact that it's made out of wood probably wouldn't make up for its other shortcomings. It might have one redeeming characteristic, though. Somewhere in the garage is a tenor recorder I got for Christmas when I was about 10. It's a nice recorder and the last time I played it it played decently, but the foot joint has a crack and is in need of repair. I should hold on to this recorder until I find out whether I can replace the foot joint on the other recorder with the foot joint from this one. If I can, it's worth the sacrifice, although it'll look funny. The finishes are different and the head joint on the other recorder has a brass band at its base that the foot joint wouldn't have. That would make the hybrid recorder unique. Funny-looking, but unique.
So, I have a recorder that someone took the trouble to pitch in a baroque A=415 tuning, but with a non-baroque fingering that screws up a bunch of the notes. Forget that. I don't even know who made it. The closest thing I've found to a maker's mark so far is a stamp on the fipple that says "Made in Germany." Thanks for the specificity.
I'm highly tempted to sell the darn thing on eBay, but based on a conversation I had with the Mollenhauer people last year it probably wouldn't be worth a whole lot. The fact that it's made out of wood probably wouldn't make up for its other shortcomings. It might have one redeeming characteristic, though. Somewhere in the garage is a tenor recorder I got for Christmas when I was about 10. It's a nice recorder and the last time I played it it played decently, but the foot joint has a crack and is in need of repair. I should hold on to this recorder until I find out whether I can replace the foot joint on the other recorder with the foot joint from this one. If I can, it's worth the sacrifice, although it'll look funny. The finishes are different and the head joint on the other recorder has a brass band at its base that the foot joint wouldn't have. That would make the hybrid recorder unique. Funny-looking, but unique.
