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Other things vintage

carlsson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
6,274
Location
Västerås, Sweden
I knew about vintage wines, cars, clothing and musical instruments. Although the instruments are vintage and it makes sense to have a meeting of orchestras playing on such instruments, it had never struck me that I would find a Vintage Band Music Festival. Held in Minnesota last weekend of July this year, obviously. Even a band from Sweden participating.
 
I have a few older musical instruments, my favourite being my wooden Albert system Bb soprano clarinet.

What I'd really like to get is a replica/reproduction of a 17th century bass violone, kind of like my upright bass viol but with seven strings and tied gut frets up most of the first octave. Very cool.
 
Hummm, old radios, old audiphile equipment(I own a full stereo from 1970, not 8 track mess, but the good stuff, pioneer sx-1250, etc)
Old flashlights, have a lot of them. Old small enignes, I have 4 of them, my fav is a briggs and stratton 5S from 1948 I have.
I like old cars, I have "classic truck" but not vintage(will be in 2008), I have an 83' chev silverado.
I like vintage TV sets, blah blah blah, I like most everything vintage.
 
The chair I sit in all the time was made in 1974. Does that count? I have an 8-track player and some 8-tracks.....

-V
 
Terry; I was asking myself the same question - it looked like a festival exclusively for old bands who haven't updated their setting in the last 80 years.

Wooden clarinet.. hm. It reminds me, I should design the SFKS web page.
 
carlsson wrote:

> I knew about vintage wines, cars, clothing and
> musical instruments. Although the instruments are
> vintage and it makes sense to have a meeting of
> orchestras playing on such instruments, it had never
> struck me that I would find a Vintage Band Music
> Festival. Held in Minnesota last weekend of July this
> year, obviously. Even a band from Sweden
> participating.

I had a quick look at your site, guess they don't cover 60s
music? How do they judge music though, would it be through the
age of a song or how dated it is.

And what about instruments? IMO, it's the older instruments
which sound better than the newer stuff - IMO the best
instruments which don't deteriate the age of a song, are
instruments which have a natural flow to them - proper
instruments, not this electronic garbadge which is why I think
70s disco shows it & even a couple of 80s pop songs also
suggest their 80s songs - my view is these songs sound more
dated than something done in the 60s!

An interesting comparision I put foward is the classic Beach
Boys album - Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson did a live performance
of the whole album, however the live album uses a lot of
electronics to make it happen - unfortunately to perhaps do
this album live using everything that the original used would
involve an even bigger stage to fit everyone with their
instrument on. This album was the trend & threw in just about
everything but the kitchen sink to make it happen. I have to
appreciate the work Brian did though - cause he produced the
whole album & knew it backwards! Just a pity electronics was
there on the day. But of course even the original album had
some electronic instruments - like the Theremin (which they
followed it through onto their 'Good Vibrations').

What to do lot think? ;-)

CP/M User.
 
I appreciate a lot of older technology.

- Early 1900s Underwood typewriter.
- 1940s era mechanical adding machine
- 1939 Western Electric desk telephone
- 1945 Altitude correction computer (An analog computer, of course)
- 1960s K&E slide ruler
- Late 1970s TI programmer's calculator (does Hex)
- Early 1980s video games: Asteroids, Defender, BattleZone and Joust

Etc .. Even that list of clunkers is extremely advanced compared to what came in the preceding 10000 years, which is what makes the last century so amazing.
 
mbbrutman wrote:

> I appreciate a lot of older technology.

> Etc .. Even that list of clunkers is extremely
> advanced compared to what came in the preceding 10000
> years, which is what makes the last century so
> amazing.

I wouldn't say that. I've seen some interesting docos about
Roman times (2000 years ago) & their ability to build
something like a ships. Incredibly this was focused on a
couple of certain boats (unfortunately I can't remember who
for), for some ruler, which built them for a certain lake.
Amazing enough these boats were rediscovered - late 19th
(early 20th century) until the Nazi's burnt the boats durning
WW2. A shame really, though there seems to be people
interested in this stuff - it's not all rubbish.
As part of the same doco I saw a week earlier - it was
describing the dominance of the Roman Empire & how some of
their attacks were successful against some pretty brainy
people of that time - which had better ways of attacking &
depending against the Romans (Archimedies was one such
person).

Another show I used to watch involved a practical application
was applied to something in the past & a certain group of
people had to replicate this & archieve the same result.
Sometimes they got it right & sometimes they couldn't - I
thought it was interesting.

So it's not all 20th Centry. Personally though, it's a bit of
a pity Babbages Analytical Engine wasn't completed! ;-)

CP/M User.
 
My violin was vintage before I grew out of it. I thing it was 19th C. and made in the black forest. Now I have my Grampa's violin but I have to give it back because he keeps looking for it (aaaw, bless)
My clarinet was an old one, but it was still crap. Last month I got a brand new Yamaha 450 minus VAT through school. Yay!

I also have a W.Watson 'Service' Microscope. It needs a clean though. All dust has got between the Lenses (???) I think thats it apart from some old books and a concertina camera.
 
CP/M User said:
I had a quick look at your site, guess they don't cover 60s music?
No, it is about wind music bands from the late 1800's and early 1900's. They have a setting and instruments suitable for that era, often instruments which are not manufactured today. Wind orchestras have slowly adopted to some kind of world standard since the second half of the 20th century, so an ensemble form that still is common today may not be possible to call vintage.

However, just as little as all newly manufactured items irregarding brand and model are of high quality, so is the case for old stuff. If your clarinet was a "budget" model from the 1940s, even a thorough restoration may not improve it more than average. Quality instruments made out of metal - if they are not too terribly bent - often are better suited to be restored and polished to top quality. Still one has to take the development of manufacturing process to mind, so i.e. a saxophone manufactured in the late 50'ties or early 60'ties is more valuable than a sax from the late 20'ties or mid 30'ties, given that both were restored to full playability.
 
Ah, but...

Ah, but...

carlsson said:
Quality instruments made out of metal - if they are not too terribly bent - often are better suited to be restored and polished to top quality.

I'm sure you're referring to brass, but ever play or listen to a metal clarinet? Horrible instrument. :shocked:
 
My point wasn't that nothing happened before 1860. My point is that the progress we've seen in the last century or so has occurred exponentially faster.

We went from practical steam locomotives to space travel in about 100 years ...

As the saying goes, we make progress because we stand on the shoulders of giants.
 
The Romans had cement/concrete, which they used for aqueducts and plumbing, but they also had STEAM POWER, which they used exclusively to run a primitive pipe organ!
 
mbbrutman wrote:

> My point wasn't that nothing happened before 1860. My
> point is that the progress we've seen in the last
> century or so has occurred exponentially faster.

Sorry, I was trying to see how many mistakes I could make in a
day! ;-)

> We went from practical steam locomotives to space
> travel in about 100 years ...

It's a funny thing that cause steam applications originated
much earlier than the 1800s. I think dreddnott maybe correct
in stating it all came about durning the Roman era. All I
recall was seeing a doco about an early contraption which was
a ball & used steam to rotate it (it demonstrated the power of
steam though). They then went on to say that it was a wonder
that the car wasn't invented from this period (what state
would the world be in if that had happened?), but obviously
the times were different a minds were more or less thinking
about solving their own issues.

CP/M User.
 
dreddnott said:
I'm sure you're referring to brass, but ever play or listen to a metal clarinet? Horrible instrument. :shocked:
Well yes, saxophones and brass. I've heard stories about the loudness of a metal clarinet, and seen more than a couple up for sale lately, but I see why they are not manufactured today. Kind of like when Grafton (?) experimented with plastic saxophones. A novelty, and once I would have had an opportunity to try one if I had remembered, but maybe not an improvement in musicality. As industry develops new materials, I'm sure those could be adopted to new uses if someone saw a potential and customers.

The development goes on when it comes to pads, corks and alike. I haven't checked for a while, but did Buffet ever make a clarinet from the hardened grenadilla compound and Goretex pads? It sounds more like a proof of concept by making an all-weather oboe, when so few oboeists will play outdoors in bad weather. A clarinet also has fewer pads, more relying on the finger holes to close.
 
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