Boosey & Hawkes “The Edgware” Hard Rubber Ebonite Bb Clarinet
Reviewed in 2023 by Jared Burchfield
Introduction: There was a time in my life not too long ago where I was careless and overly confident in my ability to repair instruments. This led me to buy just about any instrument I came across in thrift stores and antique stores, regardless of the brand or condition before finally learning my lesson with a bass clarinet, which I might write about later. So it was that one day I came across this old Boosey & Hawkes “The Edgware” clarinet at a local antique store. If you know anything about antique dealers and instruments, you know that often their prices are quite high on instruments that are in unknown conditions, both of which were true with this instrument. It was marked at $90, but a quick internet search sometime later revealed that the horn was really only worth about $30-$40 in its condition if that. And believe me, this thing was in a condition. It was unplayable as it came to me, it was absolutely covered in dust and grime, needed all new pads, two new springs and all new tenon corks. After I took it apart, I learned that it needed even more work as two more rusted springs snapped during the disassembly. After doing much more work then I had ever anticipated to get this thing working, I finally got to play it.
General Information: This is a Boosey & Hawkes “The Edgware” clarinet manufactured sometime between the 1940s-1960s if internet research is to be believed. These are another one of those instruments that is about impossible to tell exactly when it was made, as they are not well documented. I was curious on exactly what an “Edgware” was in the first place and in a very well written thesis by Jennifer May Brand, I found that Edgware actually referrers to a town in England where Boosey & Hawkes had a factory. In that same paper, I found that this clarinet was made of a type of hard rubber called ebonite, and I can confirm that for this particular clarinet because I once heard about a trick where you can rub a part of the body of the clarinet to heat it up with friction from your finger, and if it smells like burning rubber then it is made of this ebonite rubber material. I tried this on the B&H and sure enough it smelled like burning rubber. This instrument has not been produced in this form for many years, and I do not think that B&H still makes clarinets or instruments at all for that matter.
Playability and Tuning: Having never owned a Boosey & Hawkes instrument of any kind I wasn’t sure what to expect, and some conversations on online forums did not give me any additional confidence. However, I was presently surprised by the responsiveness of the instrument, and there were no stuffy notes to speak of when I played it with my Vandoren BD5 13 mouthpiece. The sound was pretty centered and I found it to be a lot more centered than my other plastic resin instruments with very little spread if any in the low register. That being said though, I found projection to be a challenge with this horn, and I could almost describe the sound in the lower register as sort of dull, but still serviceable with the right mouthpiece and some practice. Tuning was pretty good overall, with the biggest problems being some sharp throat tones and a strangely flat clarion F#, but otherwise nothing that bothered my ear or my tuner, which was something I was not expecting at all. Altissimo was a strangely good experience with this clarinet as well, as it was incredibly responsive and really projected well. I was not expecting this at all, especially given how the lower end of the horn sounded and felt. All and all, the clarinet itself is not too bad, perfectly usable and much better than I was expecting. That being said, the stock Boosey & Hawkes branded mouthpiece that came with this clarinet is probably the worst thing I have ever played in my life even when compared to other stock and cheap mouthpieces. I could hardly make a sound on this thing on the Edgware or on any other clarinet I tried it on for that matter, and when I did the sound was thin, airy and quite disgusting and you could forget about tuning with it. Maybe this mouthpiece is why these horns get such a bad wrap?
Construction and Build Quality: The body looks and feels of decent quality with no obvious signs of poor craftsmanship, and because of its ebonite body construction this clarinet is noticeably light which makes it easier on your right thumb. Aesthetically, the horn is interesting to look at thought it has a strange brownish grey color to it rather than the typical black or wood grain seen on other instruments of other materials. The bell is oddly proportioned though and does not flare out as much as I would normally expect, but that is not really a problem and doesn’t seem to effect playability. The nickel plated keywork on the other hand is not great, as I think it feels kind of loose and the action just kind of gets the job done. There is hardly any spring at all in the left hand pinkie keys, and they kind of just move into and out of place. Definitely not a satisfying keywork experience on this horn, and I think another good word for this would be soft or even spongy as the metal does bend easily. It really doesn’t feel durable either, and I feel that I (or an unsuspecting young player) could probably snap parts of it off or bend it with little effort. Apparently, there was a period where they used a cheap alloy known as pot metal to make the keys on some of these, and I have to wonder if this horn is one of those.
Case: I did not receive the original case with this horn, and the old Bundy case that came with it was destroyed so there is really no point in reviewing that.
Conclusion: The B&H Edgware clarinet is a student horn from a different time before the rise of the resonite clarinet which dominates the market today. In spite of its flaws, I think it could be fine for a beginner or casual player, or perhaps the casual hobbyist. It plays well given what it is, and has a centered sound and transitions between the ranges are very good. Like I said before, altissimo is great on this thing and transitioning up to it is simple and clean, maybe even the best in my collection in that regard. Overall, I like the way it plays and sounds, but it feels kind of cheap in terms of keywork which I hate to say given how it plays. Looking back, was buying this horn a smart decision? No, probably not from an investment standpoint, but it was fun to fix up and I do enjoy playing on it from time to time. It is also the only hard rubber clarinet I own, so that makes it pretty unique in my collection. These clarinets aren’t worth much these days and are quite elusive, so I will likely keep it and continue to play it, as I would most certainly loose money if I tried to sell it anywhere near the purchase price. It would not be bad for a student to start on though, especially if you get one in good shape for a decent price. I probably would not pay or put a lot of money into one though, as you could put a little more with it and get used a Bundy, a Vito or even a Yamaha that would be a lot more value for the money with better quality keywork and a more manipulable sound. Finding a cheap one may be a challenge though, as people at antique dealers and on eBay are so quick to slap a hefty price tag on just about any old horn they have not seen before, claiming it is a “RARE valuable antique!”