Conn Pan American of Red "Propeller" Wood

This clarinet is from the World War II era when it was difficult to get African black wood. If I remember correctly, later Conn Pan Am instruments were beginner instruments in the same league as Bundy horns.

The Legend:

• These clarinets were made out of the wooden propellers of decommissioned or destroyed WWII aircraft. There was a shortage of African blackwood (grenadilla) due to the rationing of the war. Additionally, it was difficult to source large, solid pieces of wood to make instruments with. So, C.G. Conn Ltd. directed their Pan-American division to scavenge the unused propellers of downed aircraft. These propellers were the perfect size to make instruments with, and thus, the propeller wood clarinet was born!

The Truth:

• In fact, nothing of the sort happened. It sounds great and may have been used in marketing or salesmanship lip-smacking, but there are zero indications that Conn actually used aircraft propellers to make these instruments. In fact, Conn seems to have referred to these as "violin finish" themselves, and does not seem to have made any official announcements about the propeller-nature of the instruments. Conn also made oboes out of this "propeller wood," but these are even rarer than Conn clarinets.
• The wood itself was some sort of laminated something. There may be some truth in the wood shortage, but that doesn't explain how every single other manufacturer seemed to have no problem producing grenadilla clarinets...

Serial #140688

Barrel: 64mm

Bore LH joint top: 15.25mm (wide bore)

Bore LH joint at bottom: 15.0mm

Intonation results taken when playing loud and not lipping. See how to interpret these results on the Wooden Clarinets main page.

This seems to play better without a barrel ring and pulled out 2 mm. This helps bring down the sharp throat tones. Tested with a Portnoy BP3 mouthpiece and a Legere 4 reed.