Magnifiqu'e Chicago

Thanks to Carmen K. who gave me this clarinet because of its fabulous heavy grenadilla wood.

The logo is very hard to read, but I think I have deciphered it correctly as INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CORP. around the outside, with CHICAGO in the center. And below that is written MAGNIFIQU’E.

Serial #1345

Barrel: 64mm

Bore LH joint top: 14.75mm

Bore LH joint at bottom: 14.75mm

This clarinet must have been stored for decades in a damp basement or too near the beach in Florida or Mobile, Alabama. There were a lot of screws that could not be removed. I had to cut posts or keys in order to get this clarinet to the place where I could recondition it. Fortunately I have quite a few posts and keys, so I could replace the parts I amputated. I am very disappointed in the results because of the intonation. I think that this may have been an SML product, or whatever company made the clarinets that share the same characteristics of wide tenon rings, wide finger rings, excellent wood, similar bridge key, etc.

Intonation results taken when playing loud and not lipping. See how to interpret these results on the Model Comparison Page.

For this test, I pulled 1.5 mm at the barrel, and 1.1 mm at the center tenon.

For the second text (after some tweaking) I plulled 1.6mm at the barrel and 1.3mm at the center.

Intonation summary: This can be used by a beginner.

Key work quality: I like the wide comfortable rings. There were several things that I needed to bend into place. The key work is fairly strong. The right hand ring cluster was bent so that it would depress the third finger bis key. The owner should be aware that this might happen again. Don’t let anyone bend that bis key higher. It will cause a leak any time the rings are depressed.

This clarinet is most appropriate for: a beginner.

Condition issues noted: The keys look awful because of case damage from so long in damp storage. It is possible that the clarinet could have changed enough in the bore that this has influenced the intonation negatively. (I kind of doubt that.) But one can hope that as the clarinet is played more, it might improve a little.