A few months ago, an unusual tenor recorder showed up on the big auction site.  It was keyed (almost) like an eight-key flute.  Other than "Made in Germany", there were apparently no other indications of a maker.  The headjoint was clearly cracked in the photos.  But it was unusual enough that I decided to place a bid, and surprisingly I won the auction.  There was some competition, but I think the cracked head scared most people away.  It was obviously a high-end recorder from back in the day....rosewood, keys, adjustable thumbrest, nice case.

The night that I won the auction, the same seller listed another tenor recorder by the same maker.  The headjoint and footjoint were shaped exactly the same and the wood looked the same.  This time it was a "normal" one, and it had the name Klingson stamped on it.  I knew I'd seen that name before, so after some quick research, I found Klingson was a brand name used by woodwind maker Karl Hammerschmidt.  I could also see that the headjoint on this one seemed to be fine.  Would that headjoint fit the keyed one, or were they possibly switched at some point?  I decided I needed to try for that one as well.  After waiting a week for the auction to end, I won that one too.  Oddly, I was the only bidder.  Normally a rosewood tenor would have a lot of interest.  

When the first one showed up, the crack was indeed pretty bad.  It also had two old cracks that had been "repaired" at some point.  Cracks can always be fixed, but I was hopeful the other headjoint would fit when it arrived.  A week later, the "normal" one arrived.  The headjoint was a tad too small to fit on the keyed one.  The normal one had a nice tone, but intonation was a bit wonky.  The keyed one was going to have to be restored, and I had just saved a website of a recorder repairman that had been posted in a Facebook recorder page a few weeks prior.  

So  I contacted Werner John at TLC Recorder Optimization to see if he would take a look at it/them.  We decided I should have the pads replaced locally since he would have to special order them, then send both recorders to him to do the rest of the restorations.  Jon Goodman at Goodman Custom Woodwinds replaced the pads and polished the keys (they were so tarnished, I originally thought they were brass).  Then off to Vermont they went.  After receiving them, Werner called to discuss options.  We decided since the headjoint cracks were quite extensive on the keyed one, and the normal one had a good headjoint, the best option would be to make the good one fit both recorders and leave the cracked one alone.  

The recorders just arrived back from Werner.  He did an amazing job!  The good headjoint now fits both instruments perfectly.  I can tell he did a lot of work on both instruments.  They both play beautifully.  The wood is just gorgeous on both as well.  Pictures don't do them justice.  And he was able to fix the wonky intonation on the normal one.  He also worked out and included a fingering chart for the highest octave on the keyed recorder.  I highly recommend Werner for any recorder repair you may need.    And also thanks to Jon Goodman for his work on the keyed recorder as well.