Well, okay, why not? We all need a hobby. In particular I wanted a hobby that was unrelated to writing and publishing. I'd always had some fantasy (not uncommon, I suppose) of being able to play music, but didn't really do a whole lot about it, until a couple of years ago when I was inspired to try the clarinet by the playing of Pee Wee Russell. That a clarinet wouldn't take up a lot of room in my tiny apartment was a plus, as well as the fact that used instruments could be purchased fairly cheaply.
After a couple of years of basically fooling around, I recently (Sept. 02) started taking actual lessons with an actual teacher at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Already I think my playing has improved a lot. Of course, Benny (my teacher) makes me practice more.
Recently (December 02) I got a new clarinet, an old SML 5-Star I bought for cheap on Ebay. Boy, was it looking sad when I got it in the mail. It had clearly been unused (and unserviced) for many years, perhaps decades. It was dirty, the pads were rotten, the cork was rotten, the springs were rusty, but the wood was intact and solid, no cracks or warps, and the keys were tarnished and dirty but otherwise in good condition. So it had to go out immediately for an overhaul. I sent it to the very capable Dave Spiegelthal in Virginia (techs in New York being very expensive), and it came back a pretty nice playing instrument.
I don't know how old the instrument is, there seems to be very little documentation available. But it probably predates the years SML clarinets were imported by King (60s to early 80s), and probably predates the introduction of the three-tiered model system. It has what seems a relatively high serial number. So I'm guessing 1950s vintage, and that's just a guess. The original SML mouthpiece came with it, which is nice but it's hard for me to play.
Right now I'm using a Grabner SW-1 mouthpiece, which has a real nice tone, but is a very close opening and still a bit hard for me to control, so I'm looking for something else, but I haven't found it yet.