George Catlin (musical instrument maker) first successful manufacturers of bass clarinets in the world. An alto clarinet, unsigned but of similar design to Catlin's bass clarinets and very probably by him or one of his students, has survived; made circa 1820, it is one of the first known examples of the instrument. George Catlin (musical instrument maker) George Catlin (1778-1852) was a prominent American maker of musical instruments. He worked in Hartford, Connecticut from 1799 or earlier until about 1814, when he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to his advertisements in Connecticut newspapers he made pianofortes, harpsichords, violoncellos, guitars, bassoons, clarinets, "hautboys" (oboes), flutes, and
Berlin Musical Instrument Museum Berlin Musical Instrument Museum The Berlin Musical Instrument Museum () is located at the Kulturforum on Tiergartenstraße in Berlin, Germany. The Museum holds over 3,500 musical instruments from the 16th century onward and is one of the largest and most representative musical instrument collections in Germany. Objects include a portable harpsichord once owned by Prussia’s Queen Sophie Charlotte, flutes from the collection of Frederick the Great, and Benjamin Franklin’s glass harmonica. The Museum was founded in 1888 at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin from a collection assembled by Philipp Spitta and Joseph Joachim. Thirty-four instruments from the Museum