Klarinet Archive - Posting 000156.txt from 1994/06

From: Clark W Fobes <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Buffet serial nos. - with thanx to Clark Fobes
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 14:52:14 -0400

On Thu, 30 Jun 1994, Roger J. Shilcock wrote:

> Clark:
> 1897-8 MUST be way too early. The instrument seems to play perfectly well at
A=
> ca. 440, though it's a bit fussy about mouthpieces; it definitely played sharp
> with the mouthpiece which was on when I bought it - a VanDoren specimen ( I
> don't remember the model number), which was slightly chipped anyway, so I soon
> retired it. Did Buffet[-Crampon] descend (?!) to the practice of making
> instruments for particular sales outlets? (One would expect such an instrument
> not to carry their name, of course). What happened to Buffet during the Second
> World War? This is the period when my repairman thinks the instrument may have
> been made - possibly slightly before or after, I presume.
> Roger Shilcock
> P.S. The instrument seems to have a fairly narrow bore, but wider than one
> would expect in an instrument intended for the French market.
>
Roger,

I need to Fax Buffet-Crampon in Mantes-la-ville regarding
something else and I will ask them about this clarinet. I have a
suspicion that your instrument is NOT a Buffet-Crampon. As you may know,
there were several Buffet's working and making clarinets in the 19th century.
They were all related, but had decidedly different ideas about making
instruments.

Buffet-Crampon stopped the use of integrating letters into their
serial #'s in 1927 and began with #1 in 1928. As far as I know Buffet
never made instruments for other sales outlets. I have seen several
Selmer clarinets with inscriptions such as: "Imported by Carl Fischer",
etc. so I do know that this was a practice of European makers.

Can you tell me a little about the mechanism? Is it a full Boehm?
Does it have any keys that differ from the standard configuration?

What is the full inscription on the mark. Any other identifying numbers
or letters would also be helpful.

Clark W Fobes