Klarinet Archive - Posting 000727.txt from 1995/10

From: vanbuul@-----.COM
Subj: Visit to the Leblanc factory
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 00:01:16 -0400

On Thu, 19 Oct 1995 Scott Hirsch wrote:

>Dave Kaminsky,
>
>Are you out there Dave?
>
>The recent issue of the Leblanc Bell has a picture of you standing with
>your wife, and daughter and Mr. Leon Leblanc himself. How I would love
>to met him personally. Is Mr. Leblanc active in the company anymore?
>Can an yone visit the factory and as a district manager are you able to
>see anything and all?

I visited the factory this week. This was arranged by the importer of Leblanc in
Holland, JIC Music. Pieter Bukkems, working with JIC, went to Leblanc for the
fourth time in one year. Every time he takes several professional clarinettists
with him. This time, there was some space left and he invited me because I'm
about to buy a Leblanc Opus clarinet.(I'm an amateur, playing in the same wind
band as Pieter).

There are two Leblanc factories in France, one for all metalwork and the other
for woodworking and assembly. They're located about 300 km's from each other.
We visited the woodwork an assembly one. It is located in a small village, about
80 km's south west of Paris. Mr. Leon Leblanc lives in the same street as where
the factory is located. We were in the factory several times during two days and
each day I saw Mr Leblanc walking around; the first time he was testing the
keywork of a clarinet. He is 95 years old now!

About 35 people work in this factory and they produce about 1500 clarinets per
month. EVERYTHING is done by hand, with use of lathes etc. We were guided by the
manager of the factory. We saw everything, from the unpacking of the wood blocks
to the final pad adjustments and all our questions were answered. There appeared
to be no secrets.

Some details:
- The wood comes from Mozambique (English ?) and is called M'pingo in African,
Ebene in French and Grenadilla in English. Trees are being replanted as older
ones are being used. The wood is selected in Germany. When it arrives at the
factory, it is turned and bored leaving a tube of wood.
After this the wood rests for two years in the cellar. No climate room,
impregnating or anything. Just natural drying. (We were told that Buffet uses
forced drying.)
- The wood has a dark brown color. Before using it, it is soaked in line seed
oil and black ink, except the selected wood which is used for the top models.
This is not inked.
- Pads are being fixed using the same glue which is used in modern glue-guns.
This glue melts when it is heated.
- At every stage some pieces are scrapped because of appearing defects in the
wood, pits etc.
- Nobody in the factory plays clarinet (well, at least not very well). They only
try to make the clarinets according to the specifications. However, I saw a
Parisian professional clarinettist checking a bunch of clarinets and returning
some of them with comments to the people placing and adjusting the keys and
pads.
- There are three desingers associated with Leblanc today; one in Paris, the
second in America (Tom Ridenour) and a third one.
- Rings on the instrument are glued with a bit of joiners glue or just pressed
on the wood.
- The Selmer and Buffet factories were founded in the same region, but Selmer
and Buffet moved to a bigger town some 30 km. to the north. They are located
in the same street, we were told.
- All plastic Leblanc products (Vito, Holton) are being made in the US.
- The metal contrabasses are being made in the metal factory, but assembled in
the factory we visited. There were no contrabasses at this time.
- Minor improvements to the products are being carried through continuosly; for
example Leblanc recently changed to another kind of felt to use under the keys
in order to silence the keywork.

Between 01.00 and 03.00 pm we had a terrific french lunch.
At the end of the day, we could try out several clarinets that were prepared for
us. Just imagine: twelve Sonata's, fifteen Concerto's and eight Opus clarinets
to play around with! When I asked if there was a shorter barrel available, it
was made for me in five minutes.

The Manager of Leblanc France had dinner with us. He told that some types of
clarinets are intended for specific markets, depending on what players are
used to. Specifically he told us the Infinite was mostly appreciated in America,
the Opus in Europe and the Ambiance by German type players.

All in all, it was a very interesting and open visit and I'm glad I got this
opportunity. I was told that it is very difficult to visit the Buffet factory.

Greetings

Luuk van Buul
vanbuul@-----.nl

   
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