Klarinet Archive - Posting 000176.txt from 1998/06

From: Gary_VanCott@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] Older "C" clarinet
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 19:05:10 -0400

The Buffet serial number list on Sneezy indicates that instrument was made
in 1914!

Gary Van Cott
Las Vegas, NV

"Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com> on 06/04/98 03:53:16 PM

Please respond to klarinet@-----.org

cc: (bcc: Gary VanCott/NHIN)
Subject: RE: [kl] Older "C" clarinet

Time to start on the "C" thing.

For the longest time--like until a month ago--I followed the sheep and
believed that C clarinet parts existed only because of composers'
laziness--and that the preferred course would be to play all of it
transposed on the Bb, like the big boys do.

A month ago, though, I got the parts to a whole lot of Strauss waltzes, all
in C (my orchestra's having a benefit gala). Aside from the fact that (a)
I
don't have much time to work on my transposition skills and (b) I'm lazy, I
did the lazy thing and ordered a Noblest C from WW&BW. Two days later, one
of my wife's friends in a different city offered to lend me their ancient
Buffet.

Well, I've played both and sent the Noblet back. Turns out that Mahler
wasn't stupid after all--the C has a distinctly different sound, pretty
much
half way between a Bb and an eepher. Now, I play a lot of Eb, so this
doesn't bother me in the least--but I can see where a composer would want
to
have parts played on this distinctly different instrument.

Both of the horns--the new C by Noblet and the ancient Buffet--use a
standard Bb mouthpiece. I accept the argument that the mouthpiece/reed is
ideally smaller, but I can tell you that both instruments are in fact
designed for the std. clarinet mouthpiece, because the barrels are
disproportionately short. Both play in tune (A=440) only by pulling out
1.5
mm with my Johnston.

The ancient Buffet intrigues me. First, it sounds much better than the
spiffy new Noblet. It's really old though--has some interesting
characteristics:

--the register key curls around to the top of the horn
--the company is identified as Buffet Crampon LP on the bell
--the serial number is 507I1

Any info/thoughts on the history of this beast?

kjf
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Shilcock
[mailto:roger.shilcock@-----.uk]
Subject: Re: [kl] Older "C" clarinet

Sherry:
It's probably a good idea to stay away from them because you may not find
a
mouthpiece which works properly with them. The Noblet is designed to work
with a B flat/A mouthpiece; this is definitely not traditional.
Roger S.

On Wed, 3 Jun 1998, Sherry Katz wrote:

> Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 09:34:58 -0700
> From: Sherry Katz <slkatz@-----.com>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet <klarinet@-----.org>
> Subject: [kl] Older "C" clarinet
>
> I've seen occassional discussions here on C clarinets. The general
> recommendation seems to be that the Noblet is the one to get. These seem
to
> be virtually impossible to find used.
>
> It is possible to find older, now obscurely branded, C clarinets, still
> playable with boehm system keywork. However, they are scattered around
the
> country and it isn't necessarily possible to try them. Is it a good idea
to
> stay away from these because of intonation problems?
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org
> For other problems, e-mail: klarinet-owner@-----.org
>
>

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