Klarinet Archive - Posting 000933.txt from 1999/01

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] R-13
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 00:30:01 -0500

I am truly sorry to see this turn into some sort of Celebrity Deathmatch
between Tom & Francois. In particular, the loss of Francois to our forum is
disheartening, and I wish he would reconsider. He is a valuable resource to
all of us.

More than anything else, these strings have convinced me what an imperfect
medium email is. Were we all in a music store trying out horns together, or
sharing a pitcher in a tavern later on, I think there would be general
agreement on much of what was said. Too much of what is written in this
forum can be misinterpreted as personal attack--and personal attacks are all
too easy as well.

Tom has pointed out that the R-13 has some intonation problems. This is
probably not news to very many of us--especially Francois. Buffet itself
has a number of different models for sale that ameliorate a lot of these
tendencies. Heck, they have been playing around with the placement of the
register key for years! (R-13, down . . . S-1, up . . . Prestige, down,
then up . . . Festival, up). As noted in another post, its placement is a
catch 22 because of the multiple purposes the little hole serves. I don't
think that Buffet--or Francois--ever said the R-13 is perfect; that's why
they have other horns to sell. It is still immensely popular, though,
because people can make great sounds on it.

The fact that some intonation tendencies exist, however, doesn't take away
from the fact that Mr. Carree revolutionized the clarinet world when this
instrument was introduced. Buffet has had a little marketing problem,
moreover. Even when they "improve" the instrument, people clamor for the
old one; the R-13 has steadfastly remained the most popular professional
instrument they make. (Indeed, one of their marketing initiatives is the
"Vintage," designed to get a new horn into the hands of the curmudgeon who
is convinced that the old ones are better!) One reason for this popularity
may well be that "everyone" plays it--if you have the same horn as your
teacher, it's easy for him/her to teach you the "correct" fingerings to get
the most out of the instrument. Because of its popularity, it would be
business suicide for Buffet to discontinue the R-13. It's what people want.
At a street price of $1,700, it's a bargain.

It's true that Tom did not post similar problems over the Leblanc horns, at
least at first--but to be fair, he may not want to for reasons wholly aside
from how they play, given his current status with that company. I don't
think he meant to besmirch Buffet's efforts, or to denigrate the
achievements of Mr. Carree--hopefully his purpose was just to point out the
problems, and seek ways to fix them. Perhaps because of the way some of it
was worded, Francois took offense; again, hopefully a misunderstanding.

Tom likes the Selmer Signature. I tried one, and it's true that the
intonation appeared to be more stable than my 1969 R-13. I did not like it,
though--from a purely subjective standpoint, I though it sounded a little
dead. While the resistance was very even, it was considerably more than
what I've come to like. (I'm lazy--I don't want to work so hard.)

When the time comes to replace my R-13s (translation--when my wife lets me
blow another four grand on instruments, don't hold your breath), I will
certainly try the R-13 for sale at that time. As well as every other horn I
can get my hand on. If I win this week's Lotto, it would probably be a pair
of Festivals--I tried some, and liked 'em, which is all that counts. As
long as people like Francois, Guy Chadash and Tom Ridenour are around,
though, clarinets will get better. Next year--who knows what we'll get to
chat about?

May your reeds not chirp,

kjf

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org