Klarinet Archive - Posting 000058.txt from 2006/03
From: X-MailScanner-tom.henson@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] Buffet R-13 to be replaced AND I LOVE BUFFET
Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:45:21 -0500
Rafi,
As I had mentioned on my last post, I received my new R-13 Bb I
purchased through Marks Music on Friday. Carl Marks, who has an
excellent relationship with Buffet, simply called up his Buffet rep and
asked that Francois hand pick me a clarinet from the warehouse. It took
about 2 weeks to put the whole deal together and they only charged me
$50 more than WWBW.
I put the clarinet together last night and played one scale and was
blown away. Simply one of the best "new" R-13's I have ever played and
from a brand new shipment that the warehouse just received from France
last in the last 10 days. Serial # range is 555,xxx.
I then inspected the wood and found NO chipped tone holes or any other
wood problems. No tight fitting anythings. I checked the sealing of the
factory skin pads (cheap ones) and they held up almost as good as any
Valentino's I have used.
This is the kind of clarinet that Marks Music tends to sell. Granted, I
sent the 1st one back that they sent from their own stock, but Carl
didn't hesitate to get me one directly from the main US warehouse. He
told me he ordered another batch from Francois and they will also all be
hand picked by him for Marks Music. Just to be fair with the one I sent
back, I rated it as superior, but I wanted something better.
I didn't even have the pay the additional shipping charge to have Buffet
ship it to me directly from the warehouse. Francois even included a very
nice little note in the case that he personally hand picked this
clarinet on this date and this serial # and then signed it.
You can't tell me that hand picking R-13's from the warehouse stock does
not get you a better clarinet. I am also guessing that Francois might
have gone over the clarinet himself to make any small adjustments like
pads and springs, etc. Francois is very, very good at this since he used
to work as a final setup person for Loree oboes before coming over to
Buffet.
PS: just so you know, I am not aware that any clarinet that WWBW orders
from Buffet is hand picked. In fact, they sell most of the B quality
ones that come in from France on purpose because they get an additional
incentive to move them for Buffet. I'm not saying that all of their
Buffet's are the B grade clarinets because I have no knowledge of this,
but I can say that Buffet tends to sell them the ones that are less than
perfect and then discounts them and WWBW is happy to work with Buffet on
this. WWBW does have many B grade or open box Buffet's that they list on
their website. I am simply saying that WWBW places an order for x number
of R-13's and someone goes out to the warehouse and just pulls them off
the shelf and ships them. Yes, WWBW can arrange for you to go to the
Buffet warehouse and pick one out yourself, but not many people can
afford to do this. That is why I went to Marks Music in the first place
because I have been told that they do, and I have see the results of
what they sell. Both my R-13 A clarinet and my new Bb are outstanding.
And to counter the idea that Buffet A clarinets tend not to play as well
as the Bb's, I can only say that mine does. On top of that, both of them
are stock R-13's, nickel plated keys, nothing extra special or custom.
Just hand picked.
Tom Henson
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