 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jo.clarinet
Date: 2003-12-06 07:15
I'm currently looking to buy an A clarinet and have been looking on ebay. I've seen a couple of Buffets, an E13 and an R13 that I thought I might bid on. But yesterday I was talking to a clarinettist friend about this, and he expressed surprise that I wasn't aiming to get the same brand as my Bflat. To be honest, I hadn't even thought about it!
Is it better to have a matching pair, or doesn't it matter?
Joanna Brown
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-12-06 11:34
If it plays well, it is well...
... there is a great deal of doctrine in the semiprofessional community about what constitutes and acceptable instrument. Most of this doesn't carry up to the professional community, where top instruments are often modified to suit the demands of the customer.
How often will you actually play a clairnet in A, do you suppose?
The Spring will see a flood of these on eBay, when players finally decide to keep cash on hand, rather than polish an unused horn.
******
Buffet R13 clarinets in A can be VERY resistant compared to the B-flat.
They seem to have real character, so if you determine that the R13 is for you, best to play several.
I would recommend spending the minimum required for a playable clarinet in A, and pocketing the difference, unless this is how you make a living.
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2003-12-06 12:32
Be very very wary about mixing wide/narrow bore instruments. Your favourite mouthpiece will create hellish tuning problems on a mixed pair. Otherwise I know many players who have great success with cross-brand pairs.
BobT
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Author: William
Date: 2003-12-06 14:34
There is no such thing as a "matched" set sold over the counter. You are the one that has to find two clarinets that play the way you need them too. They don't even have to be the same brand, although it may be a advantage for your "set" of clarinets to have matching keywork.
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Author: CPW
Date: 2003-12-06 16:10
I know of a very fine clarinetist who plays a Selmer Recital Bb and an R13 Buffet A in concerto and makes them both sound similar and great.
In summary....SETS ARE MATCHED TO THE PLAYER...NOT TO EACHOTHER...
The above is engraved in Matched Tablets by the hand of G-d.
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Author: jo.clarinet
Date: 2003-12-07 06:56
Thanks for the feedback! It's all along the lines of what I thought myself - that as long as one likes the sound of the instrument and is prepared for minor muscular adjustments to allow for slightly differing keywork, it doesn't really matter which brand it is.
Synonymous - in reply to your question, I know that I wouldn't be playing it an awful lot. I'd just like to have one for when it was necessary or desirable. Do you think the E13 would be OK? I think I remember reading some postings that said they were fairly similar to the R13. Are they as differing in character among themselves as are the R13s?
Bob - the mpc thing will be a problem for me, because my Bflat is a wide-bore Peter Eaton so I can't use that mpc to test out any new narrow-bores. But I do still have my old Yamaha mpc, though I haven't used it for ages, so I suppose that'd be OK.
Joanna Brown
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-12-07 12:40
I agree about matched sets, especially since R-13 A and B-flat instruments have different bore designs. What Synonyous said about resistance is definitely true. You are much better off selecting whichever two instruments will work together for you.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-12-07 14:35
Ralph Katz wrote:
> I agree about matched sets, especially since R-13 A and B-flat
> instruments have different bore designs.
I've never heard that before; besides length and bore diameter (which have to chan ge of course) I'd always been led to believe they are the same design (polycylindrical).
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Author: Clare
Date: 2003-12-07 14:52
Jo,
If you were looking for a wide-bore instrument so that there wasn't a huge difference between it and your Bb, I notice that Myatt's have a second-hand B&H 10-10 listed for sale at the moment (http://www.myatt.co.uk/sh_wwind.pdf). At least with them you have the option of trying the instrument before buying.
Clare
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Author: graham
Date: 2003-12-08 08:20
I don't think this is going to work. You will need a different mouthpiece to play your narrow bore A clarinet and that means having your A also set up with a different reed. Whenever you change, there will be a different mouthpiece and reed combination, and, in addition, the reed will be dryer etc.. I think you want to go for a pair that will share the same mouthpiece, and this limits you to 15.2mm designs such as the Eaton Elite, wide bore Rossi, or indeed a nice second hand 1010.
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-12-08 12:18
Have a look to off-brands, as well for your clarinet in A.
<www.marshwoodwinds.com> has a tremendous Couesnon in A for a very reasonable price... set up by professionals.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-12-08 14:04
Joanna -
I played a pair of Selmers in high school, but switched to a Buffet R13 Bb when I went to college. I kept the Selmer A for many years and switched to an R13 A only when I found one significantly better than the Selmer.
The Selmer A was significantly different from the Buffet Bb. As long as I was playing both of them regularly, though, it didn't bother me much. I could play them both the way I wanted them to sound. However, the matching is easier now that I have the R13 A.
What you get has more to do with what plays well for you than what the trademark says.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: jo.clarinet
Date: 2003-12-08 14:30
Thanks everyone for your suggestions - I'm still deciding what would be best to do. I've had a really busy weekend - daughter home to visit, and a long rehearsal with all my pupils yesterday - after which my brain was completely addled and all I could cope with was a big glass of wine (or two). Back to normality today!
If anyone else has any other points/opinions I'd be pleased to hear from you.
Joanna Brown
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-12-08 20:44
Stephen Fox claims the Buffet R-13 A & B-flat have different bores - this is in one of the white papers on his website.
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-12-08 21:25
LOL @ john gibson
Look - if you can put on a blind fold and play the thing and then tell me what brand you're playing on you're telling a fib.
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