 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: pzh97
Date: 2012-02-09 07:09
Does anyone know some old clarinet brands?What are them?Which one is worth buying?Thanks!
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Author: GBK
Date: 2012-02-09 07:15
Buffet R13's from the mid 1960's to mid 1970's ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
...GBK
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Author: pzh97
Date: 2012-02-09 08:45
Thanks for posting!Is 1930 to 1940's Buffet clarinet a good buying?
Post Edited (2012-02-09 08:51)
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-02-09 13:42
I'm an amateur, but fwiw, I've got a Buffet in A from 1931 and one in Bb from 1937 and they're two of the best clarinets I've ever played. The wood is gorgeous, too: very heavy cocus, a type of black ebony from Jamaica that's no longer available for clarinets because it's become endangered.
With clarinets from the 1920s and 1930s, look for a marking near the serial number that reads, LP. LP stands for "low pitch." Those instruments were made to the pitch standard of concert A = 440 Hz. International pitch standards were lowered to 440 by international agreement, after instruments gradually got sharper and sharper, to make them more "brilliant." As a result, sopranos and tenors were straining their voices to reach the high notes, until finally conductors and musicans decided they had to reel in that trend. Instruments marked HP, for High Pitch, can be very high indeed, so grossly sharp that they can't be played in tune along with modern instruments. However, enough of those high-pitched instruments were still in use that for years, companies manufactured both types.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2012-02-09 13:51
A. Robert clarinet in A . I played one for many years. It was from the 1920s I believe. Excellent.
richard smith
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2012-02-09 14:12
pzh97 wrote:
> Thanks for posting!Is 1930 to 1940's Buffet clarinet a good
> buying?
>
Maybe but it depends on condition and price. Some of the pre-R13 Buffet's can be very good players. Unfortunately they are often priced stupidly high due to the brand recognition and represent a very poor value.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-02-09 16:12
Pre-R13 Buffets can be wonderful. My best clarinet is a Buffet in C made in 1929, and I have a Bb/A pair from 1908 that play beautifully.
HOWEVER, almost all of the older Buffets have been re-bored in an effort to improve intonation. This always ruins the instrument. Look down the bore of the upper joint from the top. If the area from the top down to the register vent is dull rather than shiny, it's been re-bored.
Also, old instruments frequently have cracks that must be repaired, and almost all will need a complete overhaul and refurbishing.
My old Buffets had been put in closets and were in new condition. I've gotten a few that were heavily used, and only one of them has been worth having.
Old Selmers can be good players, particularly for jazz, but the bores are large, and they don't play like modern instruments.
If you like the English style, look for the Hawkes & Son Excelsior Sonorous Class, particularly one with an "X" scratched in the wood above the thumb rest, which means it was picked out by the famous player Charles Draper. See http://en.allexperts.com/q/Clarinet-2214/2009/8/Hawkes-Son-Clarinet.htm.
Old instruments frequently have uncurable intonation problems or hidden condition faults. When you find an old clarinet, particuarly on an auction site, you must never buy it without a trial period with an unconditional no-questions-asked right to return it, for any reason or for no reason.
Finally, a new handmade mouthpiece and matched barrel will make any clarinet (even a plastic student model) nearly indistinguishable from top quality professional ones.
Ken Shaw
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2012-02-09 17:26
Pre-R13 Buffets are no different from most French clarinets of the pre-WWII era and are very similar if not identical to the clarinets of the many small and medium-sized makers which were located in the same or nearby suburbs of Paris and reportedly shared specialists such as bore reamers, key forgers, etc. Therefore the Buffets from then can be good, bad, or somewhere in between, just like most of the other manufacturers' products. There is nothing magical about Buffet (sorry about that, GBK!).
Among others, try a Penzel-Mueller, before and until just after WWII they made many decent clarinets (I'd say comparable to pre-R13 Buffets), they're plentiful and they're cheap. I have a full-Boehm P-M that is one of the two best clarinets I own (and I have dozens). Also try any one of the many Boosey & Hawkes models.
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Author: pzh97
Date: 2012-02-10 05:24
I have a 1936 clarinet (sn20747).The sound of the clarinet sound sharp and loud.I use a Vandoren b40.What should I do?
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Author: Jeroen
Date: 2012-02-12 11:00
pzh97 wrote:
> I have a 1936 clarinet (sn20747).The sound of the clarinet sound sharp and > loud.I use a Vandoren b40.What should I do?
The B40 can be sharp in pitch on older instruments because of the smaller chamber. Problably your instruments has a larger bore than recent instruments. Try a more closed mpc with a normal chamber, like 5RV or 5RV Lyre. May also improve sound quality.
However you should consider switching to a more 'normal' instrument when problems continue. Playing these kind of instruments require in general more experience to get good results on. And there is always the risk the instrument is of poor quality and that will bring you nothing.
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