The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: licorice_man
Date: 2005-09-30 01:21
Lately I have seen on Ebay and instrument retailers websites, Buffet clarinets classed as R13s. But their date of manufacture was pre-1955.
Am I right in assuming R13s only began to be manufactured 1955 onwards?
Apart from the instrument's serial number , how can you identify a R13?
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-09-30 06:14
I believe the only truly positive way to identify an R-13 is by the serial number, or perhaps an exact measurement of the bore diameter throughout. The standard R-13 is the only clarinet in the Buffet lineup without any identification marks -- it has only the Buffet Crampon logos. The stock barrel will sometimes have R-13 engraved on it (mine does), but if barrels have been mixed and matched then that's no guarantee the rest of the clarinet is such.
I think the 1955 date is correct, but the real Buffet experts here will no doubt chime in with the gospel truth.
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
Post Edited (2005-09-30 06:15)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-09-30 07:20
The exact changeover point to the polycylindrical R-13 design is not exactly certain.
We have had confirmation on this site (from owners) that serial # 48526 (1954) was a pre-R-13, and 48830 (1955) was an R-13.
It has also been speculated that Carré made a number of prototypes of the polycylindrical R-13 before the 1955 date.
Here is one very interesting thread with lots of information on the changeover to the R13 in 1955:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=101034&t=101034 ...GBK
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2005-09-30 15:31
I'm not sure referring to the earlier instruments as R13's is technically "misadvertising," at least in the U.S. For many years, dating back to at least the 1930's, if memory serves, Carl Fischer, Buffet's U.S. (North America?) importer, identified the 17/6 professional Buffet clarinets it imported as R13's in its catalogs and brochures. Thus, though Buffet didn't officially adopt the designation until the 1950's (for the Caree design), the designation had been in use for a long time to identify the most common model of Buffet's professional clarinets sold in the U.S. It would be more informative, perhaps, if sellers referred to their instruments as "pre-Caree" (or, perhaps, "master bore") R13's vs. "Caree" (or, perhaps "polycylindrical bore") R13's but referring to the older instruments as R13's is simply calling them what their distributors called them when they were originally sold.
Best regards,
jnk
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