 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2006-01-26 16:01
Recently on ebay there was a buffet for sale....a Festival Jazz model. Never knew they made one. Any of you ever played one? What can you tell me about them? Bigger bore? Just curious.
John Gibson
disclaimer: the auction ended so don't look for it or think I'm promoting a sale.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-01-26 16:24
Here's what I found in a Howarth catalogue from 1989:
"Now available from Buffet Crampon a clarinet designed and made purely for the jazz musician.
Although the bore of the Jazz Festival is largely based on the R13, the main difference between this and any other clarinet presently on the market is the barrel, and to a lesser extent the bell.
The barrel is 60mm in length, shorter than a standard Buffet Bb barrel, and has a larger flare in the bore. This has raised the general pitch of the instrument in order to offer versatility and flexibility to the player.
The bell is very much lighter in weight, with a chambered bore like the RC Prestige model.
No key changes have been made, except the welcome introduction of nylon pivots in the side E/B and F#/C# levers.
The barrel and bell have been machined to incorporate integral wooden collars, rather than the traditional metal joint rings."
Basically, going on appearance the top and bottom joints look the same as any pro Buffet (though with the words 'Jazz Festival' below the logo in similar fashion as a Selmer 'Centered Tone', and just the words 'Jazz Festival' on the bell), but the barrel and bell have been thinned down with thicker wood around the sockets, and the bell has no metal ring around the flare. The price was between that of the standard pro and Prestige models when they were on sale.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2006-01-26 16:27)
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Author: Fred
Date: 2006-01-26 23:10
Chris, would you have any helpful info like that tucked away for the Super Dynaction model? Francois Kloc said it was a very limited production jazz clarinet. However, I am most puzzled by the time frame in which it was produced. I have one from 1974. Another bb'er has one from about 1967! So this model was produced - possibly by special order (?) - for at least 6-7 years. That seems like a very long period of time for there to be such little information available on them. Any thoughts?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-01-27 12:29
Sorry to disappoint, but the only literature I have is a few scraps from the mid to late '80s - what's left of it, I've been searching my parents house in order to find more that may have been scattered around over time. I used to collect the various catalogues of the major makes but I can't find all the Buffet ones which were in a B&H folder.
I didn't know about a Buffet SDA clarinet (I only know of SDA saxes which I think everyone else on here does). But I think this messageboard is your best bet, even though I personally can't shed any light on them, I'm sure many others can.
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Author: nickma
Date: 2006-01-27 13:11
The Jazz Festival was produced for a limited period of time, in the early to mid 1980s. It was thin-walled, and built to achieve maximum resonance, hence carbon fibre rings in place of all-metal ones, a barrel without rings, as per Chris's post above.
There is one for sale in the UK at present, which is new old stock, at Trevor Jones in the West Country for £1,200 ($1900).
The only people I have spoken to who can remember it say the sound was rather bright. No one believes there was a problem with intonation like there was with the S1, a question raised to the seller by a Canadian which the seller kindly made viewable, but it was not popular at all, hence it was withdrawn rather quickly.
The ebay auction in the USA took several goes to sell: whilst it was clearly a lovely instrument in terms of condiition, it isn't widely appreciated. The serial number of that recent ebay auction looks as though it might be the same item that was sold in 2001 (see previous posts on this board).
Nick
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-01-27 14:00
Both the Jazz Festival and Elites were introduced around the same time, 1988 - the Jazz Festival had the same body joints as other pro Buffets and the standard metal socket ring for the bottom joint socket, only the bell and barrel were thin walled and had no metal or carbon fibre rings, just a thick band of wood at the sockets.
The Elite was the thin walled clarinet having carbon fibre socket rings that were flush with the surface and some inset tonehole chimneys that weren't, domed pad cups, flute-type resonators on the large pads and various adjusting screws added, as well as gold plated pillars.
To put the prices in perspective, here's the RRP of pro Buffets (Bb) back in 1989:
R13 £1025
RC £1125
Jazz Festival £1295
Prestige (R13&RC) £1550
Elite £2200
So the one at Trevor Jones, as well as being frozen in time being a new old stock one, the price has frozen in time as well!
I tried a new one at Howarths back in 1988 as well as the Elites (and Marigaux, Selmer Recitals etc.) and found the intonation pretty wild (due to the short barrel), as well as the bright tone which will cut through if played in Big Bands.
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Author: Djudy
Date: 2020-08-05 14:19
I'm reviving this older thread because I've just come across an ad on that infernal auction site which suggests that the Buffet Crampon S1 was a jazz-oriented horn : the seller states : "An international publicity brochure (from the '70's) about the S1 states "Buffet haz Jazzed Up the Clarinet" ". The instrument in question dates from 1974.
This sparked my curiosity because I have both a 70s R13 and an S1 and I've always found the S1 has more 'life' in its sound than the very focused R13.
Anyone have any more info on this ? Thanks!
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