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RE: Buffet Aparis

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-09-28 22:31

Neil Teitelbaum wrote:
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Has anyone ever heard of an Buffet Aparis ?
Just purchased one from the 40's and would like to know
anything I can find out about this series? if in fact it is a series?

Neil -

From the photo on your site, the instrument looks like an early R-13, which would make it from the early 1950s. The outside diameter of the early R-13s was noticeably smaller than the current ones, and this one has that "look" The only way to tell for sure is to find the serial number, which since the early 1950s has been stamped on the back of the top joint and the back of the bottom joint, as low down as it will fit. You can then match the number against the chart here on Sneezy to find the exact age. The pre-1950s instruments had the serial number very lightly stamped in small numbers are the very top of the back of the upper joint and the bottom rear of the lower joint. Many of these instruments (and all the earlier ones) have the importer's name, Carl Fisher, stamped on the bell.

Particularly on the older models, the serial number can be hard to read. It helps to scrub it with an old, damp toothbrush and look at it at an angle in bright sunlight while the wood is still wet.

If the low E and low F# keys for the left little finger are mounted on a single pair of posts (like the top two trill keys), then it's definitely the pre-R-13 model (although the Buffet catalogs from the 1940s listed the standard-keyed model as "R-13." There are a lot of small differences in key design between the "true" (polycylindrical) R-13 and the earlier models, which I posted a couple of years ago and can re-post if you are interested.

Good luck with the instrument.

Ken Shaw

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