 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Michael
Date: 2000-02-18 05:06
I was given an old one piece Buffet clarinet. I'm pretty sure it's pitched in "A". It's unplayable at the moment because of the pads (old). It has some extra keys and an obliterated ser #. Does anyone have any idea about the worth or rarity of such an instrument? Thanks!
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-02-18 16:01
Michael wrote:
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I was given an old one piece Buffet clarinet. I'm pretty sure it's pitched in "A". It's unplayable at the moment because of the pads (old). It has some extra keys and an obliterated ser #. Does anyone have any idea about the worth or rarity of such an instrument? Thanks!
Michael -
The older Buffets are fairly common and not terribly valuable. Extra keys are common -- Buffet did a lot of experimenting, often with keys for the right thumb.
The one-piece body meant that a couple of key holes, particularly the one for low C#, could be placed in a better acoustical position, since there was no center joint to avoid.
The old Buffets could be wonderful, but you must beware of tuning problems, which you really can't evaluate until you put new pads on. Also, they have a larger bore than today's Buffets, which makes the pitch less stable -- you have to *play* these instruments in tune -- and you will probably need a different mouthpiece (Chedeville style rather than Casper style) for best results.
On the better instruments, which tended to be well used, the keys may show a lot of wear and wobble back and forth, which needs to be fixed at extra expense.
Make sure the letters "L.P." ("low pitch") appear on the bell. If it says "H.P." the instrument is at high pitch (A=450 or higher) and unusable with other instruments.
On instruments with a center joint, the serial numbers were on the back of the upper joint at the very top and the back of the lower joint at the very bottom. I'm not sure where the number appears on a one-piece instrument, but it will be in one of those two. As you note, the numbers were small and lightly stamped. Take an old toothbrush, put a drop or two of water on the wood, and gently brush any dirt or grease out of the stamped number. Then take the instrument to a window and look at an angle. The serial number should then be visible, and you can match it against the chart here on Sneezy to find the year of manufacture.
On whether you should worry that an old instrument has been "blown out" see my posting at <A HREF=http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=15949>http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=15949<A>
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Grover
Date: 2000-02-18 16:04
I have seen a few old Buffet clarinets like you have described......Is it a high pitch (HP) or a low pitch(LP)
Also, does it have a wrap around octave key? Does the second tone hole for the left hand have a doughnut shaped pad? And does the Bell have the name of the distributer engraved on it, such as Wurlitzer, (but could be someone else)?
Finally, does it have the normal number of touchplates for the pinky finger of the right hand? should be 4 but could be 5, which would probably mean it is a relatively rare "Full Boehm" clarinet, I think. The last one like that I saw was keyed in Eb, I think.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-02-18 21:27
Another trick for bringing out a serial number: rub over it with white or golden yellow chalk, depending on what residue of the old color you can see on the manufacturer's logo (or use crayon, if you want to bring up the number permanently -- although I think that usually the manufacturer didn't highlight the serial number with color the way they did the logo). Rub back and forth *lightly and gently* with the color, then take a tissue and wipe off the excess from the surface. Even a lightly stamped number will often turn out clear enough to read. Ferree's Tools sells a golden crayon especially for refreshing logos, but several manufacturers use white -- and I've found that one of the golden crayons in a regular Crayola 64 box actually matches the gold color better on most instruments! One warning, though: If the wood is heavily checked (has lots of grooves in it), the crayon won't come out of those grooves and will look messy, so I don't refresh the logo or the serial number when I see wide-grained wood.
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Author: Mark P.
Date: 2000-02-19 00:00
I have a Buffet Bb full Boehm clarinet that I bought on eBay last year for about $260. One piece construction dating from 1902. They come up infrequently on eBay... perhaps 5-6 per year. Mine is not playable yet either due to deteriorated pads. They were made in this style up thru the mid 20s from what I can document from sales literature.
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Author: Brian F.
Date: 2000-02-23 04:08
I play on a set of full boehm 1 piece body selmer clarinets (1930-31) and have been very pleased. It is important that they do play in tune, but instruments built with special key work are generally top of the line custom instruments. I think mine play as well as all but the most expensive current instruments. If you would have the oppurtunity to play an A clarinet it may be worth fixing. A similar buffet B flat sold in the past week on ebay over $800.
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