 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mario Poirier
Date: 2005-03-29 15:08
Dear friends:
I just bought a slightly used Buffet B12 at an amazing price ($200.00 CDN, at Twiggs Music in Montréal - Twiggs has a whole stack of them...), in excellent condition. This will be my spare clarinet (in case a problem occurs just before a gig). I will also use this plastic horn on sailing/campign trips and when I play outside (I own a pair of rosewood Rossi as my everyday instruments - stricly indoors...).
The performance of this inexpensive instrument is actually quite acceptable when I use one of my old R13 barrels. The general mechanical feel is actually quite close to an R13. The bore appears to match the R13. In fact, this horns strangly ressemble a plastic version of an R13.
The rest of my set-up is top-of-the-line (Gregory Smith mouthpiece, Optimum ligature, V12 #4, etc.).
Has anybody out there ever "tuned" a B12 with cork/valentino pads, proper regulation and voicing, gadget for Bb register key tuning, chaddash or moening barrel, reworking some of the tone hole for clarity and tuning, etc?
I am trying to determine whether investing a few extra hundreds dollars in B12 improvements would give me a plastic horn solid like the rock that would be acceptable in the right context, at a price that would be a fraction of the price of a greenline horn for instance.
Many thanks
Mario Poirier
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-03-29 15:23
I bought a B12 a couple years ago for a song on Ebay. I wanted an outdoor horn that I wouldn't worry about. I use my usual mouthpiece and barrel (Morgan, Chadash)and I feel very confident with the horn. The one I got was in great shape , but when the time comes I would not hesitate to have it professionally overhauled. For what it's worth, I also bought a Vito V40 which I also use, but the B12 "feels" like my R13
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Author: Steve B.
Date: 2005-04-01 14:49
My B12 is outstanding. The only thing I had to do was add a longer barrel as the the stock 65mm barrel was constantly sharp.
Steve
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-04-01 15:33
I've tuned many lower-priced/student-line clarinets, including the plastic Evette & Schaeffers made by Schreiber in Germany (which I believe are the predecessors of the current B12), but I haven't worked specifically on a B12. There are many standard tweaks that can result in a very nice-playing instrument when applied to even the cheapest of clarinets.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-04-01 22:56
I had a B-12 that I bought new. I purchased it on the theory that if the R13 was so good the B12 should be also. I ended up selling it as it was a big nothing as far as i was concerned. It's only saving grace was that it weighed less than some horns. I certainly wouldn't spend any money on it to "improve" it. and that crazy gravity lock on the latches......!!
Bob Draznik
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