 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: zvijo
Date: 2005-08-30 06:17
Hello,
I will be in Paris in a fortnight. I wish to ask if anyone on the list has visited the Buffet plant in Mantes la Ville in recent times. While there are a few descriptions of visits made a number of years back which feature in the Klarinet Archives, I think the info there may be outdated?
Does one need to ask Buffet ahead of time for an invitation to the plant?
I'd much appreciate any info and perhaps some advice on the topic of purchasing an instrument at the plant. (e.g., worthwhile etc).
Thanks in advance,
Zvi.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-08-30 07:03
I think they accpet visitors (potential clients) in the first three weeks of each month. I think you have to make an oppointment in advance (I would guess at least a month or two in advance) but you should ask them because this information is from about a year ago.
You can't buy a clarinet directly at the plant, but you can choose your clarinet there and then buy it through any store in any country you want.
I see you are from Israel (I'm from Israel too) and I know it is basically impossible to have a real selection of clarinets to choose from here (sometimes they will only order one if you pay up front, and there are no returns).
I recommend choosing your clarinet in Buffet's factory because you will have a huge selection. They can sometimes get you 15 or even more clarinets of the same model to choose from, but you need to tell them in advance the exact model(s) you want to try so they can make sure they have them in stock.
Then you can't leave the factory with your new selected clarinet, you will receive it at the store that you decide to purchase from. I suggest buying it in one of the stores in paris, and definitely NOT in Marom in Israel. They are the most untrustworthy store I've ever seen.
Make sure you check that both upper and lower joints serial numbers match in the clarinet you choose BEFORE you leave the Buffet factory. Then in the store you purchase check to see both joints have the same serial number you checked in the factory.
I was pretty much in your position and I've spoke with Buffet and been to paris a couple of times so if you want any more information mainly about stores I recommend and more advice please email me to: clarnibass@yahoo.com
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-08-30 15:53
WOW:
I had a dream of standing at the end of the Selmer production line in Paris, auditioning new soprano saxes. By time I actually go there, I'd been in school without my horns for so long that I didn't do that.
I even stayed in a hotel just walking distance from the plant.
Don't miss out on MY dream.
Bob Phillips
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Author: William
Date: 2005-08-30 23:48
(contact me off-line for the email of a friend who visited Buffet two years ago)
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Author: Aussie Nick
Date: 2005-08-31 01:58
I visited the factory on 2 seperate occasions last year after making a really bad decision the first time I was there. I arranged the visit about a month or so ahead of time so you better hurry up and try to set a date. I did all this through a Paris music store called Musique et Art (music and art) which is just a short walk from the train station Gare St. Lazzare. Their prices were very competitive with another major store there I think called Woodwind and Brasswind or something similar - it is right next to the Paris Conservatoire. Anyway go to their website www.musique-et-art.com (or something similar) and you can select an english version of the site by clicking the little english flag. Go to contacts and send an email to the attention of Marie-Laure. She was very helpful. The 2nd time I was there, it was complicated and the factory people actually allowed me to take the clarinet with me from the factory, after they had passed on my credit card details to the people at Musique et Art. Also try the clarinets in the actual shop if you want. Contact me by email if you have any other questions.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2005-08-31 06:45
Before visiting the Buffet plant in Paris, be sure to rent "Wild Man Blues" with Woody Allen in order to see how NOT to act on such a visit. I'll never forget the movie's best line..."Can you drill it out like a Selmer?"
Allen Cole
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-08-31 16:20
Ah, Selmer gets mentioned in a SECOND movie. There you go...all the proof you need that you Buffet/Boosey&Hawkes/The Music Group people are wrong when it comes to the selection of clarinets...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2005-09-02 13:27
I visited their showroom/office on Passage du Grand Cerf in 1968 and it was an interesting experience for a 17-year-old who didn't speak any french. Certainly not the genteel, opulent, mecca I expected from the source of so much great music. An older storefront, on an extremely narrow street (too narrow for cars), trash cans outside, the front window dirty, an autographed photo (an original) of Benny Goodman. Good thing they didn't think I was a US citizen, or they would not have sold me an instrument (I bought a good student level A clarinet for $147US.)
Regards
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-09-02 14:00
Ralph Katz wrote:
> Good thing
> they didn't think I was a US citizen, or they would not have
> sold me an instrument (I bought a good student level A clarinet
> for $147US.)
Really? I've been to Paris and have only experienced good food and wonderful people.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2005-09-02 20:54
Oh, I didn't say I had a bad time. Only that Buffet had exclusive importing agreements to the U.S., and they would have honored them by referring me to their dealers in the U.S. I contacted them by mail from the middle east, where they had no distributors at the time, and they sold me a clarinet to take back to what they thought was home. I didn't learn about the importing agreements until later. They said they would not have sold me a clarinet if they had known I was taking home to the states.
BTW the clarinet models in the catalog they mailed me then were called BC-20 (orchestral), Continental (chamber), and Super-Dynaction (Jazz).
I was in a group with 20 other Americans and everyone treated us politely, including the charming woman in the Buffet store, even during their normal August shutdown.
"Oh, Messeur Katz", she said when I showed here my letter, "Entre-vous".
She walked around back to a huge wood cabinet of little 5" square cubby holes, each with a clarinet rolled up in brown paper. From the hundreds of clarinets, she pulled out an instrument with my name pencilled on the wrapper. I played it and it was OK.
I payed her but couldn't afford a case - I got home to Detroit with less than $2 in my pocket. Carried it around all day, including a boat tour of the Seine, completely paranoid, afraid someone would knock it. This would have caused great suspicion today, but then nobody gave me a second look.
This is what I did in Paris instead of going to the Louvre in 1968.
Regards
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-09-03 01:52
Mr. Katz clarified his personal "ugly American" concerns surrounding his visit to Paris in 1968.
During the Vietnam War, in the spring of 1970, I found little political or cultural sympathy for Americans in Paris and Geneva. (During the trip when I didn't visit Selmer.)
Bob Phillips
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2005-09-04 13:08
Yeah, it has only been 35 years since college French, and haven't used it since. What mistakes are there besides the spelling?
BTW now that I think of it, that clarinet was only $124US - the other $23 was customs duty.
[I still have that 1968 catalog and price list.]
|-(8^)
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Author: stratford
Date: 2005-09-09 10:31
Hi Ralph,
I have a BC 20..I can't seem to find out anything about it on the net...it is a full
Boehm with silver keys, and my folks bought it for me new in 1970...
Do you have any details on these?
Cheers.....
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