Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2009-01-08 11:15
Models in that 1968 catalog were not imported to the US. This catalog was for sales in Europe, and did not include models sent to the US.
I got the catalog, and was able to purchase a "Continental" model A clarinet, only because I made contact with Buffet from a country that did not have an importer, and for that reason they did not think that I was a US citizen. This became apparent after I wrote Buffet about a crack that the instrument had developed, and they sent a scathing letter back.
Buffet's Paris office was in Passage du Grand Cerf, a drive-through arcade lined with trash cans. There was a dusty, autographed photo of Benny Goodman in the window. It was August, and in traditional French fashion, the office was officially closed.
I knocked on the door, and the woman inside shouted "Nous sommes ferme". But she did let me in when I held up to the window the letter that I had received from Buffet, which said they would have a clarinet for me. "Ah, Mssr. Katz! Entre-vous, entre-vous!" She unlocked the door.
They had an impressive storage case, about 6' tall, 20' long and 3 feet deep, that was all 6" square cubbies, each with a clarinet in it, rolled up in brown paper. There was an instrument with my name pencilled on the paper. She let me play it. We discussed a case. I signed some travellers cheques in dollars; she gave me the change in francs.
The instrument was $147US in 1968. I didn't have enough cash to buy a case and still make it home. So I ended up carrying the clarinet around Paris for the next two days rolled up in that same brown paper. This sure would cause trouble now, but nobody questioned me then.
Post Edited (2009-01-08 11:26)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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