 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: timw
Date: 2009-03-21 12:45
Can someone educate me regarding buying an older Buffet R13? What impact does age play? For example , can a 1940s or 50s clarinet be as good as a newer model? (assuming it hasn't been run over by a bus or whatever)?
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2009-03-21 13:09
The R-13 was introduced at the end of 1954 or the beginning of 1955, around serial number 48800. On pre-R-13 instruments, the bottom of the throat Ab key and the right side of the A key (looking from the front) are mounted on a single post. On the R-13, each key has its own two posts. There are many other key design changes, but this one is definitive.
The bores are different, and the tuning is also different but both are fine instruments. Great players in the 1930s, 40s and early 50s played the earlier model.
If you're considering a pre-R-13 instrument, look carefully at the bore of the upper joint between the top and the register vent. This area has often been reamed out (and the finish is dull) in an effort to correct tuning problems. On an unaltered instrument, the tuning problems can be corrected by careful tweaking and use of a Moennig-style reverse-cylindrical barrel, but if it's been reamed, people who do the tweaking have told me that the damage is irreparable.
Also, you need to check the intonation really carefully. You shouldn't look at the tuner, which will cue you to correct matters. Instead, play slow scales and intervals and have a friend with a good ear watch the tuner. The old instruments are particularly likely to have the chalumeau and clarion registers out of tune with one another. A Moennig barrel can help, but often not enough.
Remember that an out of tune instrument is useless, regardless of how well it plays otherwise.
An old clarinet is likely to have lots of wear on the rods and pivot points. If it doesn't, it hasn't been payed much, which can mean that it isn't very good, or, if you're lucky, that it was bought just before the owner lost interest or graduated from college or conservatory and stopped playing. Wear can be restored, but this adds to the cost.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-03-21 18:33
Ken's answer is right on, I agree with him totally. It also depends on what you want to use it for, just for fun, to play chamber music and of course how much it costs etc. Buyer beware. ESP ( Peabody/BSO) http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: timw
Date: 2009-03-21 18:57
Would the 60's and/or 70's qualify as "vintage" ?
Thanks for your help>
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Author: Keith P
Date: 2009-03-21 22:41
I prefer the 60's and 70's models of the R13s to be honest. Yes, I would believe they qualify as "vintage"
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-03-22 12:20
Good answers here -- and I'd add that the Buffets mad before the R-13 can be excellent instruments, if they're in good condition. My two favorite clarinets are Buffets in A and Bb made in 1931 and 1937. I prefer the old one in A to my 1977 Buffet R-13 in A because the old one has a one-piece body that gives good intonation on the usually-problematic bridge notes, along with a couple of extra keys that make it easy to play all sharps and flats with either the left or the right hand. But so much depends on the individual instruments and how they've been treated (or, as Ken Shaw points out, mistreated) over the years that it's risky to generalize.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Lynn
Date: 2009-03-22 15:04
KeithP said: "I prefer the 60's and 70's models of the R13s to be honest. Yes, I would believe they qualify as "vintage"
Hmmmmmm.....
I graduated from college in 1966. Alas, I suppose I, too, am to be regarded as "vintage." Don, Geezer, Ken, Hank, and other "senior" board members.....wanna compare Medicare cards?
By the way, I play a Buffet Model 13 that was manufactured in 1935. Mark Jacobi has worked his magic on it, and it plays wonderfully. Kinda fun to play a clarinet that's nine years older than me!
Best wishes,
Lynn
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2009-03-22 17:55
I was manufactured in 1943 and have not yet reached my prime. My joints are a bit creaky, though.
Ken Shaw
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