The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: tim13531
Date: 2010-08-04 16:16
Hi,
I have just bought a Buffet E flat soprano clarinet that I found in an antique store in Bolivia and am trying to figure out when it was manufactured. It has a low E flat key as well as a left hand E flat/A flat key, and the serial number is 18838. When I entered this number in the Buffet website it returned this result-
Brand : Buffet Crampon
Instrument : Clarinettes n�1 440 Evette
Serial number : 18838
Year of manufacturing : 22/01/1968
However on many serial number charts this number coincides with the year 1935, and it bears the Buffet logo, not Evette. I am also finding it difficult to find information about older Buffet E flat clarinets. Can anyone help me identify this instrument? thanks!
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-08-04 16:37
"It has a low E flat key as well as a left hand E flat/A flat key"
WOW! If you find another one out there like this, can you let me know?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2010-08-04 22:01
Probably too old to be in the Buffet serial number lookup. The 1935 date you find in the soprano clarinet list on this site is probably correct. Is there an adjusting screw on the G# throat key? Do the Eb and A throat keys have separate posts or do they share one?
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Wes
Date: 2010-08-05 23:31
It was a good find! I own a full Boehm Eb clarinet also, purchased 4/21/1990 at a local garage sale. It has a one-piece body and a "donut" key mechanism, typical of early 1900s Bb and A Buffets.
It has a fancy anchor logo on the bell with several Japanese characters below and the serial number of (2604) in brackets with two more Japanese characters below that. The characters say it was made(or sold) by the Japanese Musical Instrument Company in Tokyo. Very well made, could it possibly be a stencil instrument made in Europe for a Japanese naval band?
It tuned a little low, perhaps A435, when I got it so I took it to the late famous clarinet expert, mouthpiece man, and tuner Glen Johnston. It now rings at A440, Glen commented that it could be used to play D clarinet parts!
It was owned by a Donald Beckman in Manhattan Beach, CA and formerly owned by D. W. Thompson of Rte. #1, Onalaska, WI, while in the navy on the USS Argonne (APO Frisco). I assume it came here after WWII.
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