The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Jbosacki
Date: 2013-03-16 21:11
Hello. My family and myself are taking a vacation to London/France this summer, and since I'm going to be so close to both Buffet and Selmer. We were trying to figure out if we could organize a tour.
I tried to locate some things on their website but there isn't much to go on. I also doubt (even with international) fees I could call them up and ask, I doubt any of them speak English
So I was wondering if anyone on here has ever been to the factories and if you have how do you go about scheduling tours for such.
P.S. I'm a student who is going to soon be starting to study instrumental repair, so getting a tour for these factories would be very beneficial to me!
Thanks
-Jeff
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2013-03-19 00:21
I would expect that you would have no difficulty in finding people at Buffet and Selmer who speak good English.
Just consider the amount of business they do with English speaking countries.
And fortunately for you (and me) English is generally accepted as the major foreign business language in most of the worlds countries.
I have phoned many firms in France, Germany and Holland and never failed to get to talk with someone very competent in our langguage.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2013-03-19 04:33
You can contact them by email or phone and in most cases talk about scheduling a tour this way. I know a few people who don't speak French and either scheduled a tour and/or visited the factories to choose an instrument.
At least every person from Buffet or Selmer I spoke with did speak English, including some working in the non-public positions. I'm not sure you why you doubt any of them speak English.
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Author: Wayne Thompson
Date: 2015-09-12 03:16
This thread is 2 1/2 years old. Any new stories? I'm in Paris at this moment and may get a chance to visit.
Wayne Thompson
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Author: larryb
Date: 2015-09-14 02:47
Here's a story: I showed up at the Selmer Paris office/showroom just after closing on a Friday. I got to speak to the receptionist.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2015-09-14 02:49
Here's a story: I showed up at the Selmer Paris office/showroom just after closing on a Friday (last week). I got to speak to the receptionist.
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Author: j8649
Date: 2015-09-14 05:17
My sister was in Paris in summer 2015. She called Selmer, and they spoke broken English. They told her that she could visit the showroom and try some instruments, but they do not sell clarinets out of their showroom.
Post Edited (2015-09-14 05:19)
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Author: Jbosacki
Date: 2015-09-14 05:19
I actually had a tour guide schedule it for us. I'm honestly not sure what hoops she had to do to get us a complete tour of the entire line and such but she did.
Also I know we had to pay for it. I'm not sure how much. So keep that in mind too.
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Author: Jbosacki
Date: 2015-09-14 05:25
And to clarify I toured just the buffet Factory. I have the business card of the guy who guided us through but I don't remember it off the top of my head. If I find it I'll post it.
Also it was an absolutely amazing tour. Got to see the entire process start to finish. Got to see them carving wood and making adjustments and say hello to the specific members who oversee some of the higher end Buffets.
I saw the inside of Selmer but didn't get a tour of that one unfortunately.
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