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Re: "Donut" Fork Eb/Bb

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-04-18 21:49

I have a Buffet Bb/A pair from 1908. Here are things to look for:

1. Clarinets Direct has interesting stuff, but the owner tends to exaggerate. I would never buy from him without a written agreement that I can return the instrument for any reason, or for no reason.

2. Buffets that old have a large bore that may require a somewhat different mouthpiece. The intonation is less stable than on modern Buffets, and you must learn to play it them tune.

3. Old Buffets require longer barrels than current ones -- perhaps 69 mm., with a different taper. Barrels that come with them are almost never original.

4. Bells that old are almost always cracked.

5. Old Buffets don't have the "ring" in the tone that you need for orchestral and solo playing.

6. To fix intonation problems, the upper joint is often reamed from the top down to the register vent. The surface will look dull. This spoils the instrument, and you should reject any instrument with a reamed bore.

7. Buffet abandoned the doughnut key for good reasons. It doesn't work as well as the modern mechanism with the tiny extra pad. Also, as Sean says, it's *really* hard to adjust.

8. I tried Steve Fox's belly pad support and couldn't get comfortable with it. Your results may vary.

9. It's *heavy.* You'll need a floor peg and a neck strap. It's not a substitute for a standard A clarinet and is useful *only* for the Mozart Concerto and a few modern pieces written for Alan Hacker.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but you'll do much better with a modern basset A, or, better yet, a reproduction of Stadler's original.

Ken Shaw

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