 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: PhilB
Date: 2015-11-10 07:20
Hello, new to this forum...I'm in the market for a c12 clarinet, and after reading these forums about these clarinets, I still haven't gotten a good answer- Are all the c12's silver plated? A member named "Dennis" here said his 1984 was nickel plated. Then, I have a friend who has a c12 , which is silver plated. This means c12's can be either...or does it vary by year? Thanks
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-11-10 11:48
C12s ('C' for 'Conservatoire') were/are usually silver plated from what I remember as they were the model immediately below the R13 - the E13 ('E' for 'Etude' - Buffet's entry level wooden clarinet made by Buffet themselves and the model below the C12) was originally nickel plated but they changed to silver plate in the last half of the 1990s. While the C12 was normally only offered in Bb (in the UK), there were apparently some C12 A clarinets made as well.
There were a lot of problems with the nickel plate wearing through on the throat G# key and other places on these clarinets when still fairly new (this was back in the late '80s/early '90s) due to how thin nickel plate is applied - it's basically an undercoat for silver to be plated onto as it provides a nice flat and smooth surface for silver to adhere to, but nickel is only applied up to 3 microns thick. Even though nickel is a very hard metal (and will blunt reamers, barrel fraises and other tools used when fitting keys) it can be worn through due to contact with the skin especially if the person's skin/perspiration pH is low (acidic).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: PhilB
Date: 2015-11-11 00:53
Hello Chris,
Thanks for the reply. You said "they changed to silver plate in the last half of the 1990s"- does the fit into the c12s as well? Silver plating looks alot better imo, and you can buff it to a nice shine. Its just that if they were all silver plated, I do not understand why the first year one (1984) was a nickel plated one. I wish there was some info on maybe the specific year(s) they came nickel plated.
Also, another question: Not all c12's came with a letter in front of their serial number? (i.e: F738191) did some just come out with just a number without a letter? Thanks
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Author: PhilB
Date: 2015-11-12 02:57
Does anybody know if there is a difference of having a letter in front of the serial number? And somebody know about the platings?
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-11-12 03:22
The F prefix indicates the instrument is built for A=442 whereas no letter indicates A=440. In essence they just supplied a barrel approx 1mm shorter on the F instruments.
For whatever reason the USA market for many years seemed to prefer their instruments nickel plated whereas in Europe silver plate was more widely prefered, so Buffet kept both options going for a long time.
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Author: PhilB
Date: 2015-11-12 09:38
Norman, thanks for your reply. Learning something new every time. How can you tell the difference between the platings? Sometimes looking at it is hard to differentiate between the two.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2015-11-12 23:33
I guess looking at new silver plate there is generally a slight off white tinge to it whereas new nickel plate has a much smoother harder bright glint to it, almost but not quite like chrome plate.
For older plate then a touch with silver cleaner on tarnished keywork wil rapidly clean up silver but won't touch nickel.
You could probably also do this on new plate when a cloth with cleaner used on silver would show a darkish residue on the cloth but nothing if the plate was nickel.
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Author: MSK
Date: 2015-11-14 06:01
I have a C12 with a serial number that dates to 1984 that has nickel keys. I bought it 2nd hand about 2 years ago. I believe that it had seen very little playing time when I acquired it. I bought it as a backup horn for myself, but actually my 14 y/o son is the main user. We've had no trouble with the keys so far. I'm very pleased with the instrument for the price.
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Author: PhilB
Date: 2015-11-15 05:41
Thanks guys for the replies, sorry didn't have a chance to check out the comments earlier. It's just that I do not have access to it so I can't tell by rubbing the keys with silver cleaner. And yes the c12 is basically a step under the r13, sounds great!
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Author: cearnsh
Date: 2015-11-16 16:19
Please, don't use silver polish on keywork unless you know it's silver plated. Some varieties of silver polish will etch into nickel plating and ruin it. You can't polish the damage off afterwards; once this has happened all you can do is either grin and bear it, or get the affected part replated.
Better to avoid the problem altogether...
Chris
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-11-16 16:59
I'd say don't use silver polish at all as that can make a real mess once it gets into the key barrels and will be an expensive mess to clean up.
Just use an old (but clean) T-shirt or a polishing cloth to clean the keys with and that won't do any harm.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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