 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: gatto
Date: 2017-08-03 14:55
I am wondering about the progress of the Buffet serial numbers in the last two decades. The website
http://www.woodwindforum.com/clarinetperfection/snbuffet-serial-numbers/
says that about 2005/2006 reaching the serial number 600000 the "noting returned". I understand this means the numbers then decreased? And later the increased again? Doesn't it mean that different clarinets have same serial numbers? (Or were there gaps between serial numbers which could then be filled.)
My own Prestige RC's have numbers around 420000 (built in 1996) and 690000 (built last or this year). Until recently I thought the numbers just increased chronologically.
Anyone who knows more details?
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2017-08-03 16:08
The serial number is only counting up. 600.000 was passed in early 2009. Buffet France seems to make over 20.000 clarinets a year now, so they will reach 700.000 this or next year.
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Author: gatto
Date: 2017-08-03 16:39
So the information on the website is wrong? Or do I misunderstand it?
When I bought my RC Prestige A some weeks ago, I could test in the shop two RC Prestige and one Tosca, ordered from Paris. The two RC Prestiges had SN slightly below 700000, the Tosca's slightly above. It was told that all the clarinets were built this year. (But I suspect that this might be only true for the Tosca with the greater SN.)
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2017-08-06 02:44
The serial numbers move to 700000 as soon as the the number 699999 has been issued, at whatever date this occured.
It does not start on the 1st Jan or even the first of any month, just as soon as it is needed.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2017-08-06 03:29
Gatto,
I didn't find any of the words "noting" and "returned" on the page you linked to.
Buffet's serial numbers only go up.
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Author: gatto
Date: 2017-08-06 04:15
Johan,
in the first (long) table, there is an entry between the years 1990 and 2003. There you will find the statement "noting returned".
Caroline,
I have not claimed that serial numbers somehow relate to a certain date. I just mentioned (as a side-remark) that my dealer told me that Buffet has claimed that all three clarinets I could test were built in this year (2017). Since my RC Prestige, which I eventually bought, was just below 690000 and the Tosca was just over 700000, I would guess that it is more likely that the RC Prestige was built in 2016. (Assuming an strictly monotoneously increasing numbering.) But this is not really important, I am completely fine with any of these dates.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2017-08-06 12:08
gatto wrote:
> in the first (long) table, there is an entry between the years
> 1990 and 2003. There you will find the statement "noting
> returned".
OK, found it. Buffet previously had a web page where you could enter a serial number and get information about the instrument. At the time when the web page you linked to was created, Buffet's search engine didn't return any result for serial number 600.000, therefore author tried to write "Nothing returned" but didn't quite succeed. :-)
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Author: gatto
Date: 2017-08-06 17:23
>author tried to write "Nothing returned" but didn't quite succeed
Okay, this is a good explanation. :-) I was also irritated by the remark "yes a later serial number of 500 yields nearly 12 months earlier" in the same table, commenting the year 2003.
Given this solution, another question: Is each number a serial number, or are there gaps between serial numbers? The question is of interest if one wants to determine the average number of clarinets produced per year.
For example, if I consider the Serial numbers of the last 20 years, then we get an average number of 13500 per year. IF each number is a serial number. And the number could be even larger since certain models (e.g. E13) have different serial numbers.
Eric Hoeprich wrote in his book "The clarinet" from 2008 that Buffet "currently finishes off more than 100 clarinets per week". Considering serial numbers this number could be even 300 or higher.
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Author: Johan H Nilsson
Date: 2017-08-06 17:52
When I was in France two years ago, I was told Buffet makes 650 clarinets every day at their factory in Mantes La-Ville.
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Author: gatto
Date: 2017-08-06 18:05
650 every day? More than 3.000 per week, 150.000 per year... Where are all the serial numbers? I cannot believe.
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