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Buffet R-13 custom-serviced by Hite?

Author: ckol
Date: 2018-08-14 08:36

I really enjoyed playing clarinet in high school and going into college, and bought, on the recommendation of my instructor, a Buffet R-13 from David Hite himself back in 1983. After not playing for many years, I passed it on to my son, who played it through high school, and now that he is done with it, I'm starting to play again.

Having my hands on it again revived an old mystery that I'm sure someone here can answer. My receipt for the clarinet says "Custom serviced Buffet R-13 Bflat clarinet, #xxxxxx. Includes complete key, bore, tone hole service, Moennig barrel, HITE mouthpiece (which I broke and replaced years ago), accessories, ..."

Does this language imply that Hite in some way changed the bores on the original clarinet? I have a vague recollection of my instructor saying that Hite "customized" the barrel, but I'm not sure I'm remembering that correctly. Hite never heard me play the instrument, so any "customization" certainly would not have been particular to me. Or does this language simply mean that he got the instrument from the Buffet factory and made it ready to play (i.e., he installed pads, tested it, etc)?

Any help solving this would be appreciated -- it's bothered me for years and I've never found an answer just Googling this on the web.

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