 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Koh Kah Huat
Date: 2001-06-19 00:10
Hi,
I have a E11 Buffet clarinet. I have changed from Ricoh reeds to Vandoreen V12 reeds, and the ligature to Super Revealation BG ligature.
Instead of buying a new clarinet, I would like to seek your opinion on how I could upgrade my E11 Buffet clarinet and whether the upgrade is worth the value or not, please.
Thank you,
KahHuat
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-06-19 01:42
Get a high quality, professional grade mouthpiece. You could even get a custom made mouthpiece.
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Author: Sara
Date: 2001-06-19 02:13
I second Dee on the mouthpiece suggestion. A higher quality mouthpiece will do an amazing amount of change and hopefull improvment to one's tone and playing!
Oh and the BG supper releveation ligature was great , but its a little too bright for my taste, make sure you trya lot of mouthpieces and get one that compliments the lagature to your likeing!
Sara
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Author: kny
Date: 2001-06-19 03:12
Yup, agreed that a better mouthpiece does wonders to your clarinet playing. What is the mouthpiece that you are currently using?
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Author: Koh Kah Huat
Date: 2001-06-19 10:25
Hi Dee, Sara, kny
Thank you for your feedbacks.
The mouthpiece that I am using is the one that comes with it when I bought Buffet E11.
It is worth the value buying a better mouthpiece?
Regards.
Hi kny,
I see from your email address that you're from Singapore too. Do you mind sharing your email address with me, please?
Thank you.
Hi Pat,
By upgrade, I mean replacing parts such as ligature, mouthpiece, etc. Regards.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-06-19 11:15
pat wrote:
>
> what do you mean by upgrade?
In this case, it means obtaining higher quality equipment.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-06-19 11:18
Koh Kah Huat wrote:
>
> Hi Dee, Sara, kny
> Thank you for your feedbacks.
> The mouthpiece that I am using is the one that comes
> with it when I bought Buffet E11.
> It is worth the value buying a better mouthpiece?
> Regards.
Yes it is absolutely worth buying a better mouthpiece. The Buffet mouthpieces are terrible and should never be used no matter what level of clarinet you are playing. Buffet makes excellent clarinets but their mouthpieces are very poor.
The quality of the mouthpiece is far more important than the quality of the instrument.
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Author: pat
Date: 2001-06-19 12:19
You should get a new mouthpiece. It would be worth it in the long run to get a new mouthpiece.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-19 14:01
Buffet supplies really crummy mouthpieces with all their instruments, top of the line or not. So, ditch the mouthpiece and get a really nice one from Greg Smith or someone like him (he's a sponsor on Sneezy). Also, I would recommend a new tuning barrel. If you get a mouthpiece from Greg, he sells matching Chadash barrels for Buffet clarinets.
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Author: kny
Date: 2001-06-19 15:46
Hi Fellow Singaporean Koh
The stock mouthpieces that come from Buffet factory are terrible. In a clarinet, the least important piece of equipment is the Bell at the bottom and the most important is the mouthpiece (or even the player!). Try upgrading the mouthpiece first before changing the anything else.
I would recommend you to try various type of mouthpieces before deciding on one. Unfortunately there aren't many places in Singapore where they allow you to try mouthpieces :-(. I recommend the Ralph Morgen RM15 or a B45 mouthpiece
BTW, the metal Ligatures from Buffet are as terrible, change that to something better.
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Author: David Kinder
Date: 2001-06-20 02:49
My brother played on a new E-11 for about 3 months. He sounded terrible on the mouthpiece until we changed a few things. We upgraded his reeds from Rico (orange) to Vandoren V.12. We upgraded his ligature from metal to the Eddie Daniels Rovner II and his mouthpiece from plastic to a Vandoren M13. As soon as we did that, he played in practically perfect pitch! It was amazing!
Try out some Vandoren mouthpieces. I'd recommend the m13 series, but whatever floats your boat!
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-06-20 07:22
>The mouthpiece that I am using is the one that comes with it when I bought Buffet E11. It is worth the value buying a better mouthpiece?
Yes indeed! Buffet's mouthpieces are junk as written by a few people.
'Any' other mouthpieces manufactured with mouthpiece specialty are better.
One thing should be checked: Buffet's standard bore size is 0.574 inches.
Some of the Selmer mouthpiece such as C85 are for smaller bore instruments
like Selmer Recital and 10SII although Selmer has mouthpiece specialties
('Soloists' is an adored Sax mouthpiece seeked by professinals.)
As to your E-11, at least spring strength should be adjusted by a professinal
repairman since 'every' new clarinet's spring strength is too much. Affects
fingering agility very much
As to reeds: Manufactures do not necessarily send same quality reed of the
same brand to every countries, big cities, or local cities. Their criteria
will be their country's big cities first, big cities of big countries second.
To my regret this might be also true of instruments.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-06-20 11:23
Hiroshi wrote:
>
> ... As to reeds: Manufactures do not necessarily send same quality
> reed of the
> same brand to every countries, big cities, or local cities.
> Their criteria
> will be their country's big cities first, big cities of big
> countries second.
> To my regret this might be also true of instruments.
This is highly doubtful. I can't imagine any company taking the time and expense to sort reeds for this purpose. It simply would not be cost effective.
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Author: kny
Date: 2001-06-20 14:30
I think Buffet used to distribute their instruments according to market. If I'm not wrong, Buffets sold in France have their serial numbers prefixed with a F.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2001-06-20 14:41
If you do a Vandoren mouthpiece, definately the M13Lyre would be the best one for the Buffet E-11. And, you have the BG Super Revelation ligature, so that's the best you can buy (in my opinion). Start with the mouthpiece upgrade and then get a Buffet Chadash or Moennig tuning barrel. International Musical Suppliers or Woodwind and Brasswind carry them all the time. A tuning barrel can make a remarkable change in the way your instrument sounds. With those upgrades you can get your E-11 to sound as good as an R-13.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-06-20 17:43
kny wrote:
>
> I think Buffet used to distribute their instruments
> according to market. If I'm not wrong, Buffets sold in France
> have their serial numbers prefixed with a F.
That's only so they can distinguish between those built to a tuning of A=442 (for France and the European market) and those built to a tuning of A=440 for the US market. It was not based on differing quality.
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