 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: drekth
Date: 2021-01-11 20:34
Attachment: Buffet Crampon - Spares - Repair - 01.JPG (318k)
Attachment: Buffet Crampon - Spares - Repair - 02.JPG (1108k)
I have the upper & lower joints of an old Buffet Crampon Clarinet. Both joints have a number imprinted OSPP-0001 and both joints carry the Buffet Logo - 'BUFFET Crampon A PARIS'.
A feature of this Instrument are the Padholders on the Keys which are 'Dome' shaped and not of the more regular pattern.
It is obviously an 'old' instrument - but 'How Old?' - anyone any clues please.
I have searched but I am unable to find any other Instruments on the web with this type of Domed Padholder - Any ideas as to what Model it could be?
I have attached a couple of photos
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Author: donald
Date: 2021-01-12 01:50
Al Rice would be the "go to" guy for IDing that... friend me on Facebook (donald nicholls - my profile photo is with my wife and I'm wearing a yellow rimmed hat saying "lost in the 60s"). If you share the photo I can post it and ask around.
My wife has Buffet clarinets going back to the 1880s and they have much more modern pad cups, so I'd imagine this was middle of the century...
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2021-01-12 10:39
I'm not sure but I imagine it's old. I can ask in a woodwind repair group if you are interested.
Does it have flat spring for many of the keys? Those "dots" usually indicate flat springs that are sort of rivetted to the keys (a very old method).
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Author: donald
Date: 2021-01-12 15:41
Good work Ebonite! All I Could find out was "before 1870".
Btw Steve Fox is the only modern maker I know who uses the system where both Eb/D# keys open the same hole. It makes altissimo F# more stable apart from anything else (less disturbance in the bore - 2 Holes in the same spot rather than 3)
At some point early on it became standard to tune the left hand key sharper than the right hand key (so you had options for intonation)
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Author: drekth
Date: 2021-01-12 23:26
My thanks to all who responded to my query regarding the Buffet Crampon - not just helpful, but amazingly so. I am VERY grateful and from the info received it looks like it is probably an 1840s Instrument.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-01-13 23:56
Attachment: P2080004.JPG (679k)
Talk about a genuine vintage Buffet - that's about as vintage as they can get!
The domed pad cups used on Toscas and some others do look like a nod to the old salt spoon pad cups as seen on your vintage Buffet.
The only 'vintage' Buffets I see are the more recent ones marked R13 Vintage (see attached photo).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2021-01-13 23:57)
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Author: modernicus
Date: 2021-02-23 08:11
That is indeed very old, prior to 1859, when they added the "&Cie" when Goumas and others joined the company. Yours looks around 1850 (I think that's when BC says they started to make Boehm systems?), maybe. Though, potentially, that's when the modern system of all post mounted keys, etc...came into being. You can see the block mounting for some of the lower joint pinky keys on this example, so perhaps they were producing this style earlier in the 1840s. To my knowledge, square edged pad cups of the modern type replaced the "salt spoon" type on Boehm system clarinets around 1860 as the Thibouville-Buffet Boehm clarinet (I have an identical one) in the Sir Nicholas Shackleton clarinet collection (everyone should check it out, very instructive) is dated to circa 1860 as the firm was only in operation from 1857-1863 according to the Hoeprich clarinet book (also very informative!). I have a salt spoon Buffet Crampon & Cie A clarinet, enhanced Boehm, with donut key, from probably 1859 (I believe Goumas had something to do with the development of this enhancement?). Anyway, what a cool instrument you have! Any story about where it came from or your plans for it?
Post Edited (2021-02-23 18:57)
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