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RE: Vintage Clarinets

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-07-16 17:52

Michael -

There's a serial number chart here on Sneezy at http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/Equipment/HowOld/Buffet.html that shows Buffet # 3311 was made in 1929. At that time, Carl Fischer had exclusive U.S. import rights for Buffet and stamped its name on all imported instruments, so the stamp is additional proof of authenticity. The Buffet serial numbers from that period were small and stamped very lightly at the bottom rear of the upper and lower joints. It helps in reading the number to scrub the area with a damp toothbrush and look at it in sunlight coming from the side.

Buffets from that period often have the barrel shortened and rebored, and the upper joint above the register vent is also often rebored. This can spoil the tone and throw the intonation off. If the bore of the barrel or the top part of upper joint is less shiny than other areas, you should use a tuner and check the intonation very carefully before buying, particularly in the throat register and the 12ths in the left hand.

The old Buffets compare with modern R-13s as R-13s compare with the Leblanc Opus or Selmer Signature. An Opus or Signature, for me, has a "blow here and it comes out there" response -- always sounding good and always in tune, with a very even scale. My primary instruments are R-13s, which don't have this. In compensation, they permit more variety of tone color, and I have deliberately chosen that. Also, I prefer the basic sound of the Buffet to the Opus or Signature.

The lower serial number Buffets take this even further. I have a couple of instruments from the period. They take more control to play than later ones, but for me, they have a color and coherence of tone that nothing else can match. To get that, you have to learn to play them with the particular sound you want, and to play them in tune, since the intonation is also more flexible.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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