The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2022-05-21 00:20
I just found an almost perfect condition Buffet E11 A clarinet that is being sold as if it were a Bb for only $550 in a local resale shop. It looks like it has has aged a bit with slight silver tarnish but the wood looks fabulous and all the pads look great. The serial number is 10921XX.
My main concern is that this may be a fake, but it looks right to me. Is that serial number seem valid for an E11 A? Any guess on how old this is? Is $550 a good deal for a used E11 A? I have seen them sold online for 1200-1500 but I have no knowledge if they actually sold at that price or not. I can return this, for full price within 7 days so I just bought it on the spot.
Thanks for the help
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Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2022-05-21 00:33
Attachment: E11A.jpg (169k)
Here is a picture. Sorry for bad quality, I had to reduce it so the upload would be allowed.
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Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2022-05-23 22:10
So after some more digging, I discovered a footnote in the buffet E11 spare parts list that says serial numbers 1,196,386 to 1,213,626 were from 2015, which is 17,240 produced in 2015! (well, serial numbers at least). If they actually made that many per year, that is remarkable, which is about 47 instruments per day on average! I know they make a lot of E11s, especially in Bb but that still amazes me if that is correct.
Assuming that number per year is valid, that puts this E11 A production around early 2009 or so, which makes sense given the visual appearances.
I also emailed Buffet to see if they could provide an actual production date, but no response yet. If I get one, I will post an update.
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