 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-07-26 00:54
I've been waiting 5 1/2 months for the horn to be all finished up. (Don't ever tell a tech to "take all the time you need to get it right" unless you really mean it!) It will go into the mail on Monday and be in my hands Tuesday.
I'm not sure getting a horn in a swap meet like this is as economical as it could be. When all is said and done this horn will have cost around $700 including the new barrel and the new mouthpiece. The tech and her horn tester spent an afternoon matching the horn with barrels and mouthpieces to get the best set-up they could find to send out with the horn. The tech says it has a gorgeous tone and <b>now</b> is dead nuts on in tune. She had to undercut a tone hole to fix a stuffy note... this is done by hand with a <I>little</I> knife, I didn't realize you could tweak horns one note at a time.
I think this would have been too much of a gamble to have pulled off if it hadn't been a FB. I am looking forward to the next month of getting ready on this horn for fall semester orchestra at the local Jr. College!
Anyone else out there crazy enough to try this kind of thing?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-07-26 01:14
Yes, at least several of us!, Terry. A good cl-playing friend bought a pair of early 1900 Buffets, a 17/6 and a 3/4ths F B via EBAY [for more than $45 !!], didn't want to tell wife!!, asked me to get them into playing condition to see if a pro restoration would be worthwhile. The 17/6 came out quite well, the FB- also except for the artic. C#/G#, which had MAJOR problems [a mech. nightmare!], so turned it over to the best local repairman, the last I heard still struggling with it. How did your extra keying turn out, what age is yours, maybe we can exchange tech info. Don
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-07-26 02:22
Terry Horlick wrote:
She had to undercut a tone hole to fix a stuffy note...
> this is done by hand with a <I>little</I> knife, I didn't
> realize you could tweak horns one note at a time.
Most techs have a little tool with a special undercut reamer. It looks like a long piece of rod bent on one end. The remer goes on the bent end, the rod is inserted into the bore, and then what looks like a tap handle is threaded onto the reamer when the reamer is in position on the right home. Francois Kloc of Buffet (and I'll wager every other authorized tech) has a set of reamers - it looks like there's a different one for every hole!
Tape, bluetak, wax, and nail polish are often used in toneholes for fine tuning, too.
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Author: Joseph O'Kelly
Date: 2001-07-26 02:32
Pardon my ignorance, but what is the Buffet FB?
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Author: Joseph O'Kelly
Date: 2001-07-26 02:33
Oh, I bet it's a full bohem. I feel like an idiot.
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2001-07-26 03:28
Don, My horn is a 1925 Buffet Crampon. I haven't seen it yet (come on Tuesday!!!) so I don't know how it is yet. My Tech says it is very good and I trust her or the horn wouldn't be there. She really worked majic on my three other horns (a Hoffinger A, vintage R13 from the 1950's, and a really wonderful Evette Master I originally bought new in 1969) . She said she had to address almost every key, re-soldering, fabricating, etc. Every post needed attention and every steel needed replacement.
Mark, I asked her about reamers and she says she prefers to do it by hand because she can feel how much wood is coming off. She cuts and plays and cuts and... you get the idea. I know it will be something special and it will play better than I do.
Joseph, we don't have a set of standard abreviations so don't feel blond (hows that
for alienating a bunch of folks?) FB=Full Boehm.
Interestingly she said that when reps from the Buffet factory happened to wander through (I guess that is not all that unusual at WW&BW) the were surprised to see that horn, evidently they had never seen a FB Buffet Crampon. I don't know if all BC FB's are rare or just really old ones.
<A HREF="http://www.jps.net/horlick/clarinet.jpg" TARGET="_blank"
onMouseOver="window.status=1925 Full Boem Bb before restoration;
return true" onMouseOut="window.status=' '">Click here to see picture of 1925 FB Bb Buffet before restoration</a>
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Author: C. Hogue
Date: 2001-07-26 14:20
Oooh Terry, can't wait to hear how it plays for you. I've been quite envious since you posted the photo of your FB when we were discussing lengths of clarinets in different keys a few months ago. Enjoy that left Ab/Eb key and the low Eb!!!!
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Author: Sherwood W. Franklin
Date: 2001-07-26 17:08
I found your message to be very intersesting. I have a Buffet FB, SN 22516, that I have had since April 1941. My dad bought it for me from Carl Fischer in Chicago.
It is a wonderful instrument. I took it with me a couple of years ago when I visited the Buffet factory in France. They seemed to be impressed with the condition of my clarinet and even installed the latest adjustable thumb rest without charge. The only work I have done on the instrument was to have it recorked and repadded with kid leather pads. If I knew how to attach photos of it I would. Even the original case is in excellent condition because there was an insulated case cover over it that I have since removed. I am sure you will enjoy your FB clarinet and wonder how you were ever able to play some of those difficult passages without the FB.
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