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RE: What's the S1?

Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2001-07-31 01:06

According to the information I have picked up over the years, (mostly from an old time player who had retired and had one for sale in the paper) the S1 was not a prototype to the RC, nor was it an attempt to improve on the R13. I believe the true story is that, when Buffet introduced the Robert Caree (re)designed R13 (i.e., polycylindrical bore with undercut tone holes, etc.,) around 1955, they were surprised to meet with resistance from some long-time Buffet players who preferred the pre-Caree bore design. Not wanting to alienate some good established customers, Buffet restored the older design to their product line and (since they were already now using the designation R13), they designated the instrument the S1. In effect, the S1 has the design of the R13 before Caree's radical design changes (and BTW, while it tends to add to the confusion, it is technically not incorrect (the double negative is a subtle editorial comment ;^) ) to refer to (certain) Buffet professional clarinets prior to the polycylindrical model as R13's. Buffet officially adopted this designation first when it introduced the polycylindrical models. However, prior to that (and as early as the 1930's according to a message in the Klarinet archives from someone who had an old catalog), Buffet's importer (Carl Fischer) designated the 17-key, 6-ring professional model as -- you guessed it -- the R13. Eventually (as I recall, the early 80's) demand for the S1 shrivelled up (maybe by then all the older players who didn't like the R13 had retired or died) and Buffet dropped it.

Thus, the S1 was an alternate professional model to the R13 and later RC. A "brevete" bore would simply be a "patent" bore and probably merely referred to Buffet's "original" patent bore design. My recollection is that the S1 had a cylindrical bore slightly larger than the R13 (probably not enough to be considered a "big bore" clarinet). As a result, it undoubtedly had a different set of tuning peculiarities. Since the bore of the R13 A is smaller than the bore of the R13 Bb (to reduce the finger stretch), the A's tend to be more resistant. The S1 A probably has a larger bore than the R13 A making it easier to blow. This may be why the person mentioned above preferred it.

I seriously doubt that Buffet would have "trashed" the R13 model when they introduced the S1. After all, the R13 was their flagship and they were hardly looking to replace it at the time. It would be like trashing the current model R13 when they introduced the "Vintage" model.

There is probably some information on this model in the Klarinet archives but I can't find it quickly. For some reason searching on "Buffet S1" (without the quotes) yields thousands of hits.

Best regards,
jnk

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