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Schrieber Aura: Buffet copy?

Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2019-07-02 02:20

Recently I got my hands on a Schreiber Aura, a short lived professional clarinet from the makers of the Buffet E11. When I first put my mouthpiece on it and gave it a play I didn't like it at all and found it to be too resistant. After cleaning and oiling it I discovered the cause of the problem. For some reason, the bore of the barrel has a weird hourglass shape that gets extremely narrow at the center. I tried swapping the barrel with one from my Buffet Festival and was immediately blown away. This instrument now plays almost identically to my Festival with only some minor differences. But the similarities don't stop there, not only do many of the keys look identical, but they are even interchangeable between the two instruments in a few cases. I then got out my calipers and did some measuring.

Bore at middle socket:

Aura: 14.64
Festival 14.63

Bore at upper tenon:

Aura: 14.90
Festival: 14.88

Unfortunately I don't have a way to measure the inside of the bore accurately, however as best as can tell the flare in the lower joint is identical between the two instruments. Of course there are still some differences between the designs, however as best as I can tell the bore, tone hole locations and sizes are very similar if not the same (with the exception of the register vent which is higher on the Festival). I think with a Buffet barrel to replace the stock barrel these instruments could be a really great cheap alternative to the R13.

Has anyone here tried the Aura? What are your opinions of the instrument?

-Jdbassplayer

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