Author: John Peacock
Date: 2022-04-27 23:53
Attachment: logos.jpg (1249k)
I own a "Buffet" of similar vintage (serial 52**, from 1930). It is extended simple system, with the Barrett action on the top joint. But like the one discussed here, it has smooth tenon rings, serial number on all parts, including bell and barrel, and no "made in France".
This instrument is rosewood, rather than ebonite. However, to pick up the comment by jdbassplayer:
> While Buffet did make hard rubber clarinets in the 30s, the tenons were always metal capped
I have an ebonite Buffet from 1935 with standard design features, where the tenons are not metal capped. So that aspect alone doesn't prove that vintschevski's instrument isn't by Buffet.
I attach the logo, compared with a 1925 instrument I own. There are slight differences, but I wonder if things were so standard then. Clearly the lyre and BC below were stamped separately - and each craftsman may have had their own piece for these. Other elements of the logo may have been hand engraved. Overall, they're very similar; the Chinese can't produce such a close copy in their eBay fakes, even with modern technology.
So I don't think these instruments are fakes as such. The only question is whether Buffet made them in Paris, or contracted them out. The lack of "made in France" is probably the strongest argument for this. But the smooth tenon rings are a puzzle: Buffet could easily have asked for grooved ones from any contractor. So presumably they wanted them smooth for some reason. My simple system is high pitch, so conceivably they wanted to make HP simple system instruments distinct from the rest of their range?
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The Clarinet BBoard
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