 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2016-05-13 22:01
Is the only difference between the 1960's R13 made for the American market and the R13 with the F at the beginning of the serial number made for the European market the barrel length?
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-05-14 03:09
That's what François Kloc says, and he's in the best position to know.
In the 1960s, R13s were hand-adjusted at the factory to correct basic intonation. Thus I would assume that the throat tone hole size and undercutting might be tweaked.
On the other hand, R13s from the 60s were notoriously variable. If you played 20 of them, you would reject 10 just for intonation problems.
Ken Shaw
Post Edited (2016-05-14 05:03)
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Author: Clarineteer
Date: 2016-05-14 11:52
Just found an old thread where Mr. Vytas Krass said that he did a complete comparison between the 1960's R13 with and without the prefix F and they were identical except for the barrel length.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-05-14 16:46
My impression was that R13 was aimed at the American market and that clarinets in the RC series were more popular in Europe. If that was the case, there would probably have been little point in producing a different R13 for European use - a shorter barrel would have been an inexpensive solution to the problem of higher pitch for the few Europeans (if the story was true) who wanted the R13.
Karl
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Author: RefacerMan
Date: 2016-05-14 17:51
My first Buffet A clarinet had an "F" in front of the serial number and the barrel length was not the only difference. The register tube had a smaller bore and was placed a little bit higher on the instrument as I remember.
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Author: RefacerMan
Date: 2016-05-16 05:15
The A clarinet I had was made in the 1960s so it was an R13. Back then a Buffet serial number with an "F" in front of it was referred to as a "French bored" Buffet.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-05-16 17:05
RefacerMan wrote:
> The A clarinet I had was made in the 1960s so it was an R13.
I truly don't know because I was too young to know anything about clarinet geneology - I just knew what I had was a Buffet - model names came much later. But RC and R13 existed, as far as I was aware, concurrently, so the clarinet's manufacture date in the 1960s *may* not automatically mean it is an R13. RCs were sold here but were more popular in France because of some design differences **that included the placement of the register vent.**
I wonder if the two series were numbered separately and whether or not the F prefix was used only for R13s. I don't know if RCs were labeled as such on the instrument itself. R13s weren't - they were stamped only Buffet Crampon Paris. Hopefully, someone who was aware at the time or has researched this since will be able to clear this up.
Karl
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Author: Jeroen
Date: 2016-05-17 16:24
The RC came later. Don't know exactly when but I guess somewhere between 1970 and 1980.
Out on the R13, Buffet developed some models for the European market: e.g. BC20. Out of the BC20 the RC was developed.
All Buffet (semi-) professional models use the 'F' prefix, so also the RC.
All RCs are labeled 'RC' beneath the BC logo on the upper joint.
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-05-17 18:00
Yes, I checked on the Buffet website after I posted my last comment and found that RC came out in 1975. Clarineteer mentions the placement of the register vent as a difference. That was a design difference between R13 and RC. Maybe also on the BC20 R13?
Karl
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Author: jthole
Date: 2016-06-11 02:30
I play a Buffet Continentale, and tested several BC20s, which were both models for the European market. These models are clearly different from the R13, and not just in the barrel length. For instance, the placement of the register tube is very different on the R13 than on the BC20 and the Continentale.
Post Edited (2016-06-11 02:35)
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