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Help Identify a 1936 Buffet contra clarinet

I have a 1936 contra clarinet. I was an instrument repair tech for 25 years and I have owned this clarinet for years. I may want to do something with it, but I can't identify the model. I am wondering if anyone can help me. T
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hanks in advance for your help.
 

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Are you sure this is a 1936 horn? I've never seen an Eb alto with a top crook (it's in the PDF) like that. It looks like someone looked at a baritone sax and said, "It'd be cool if I could make a clarinet that looks like that."

It has the normal intonation standard of low pitch A=440/442hz, not high pitch A=457hz, right? Can you take a better shot of the engraving on the bell?

I'm gonna look into this one a bit more.
 
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Thanks for your help. I have tried emailing Buffet in France, but I have never received reply.

There is no indication of low or high pitch, so I assume it is standard pitch.
No, I am not sure that it is a 1936 instrument, but the Buffet page indicates that their 1936 clarinets begin at 18,000 and their 1937 clarinets at 20,000. I have posted 3 photos of the bell engraving and two photos of the crooks and register keys. With the thumb lever depressed, the top register key is raised by the RH ring finger 'D' key and also by the LH 'throat A'.

FYI, I have the original wood case and the compartments form fit to the parts. I have all parts but the mouthpiece

Again, thanks for your advice. I really appreciate it!
 

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Oooh. Original case. Please take pics of that, too!

> I just assumed that it is some kind of a Contra
Well, technically you could say that a bass clarinet sort of a contra soprano. "Technically correct" is the best kind of correct.

I will first note that, while I was originally a clarinet player, I am not a clarinet historian. I'm a saxophone historian. Anyhow ...

Buffet would call this a "harmony" clarinet. Those have different serial numbers (scroll all the way to the bottom here) than the Bb soprano. However, I doubt your horn's from 1949.

It's still possible that the horn actually is from 1936. Making the assumption that the engraving style across all Buffet instruments is the same, that engraving came out in the mid- to late-1920s on saxophones and probably ended about 1940. Also, if it is a horn made from the end of WWI to the start of WWII, the horn would probably be low pitch, per the Treaty of Versailles. Probably.

Is there a model name for this horn? I doubt it. Probably just a model number.
Is the horn rare? I've only seen two and I have fairly good Google-Fu.
Is the horn worth a bazillion dollars? I doubt it, but it might be worth a bit more than a standard bass clarinet.

I also did a brief patent search and didn't come up with anything really interesting.

I would not try to restore the horn in any way, until you can find someone else who knows more about it. Of course, don't just shove the horn in a corner of a leaky basement.

Steve Sklar's our (unpaid) staff clarinet guy. He might have more info. I also found the International Bass Clarinet Research Center, which looks promising, but you have to wait for an admin to approve your membership. I'm waiting.

If you do find out the horn is worthless, other than it looks neat, I'll definitely take it off your hands. I'll even pay for shipping :D.
 
Pete,
Ha! Yes, technically, “technically correct” must indeed be much more correct than simply “correct”!

Thank you so much for all of your help researching this instrument. It has been a mystery to me for many years. I purchased an instrument repair shop and business back in 1987. With the shop, there were many instruments; some were only good for parts and some were just older student line instruments. However, there were a few that were a little more interesting, including this Buffet clarinet.

About 15 years ago, I emailed Buffet in France with a photo of this instrument. At that time, they said that they could not help me, but gave me the name of a collector in Paris who had no email access. I was not able to follow up with that name. I have recently written Buffet Crampon in France, but I have not received a reply.

Your information about the bell engraving in reference to dates and your information about low pitch/high pitch relative to age is really interesting. However, I’m a bit confused about something else. The keys are clearly un-plated solid nickel. I don’t think that keys were generally plated until many years later; correct? However, the bell is still bright. Is it possible that the bell is made from a nickel/silver alloy?

Yes, I always called any of the larger clarinets (except an ‘A’); harmony instruments. I suppose that whether you call it a “contra’ or not is just a label and giving it a “key” is only relevant to notes on a page. Thanks for the link to the serial number page. Judging by the case, (see photos) I doubt that it was manufactured in the late 40’s. I have repaired many different instruments from that era. Case styles usually changed over the years like everything else.

Other than oiling the bore, I have not done any work to it. I should also say that the pads are all old red kid pads. I can’t believe that they could possibly be original, but they must be quite old.

If you think that your colleague might have some insight about the instrument, I would appreciate it if you could pass it along. For now, until I find out more about the instrument, I will just hang on to it.

Again, thank you so much for your research, expertise and the time you spent researching this instrument. I am sincerely appreciative.
Scott
 

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Wow! That's it! Yes, the attached photo from the 'Clarinet BBoard' appears to be an exact match. Thank you so much! This has been a mystery to me for many years.
 
Great find on the model name, TT.

Now, age and value. That'll be interesting.
I'm not interested in selling at this time, but it might be something I would consider in the future. Actually, I have a few vintage instruments I would like appraised for insurance purposes, but I don't know who to contact. I also have two 19th century boxwood flutes. If anyone can suggest any reputable appraisers, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
While I'm definitely more into value evaluation for saxophone, if my experience looking into the 19th century boxwood clarinet world is indicative of the boxwood flute world, I can say that if your boxwood flutes aren't made by someone relatively famous in the flute word and/or don't have a bunch of ivory, ebony, gold, etc. and/or don't have an interesting fingering system, they're worth a lot less than you'd think. I did a quick look on ebay closed ads. This 1810 WH Potter is the highest one sold, at about $1100 US. This one made by Wernicke sold for around $138.

I have no professional reason to like boxwood and pearwood. I just think they look nice. However, I would definitely like to have one of the new boxwood clarinets from Buffet. Anyone got a spare $13K for me to buy one?

IMO, the Opera bass is more of a collectable than a player. The reason I say that is mainly because you don't see any more of those horns in that shape anymore.

You might want to research https://www.appraisersassociation.org. You can also contact https://napbirt.org and see if they have an "official" list of appraisers.
 
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