Vintage Buffet Full-Boehm R13 R16-3/4 Bb Clarinet
We are pleased to offer for sale this vintage Buffet R13 Bb clarinet. This is a full-Boehm instrument sometimes referred to as the “R16-3/4,” based on the Carl Fischer catalog numbers for the many R13 keywork variants. Dates roughly 1955/1956. This is the highest R13 version available at the time, and including the articulated C#/G#, the forked Eb, the extra trills, the auxiliary left-hand Eb/Ab lever, and of course the low Eb. It is in excellent condition: no cracks, chips, or repairs to the wood, tenons are still nice and square with no wobble between joints, just disassembled, cleaned, and bore oiled. Little to no wear at all to the keys, which appear to be German silver. Nicely repadded with Ferrees B17 de’Jur double-bladder, pressed-felt pads on the lower, and all but one key of the upper joint with Ferrees premium cork pads. Tenon corks replaced as well, key oiled, and adjusted. It takes a bit to get used to all the extra keys, but it plays very nicely across all registers with a rich, dark tone, nicely in tune at A440 and all the extra keys to get you around the typical Buffet intonation peculiarities. Included is the original pouchette case with a missing handle, but also includes a Buffet Crampon zippered case cover which does include the handle. A hard-to-find clarinet in the best condition we’ve ever seen, so snatch it up and make the rest of the clarinet row jealous with your multitudinous alternate fingering ability and flying scales and trills!