CLARINETS DIRECT

020 85811113 or 07787 770071

BUFFET E13 Bb CLARINET, £795

An extremely fine, Evette & Schaeffer, E13 clarinet in Nickel silver plate. This instrument was part of a pair with a fine provenance, having been bought new by Nicholas Carpenter, one of the UK's most successful clarinettists. It was his recording of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet which was the BBCR3 CD review recommendation. In addition to his solo career Nick was Principal Clarinet of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, and later a member of the LPO. The instrument was made in 1972, and at this time Buffet UK were based at Pages Walk in South London, it was from here that the clarinet was selected. This E&S Bb is much superior, in every respect; quality of wood, intonation, and tone to contemporary mass produced E13 Buffet clarinets.
There is no damage to the wood, which is crack and repair free. The plating overall is in fine condition with only slight loss to the RH ring keys.  The instrument has had a complete re-pad in Pisoni Premium Deluxe leather pads and is sold with a full years' warranty. The Bb has S/N K26927, & the barrel supplied with this E13 is actually from a Buffet R13. The case is a brand new Stagg, and the m'piece an excellent condition modern Buffet. Current E13s are being treated by Buffet with a chemical compound, which is supposed to inhibit cracking. In fact this seems to be causing some joint problems for Buffet, with many new instrument owners reporting problems with sticking joints to dealers, due to this compound leaching out from the wood end grain. At the period this instruments was made, thankfully the Grenadilla wood was left to age naturally prior to manufacture.