CLARINETS DIRECT

020 8893 3172 or 07787 770071

MATCHED PAIR OF BUFFET RC PRESTIGE CLARINETS, £3995

An extremely rare and fine matched pair of early Buffet RC Prestige clarinets. This pair have been professionally owned, and are a commission sale for Clarinets Direct. They are part of the earliest production of Prestige models, indeed it would appear that in the UK Buffet released the top of the range Prestige model initially only in RC form. Certainly in early 1983 the R13 was still only available as a standard model, with the RC Prestige the most expensive Buffet on the market. The RC did sell very well: It had a more relaxed warm tone than the R13, which attracted many UK players.
The Bb, serial no. 216332, dates to 1981, is in very fine condition, there are no cracks or repairs. The instrument has the original Silver plate, which is in very good condition. The key regulation is tight, there is no joint wobble. This clarinet is padded in a mixture of tan, white leather pads, and some cork, all in very good condition. The wood is in excellent condition, hand selected, matched and unstained. there are two supplied barrels of 64 and 66mm.
The A has S/N 216359, which also dates to 1981, there is no damage to the wood. The Silver plate is also in excellent shape. The pads are mainly leather with cork on the register key and some trill keys. All pads are sealing well, with touch corks and regulation in fine order. There is one new 65mm barrel. These instruments play with a dark, focused sound and excellent evenness and intonation. They were manufactured as Buffet's top professional instruments with unstained Grenadilla wood. Today one would have to spend over £6000 on RC Prestige instruments, and choose from a large number of examples, to get anything of like quality. The case is a JM in good condition, and the m'piece, provided for play testing, is a stock Buffet.