Matched Pair of UK Stamp Buffet R13 Clarinets
A matched pair of Buffet R13 clarinets in Nickel Silver plate, with a "UK" stamp. When Alan Lucas became managing Director of Buffet UK Ltd, he made every effort to promote the Buffet marque in the UK, including setting up Buffet's own distribution centre in Pages Walk, Lambeth, London. He soon persuaded many of the leading UK professionals to play Buffet, and their dominance of the UK market gradually increased, to the point where their main competitor, B&H bought them out. The UK stamp models were specifically tuned to A=440 Hz and have a well deserved reputation as exceptionally well finished professional models, vastly superior to the current production standards of contemporary Buffet R13 clarinets.
The Bb, serial no. 184620 is in very fine condition, there are no cracks or repairs. There is very little wear to the plating and the key regulation is tight, there is no joint wobble. Both instruments have had recent complete re-pads in tan leather pads. The A has S/N 166107, again there is no damage to the wood, and the Nickel Silver plate shows minimal wear. These instruments both date to the late 1970s & 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 £7000 on R13 Prestige instruments, and choose from a large number of examples, to get anything of like quality. The case is an original, 150th Anniversary Buffet in good used condition. The mouthpiece is a Vandoren B45 in very good condition