Buffet Crampon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Buffet Crampon et Cie. is a manufacturer of high-quality woodwind instruments including oboes, flutes, saxophones, and bassoons. The company is perhaps most famous for their clarinets, as Buffet is the brand of choice for many professionals.
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[edit] History
Denis Buffet-Auger, of the Buffet family of French musical instrument makers, began making quality clarinets in Paris, France in 1825. The company expanded under Jean-Louis Buffet and his wife Zoé Crampon and became known as Buffet Crampon. (Another family member, Auguste Buffet jeune, who worked with famous clarinetist Hyacinthe Klosé to develop the Boehm system for clarinet, had his own business separate from Buffet Crampon.)
In 1850, Buffet Crampon established its headquarters at Mantes-la-Ville. The company continued to expand its range and quality in instrument production, beginning saxophone production in 1866, and winning numerous awards. The company began to take root in the American woodwind industry during the early 1900s.
In 1950, the company developed its famous R13 clarinet, an extremely popular professional-level clarinet. In 1981, Buffet joined Boosey & Hawkes, which sold the French company to The Music Group in 2003. Two years later Buffet was bought by a French group. In 2006 Buffet Crampon acquired two brass instrument manufacturers, Antoine Courtois Paris and Besson.
Recently, Buffet has made efforts to protect the African blackwood trees, which provide grenadilla wood for clarinets, from being eliminated. In its effort to protect the over-harvesting of African blackwood / grenadilla, Buffet has started making several models of "Greenline" clarinets. These are made of a composite of 95% Grenadilla (ground up scraps from other manufacturing processes) and 5% carbon fiber with an epoxy binder. As these do not have the grain structure of a true wood product, they do not have the issue of cracking due to environmental changes that are typically seen in clarinets and other wood instruments. As of 2006, Buffet offered Greenline versions of the R13, RC, RC Prestige, and Festival clarinets.
[edit] Evette and Evette & Schaeffer clarinets
Until the 1980s, only professional level clarinets carried the Buffet name. Lower priced clarinets for the beginner and intermediate market were branded "Evette" and "Evette & Schaeffer", respectively. For a time the Evette clarinets actually were built by other manufacturers under Buffet's sponsorship, and these instruments are marked "Evette sponsored by Buffet". By the early 1970s Buffet was making the Evettes in their own factory in Paris, and about 1979 manufacture was moved to a Buffet-owned factory in Germany. Evette & Schaeffer clarinets were made in Paris. Use of the Evette and Evette & Schaeffer brands ended about 1985, when the company began using the Buffet name on all its clarinets.
[edit] Clarinet models
Current and recent Buffet clarinet models include (in approximate order from least to most expensive):
[edit] Plastic clarinets
- B10 - a lightweight beginner model, entirely plastic apart from the keys
- Evette (no longer in production, succeeded by B12)
- B12 - a good quality beginner instrument, as demonstrated by its enduring popularity.
[edit] Intermediate clarinets
- Evette (no longer in production, succeeded by E11)
- Evette Master Model (no longer in production, succeeded by E12)
- Evette & Schaeffer (no longer in production, succeeded by E13)
- Evette & Schaeffer Master Model (no longer in production)
- E11 - intermediate, entry-level wooden instrument
- E10 - as E11, but with a lightweight (plastic?) bell
- E12 - as E11, but with "special wood treatment to improve sound quality"
- C13 "International"
- E13 - One of the most popular models for improving players, in the intermediate range
- C12 "Conservatoire" model
[edit] Professional clarinets
- R13 - Buffet's most popular professional model, something of an institution in its own right.
- RC - an R13 equivalent model but with distinctive barrel and bell shape intended to improve tone, developed in 1974 with the assistance of the luthier Robert Carrée. Noted for sweetness of sound.
- R13 Vintage
- R13 Festival
- R13 Prestige
- RC Prestige
- Tosca
- Elite (no longer in production, having been replaced by the Tosca)
The Buffet range has been developed and extended over the years with various new models being developed, occasionally replacing older variants. Within the range there is a central core of 3 or 4 models favoured by teachers and pupils alike: the entry level B12 (although the B10 is an increasingly popular alternative), the E13 as an intermediate wooden model and the R13 or RC as a professional-standard instrument. Most of the more expensive models- the Festival and Prestige- are essentially members of the R13/RC family.
