Basset clarinet, oboe d'amore, piccolo trumpetEuphoniumBaritone saxophone
Buffet Crampon SAS is a French manufacturer of wind instruments based in Mantes-la-Ville, Yvelines department. The company is the world market leader in the production of clarinets of the Boehm system. Its subsidiary, Buffet Crampon Deutschland GmbH, founded in 2010 and based in Markneukirchen, Vogtland, Sachsen, is the world market leader in the manufacture of brass instruments. To manufacture and sell its products, the BC Group employed around 1000 people worldwide at the beginning of 2021, 470 of them as employees of BC Germany alone.[1] The management of the group has been in the hands of Jérôme Perrod since 2014.[2][3]
The following brands / labels, with the exception of the Buffet Crampon brand, are formerly independent companies whose essential assets, including the name and trademark rights, are owned by other companies and ultimately were acquired partly by Buffet Crampon SAS partly by BC Deutschland GmbH, and which were then dissolved as companies.
The Buffet Crampon SAS has six brands under which it manufactures the following instruments.[4]
Buffet Crampon:Clarinets with a French fingering system (Boehm), namely (almost) the entire clarinet family in tunings from high E♭ to contralto, also oboes, English horns, bassoons (with French fingering and drilling) and saxophones
Rigoutat: Oboes, English horns, oboes d'amore and baritone oboes
W. Schreiber: Clarinets in B♭ and C (one model) with German fingering (Oehler), bassoons and contrabassoons
Julius Keilwerth: Saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass)
Production and sales
The BC group of companies has six production sites in which they manufacture the following instruments.[6]
in Mantes-la-Ville: professional clarinets, oboes, French bassoons
in Markneukirchen: all brass instruments of the Buffet Crampon Group are manufactured in the two factories there, with the exception of the Besson student instruments and the "high end" instruments of the Melton Meinl Weston brand, as well as student clarinets of the Buffet Crampon brand and all instruments of the brands W.Schreiber and J. Keilwerth.
in Geretsried: near Munich: the instruments of the brand Melton Meinl Weston (R&D center for all brass instruments of the group)
in Beijing: brass instruments for beginners
in Shanghai: woodwind instruments for beginners
in Maynard: Massachusetts: VQPowell flutes
BC has sales companies in the United States, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands. It also has six showrooms: in Paris, Geretsried near Munich, Amsterdam, Jacksonville, Tokyo and Beijing.[6]
History
Logo from 1844
Denis Buffet-Auger, of the Buffet family of Frenchmusical 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 & Cie a Paris (BC). (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 BC.)
In 1850, BC 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.
In 1877 BC acquired the Evette & Schaeffer Company and began to use that name as their instrument brand. In 1887 BC obtained a patent for a mechanism to control an extra key on an extended saxophone bell, extending the lower range from B to B♭. In 1908 BC began exporting instruments to the US. In 1910 BC introduced the Apogee premium model saxophone, which had innovative keywork features that were later adapted by other manufacturers. In 1918 BC began marketing their premium line instruments under their own name, while marketing lower grade instruments variously under the Evette & Schaeffer and Evette brands. During the 1930s BC began outsourcing Evette & Schaeffer instruments to other manufacturers.[7]
2005: Logo of the new company Buffet Group Wind Instruments S.A.S.
In 1950, BC developed its famous R13 clarinet, an extremely popular professional-level clarinet. The company also began production of the Dynaction model saxophones that year, which would evolve into the Super Dynaction (1957) and the highly regarded S series (1973) models.[7] Buffet also became the leading distributor of student-grade instruments in Europe, marketing French and Italian made saxophones under their Evette & Schaeffer brand. During the late 1970s and 1980s, the company's position in the student saxophone market collapsed in the face of competition from Yamaha, who offered higher quality and more up-to-date instruments, and lower cost East German, Czech, and Asian manufacturers. Their collapse in the student market accompanied a deteriorating position in the market for professional saxophones. Buffet left the saxophone market in the mid-1980s. In 2008 Buffet re-entered the saxophone market with their 400 model, sourced from China.[8]
In 1981, BC joined Boosey & Hawkes, which sold the French company to The Music Group in 2003. Two years later BC was bought by a French group and was given the company name BUFFET Group Wind Instruments SAS, but continues to sell its products under the Buffet Crampon brand.
In 2006 Buffet Group acquired two brass instrument manufacturers, Antoine Courtois Paris and Besson. In 2008 Buffet Group acquired the Leblanc clarinet factory in La Couture-Boussey, Département of Eure, Haute-Normandie in France.
Evette and Evette & Schaeffer clarinets
Until the 1980s, only professional level clarinets carried the BC 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 BC'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 around 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 around 1985, when the company began using the Buffet name on all its clarinets.
2010 to the beginning of 2021
In 2010 the newly founded Buffet Crampon Deutschland GmbH, Markneukirchen, acquired the production facility in Markneukirchen and the brands W. Schreiber and Julius Keilwerth from the insolvency of Schreiber & Keilwerth GmbH, after the insolvency administrator had reduced the workforce in Markneukirchen from 252 in the previous months Employees had reduced to 134.[9] The company manufactured clarinets of German systems and bassoons under the brand name W. Schreiber and saxophones under the brand name J. Keilwerth. In 2012, BC Germany also takes over B&S GmbH, which also produces in Markneukirchen, the leading European manufacturer of brass instruments with 250 employees and the brands B&S, Hans Hoyer, Melton, Meinl, Weston and J. Scherzer and integrates them into the company,[10] whose workforce will grow to more than 400 employees (470 at the beginning of 2021).[11] With these two most important acquisitions in the company's history, the Buffet Group can almost double its sales and has since taken a leading position not only in the field of woodwind instruments, but also brass instruments.[12]
Panorama of the Markneukirchen woodwind instrument factory (formerly Schreiber & Keilwerth)
In 2012, Fondations Capital France SAS becomes shareholder in Buffet Group SAS. Fondations Capital is a subsidiary of Trail, a European private-equity company with registered office in Paris.
In 2014, Jérôme Perrod was appointed as the new CEO of the Buffet Group.
2016: Logo of the renamed company Buffet Crampon S.A.S.
2015 Buffet Group founds a subsidiary in China, the Buffet Crampon Manufacturing Musical Instruments Co. LTD, which is building a production facility for 160 employees in Beijing, where 4,000 brass instruments for students will be (are to be) manufactured annually from 2016 onwards.[13]
With the beginning of 2016 the Buffet Group Wind Instruments SAS was renamed Buffet Crampon SAS (BC).
In January 2019, BC acquired the French oboe manufacturer Rigoutat, Paris.
After the takeover of Powell Flutes in 2016, Parmenon was acquired in June 2019, whose know-how and reputation strengthen the group's competence in the flute market.
2020 BC opens a showroom in Beijing and builds a new factory (BCMMI) for 130 employees near Shanghai, with an annual capacity of 50,000 instruments.
The company is most famous for their clarinets, as Buffet is the brand of choice for many professionals.[15]
Buffet Crampon has released several clarinet models from the mid-20th century onwards, with models ranging from student to professional in marketing. The development of new models has sometimes led to the discontinuation of older models. The student models tend to be made from ABS resin, whereas intermediate and professional models are usually made from grenadilla wood. The professional models are usually made from more select grenadilla wood, and are usually unstained. Various options have been made available for select professional models, including the Greenline option, additional keywork, and gold-plated keys.
BC makes more than 400 models of its instruments. Because of the special importance as a manufacturer of clarinets with French system, the current models are listed below.
The following models are currently available (end of 2021)
3 clarinets in the high to the beginning of the middle register: E♭ clarinet, B♭ clarinet and basset clarinet
5 clarinets in the middle and low registers: alto clarinet, basset horn, short and long bass clarinet, contralto clarinet
No matching standards in the two pictures (The basset clarinet is slightly smaller than the alto clarinet.)
Model
high A♭/G/E♭
C / D
B♭
A
G
Basset clar. in A/B♭/G
Basset horn in F
Alto in E♭
Bass to deep E♭ / D in B♭
Bass to deep C in B♭
Contra alto in E♭ double bass in B♭
E 12F
x
Conservatoire
x
Prodige
x
E 13
x
Legende
x
x
Legende from boxwood
x
x
Gala
x
x
Tradition
x
x
Divine
x
x
Festival
x
x
Vintage
x
x
R13 Prestige
x
x
RC
E♭
x
x
R 13
E♭
x
x
E 11
E♭
C
x
x
BCXXI
x
x
Tosca
E♭
x
x
Mod.1185 (prof.) 1180 (student)
Mod.1195 (prof.)
RC Prestige
E♭
C+D
x
x
A
x
x
Mod. 1193 (prof.)
Contra alto
Remarks
Student Models
Model
Body
Notes
E12F
ABS resin
Succeeded by B12 model
Prodige
ABS resin
Newest student model
1180
Grenadilla
Student model bass cl.
Intermediate
Model
Notes
E11
Made in China / Germany; more commonly sold in the United States
E12F
Made in France / Germany; introduced September 2012
E13
Made in France
Professional
Barrel in boxwood
Model
Greenline option?
Notes
Conservatoire
No
Semi-professional model, also known as the C12 model
R13
Yes
Most popular professional model, named after its designer, Robert Carrée
RC
Yes
Evolved from the R13 model with distinctive barrel and bell shape; developed in 1974 with the assistance of the luthier Robert Carrée, for whom the model is named[16]
Vintage
No
Replaced the S1; closer to the original 1950's R13 bore design
Festival
Yes
Has R13 bore with denser wood; register key is 1mm higher than on a standard R13; has additional alternate left-hand E♭/A♭ lever
R13 Prestige
No
Made from highest quality unstained grenadilla wood; has additional alternate left-hand E♭/A♭ lever
RC Prestige
Yes
Smaller bore than R13 model; more popular in Europe; has additional alternate left-hand E♭/A♭ lever
Tosca
Yes
Introduced in 2003; has unique bore design and reshaped keywork; has auxiliary E♭ key and low F correction key
Divine
No
Introduced in March 2012 as Buffet's top-of-the-line model
Legende
No
Introduced in July 2017 as Buffet's top-of-the-line model
Tradition
No
New cylindrical bore design, which goes back to the earlier BC20 model. New design and improved equipment from April 2019
Gala
No
Introduced 2020, cylindrical bore design as the Tradition
BCXXI
No
Introduced in late 2021, cylindrical bore, range extended to low E♭
Related Research Articles
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The sarrusophones are a family of metal double reed conical bore woodwind instruments patented and first manufactured by French instrument maker Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. Gautrot named the sarrusophone after French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876), whom he credited with the concept of the instrument, though it is not clear whether Sarrus benefited financially. The instruments were intended for military bands, to serve as replacements for oboes and bassoons which at the time lacked the carrying power required for outdoor marching music. Although originally designed as double-reed instruments, single-reed mouthpieces were later developed for use with the larger bass and contrabass sarrusophones.
The contrabass clarinet (also pedal clarinet, after the pedals of pipe organs) and contra-alto clarinet are the two largest members of the clarinet family that are in common usage. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitched in B♭, sounding two octaves lower than the common B♭ soprano clarinet and one octave below the bass clarinet. Some contrabass clarinet models have extra keys to extend the range down to low written E♭3, D3 or C3. This gives a tessitura written range, notated in treble clef, of C3 – F6, which sounds B♭0 – E♭4. Some early instruments were pitched in C; Arnold Schoenberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke specifies a contrabass clarinet in A, but there is no evidence such an instrument has ever existed.
The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger than the tenor saxophone, but smaller than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contrabass and subcontrabass saxophones are relatively uncommon. Like all saxophones, it is a single-reed instrument. It is commonly used in concert bands, chamber music, military bands, big bands, and jazz combos. It can also be found in other ensembles such as rock bands and marching bands. Modern baritone saxophones are pitched in E♭.
The contra-alto clarinet, E♭ contrabass clarinet, is a large clarinet pitched a perfect fifth below the B♭ bass clarinet. It is a transposing instrument in E♭ sounding an octave and a major sixth below its written pitch, between the bass clarinet and the B♭ contrabass clarinet.
The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the sopranissimo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass saxophone. Soprano saxophones are the smallest and thus highest-pitched saxophone in common use.
C. G. Conn Ltd., sometimes called Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, is a former American manufacturer of musical instruments incorporated in 1915. It bought the production facilities owned by Charles Gerard Conn, a major figure in early manufacture of brasswinds and saxophones in the USA. Its early business was based primarily on brass instruments, which were manufactured in Elkhart, Indiana. During the 1950s the bulk of its sales revenue shifted to electric organs. In 1969 the company was sold in bankruptcy to the Crowell-Collier-MacMillan publishing company. Conn was divested of its Elkhart production facilities in 1970, leaving remaining production in satellite facilities and contractor sources.
Besson is a manufacturer of brass musical instruments. It is owned by Buffet Crampon, which bought Besson in 2006 from The Music Group.
Melton Meinl Weston is a manufacturer of brass instruments owned by Buffet Crampon. It is based in Geretsried in Germany, and formerly based in Kraslice.
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Jupiter Band Instruments, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. Jupiter was established by its Taiwanese parent company KHS in 1980.
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Leblanc, Inc. was a musical instruments manufacturing company based in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The company was a woodwind instrument manufacturer known mainly for its clarinets. In 2004 the firm was sold to Conn-Selmer, a division of Steinway Musical Instruments. As a result, Leblanc ceased to exist as an independent operation, becoming a brand.
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is a worldwide musical instrument manufacturing and marketing conglomerate, based in Astoria, New York, the United States. It was formed in a 1995 merger between the Selmer Industries and Steinway Musical Properties, the parent company of Steinway & Sons piano manufacturers. From 1996 to 2013, Steinway Musical Instruments was traded at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the abbreviation LVB, for Ludwig van Beethoven. It was acquired by the Paulson & Co. private capital firm in 2013.
Marigaux, also known as SML (Strasser-Marigaux-Lemaire) is a French manufacturer of high quality woodwind musical instruments.
King Musical Instruments is a former musical instrument manufacturing company located in Cleveland, Ohio, that used the trade name King for its instruments. In 1965 the company was acquired by the Seeburg Corporation of Eastlake, Ohio, and the name changed to "King Musical Instruments".
Antoine Beaussant, is a French entrepreneur, businessman and oboist. He was President of Buffet Crampon since November 2007 and was replaced in July 2014 by Jérôme Perrod.
The company Herbert Wurlitzer Manufaktur für Holzblasinstrumente GmbH is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Neustadt an der Aisch, Bavaria with a second production site in Markneukirchen, Saxony. It was founded in 1959 by Herbert Wurlitzer. His father Fritz Wurlitzer operated since the 1930s in Erlbach, now a district of Markneukirchen, a manufactory for the production of clarinets. The company W. Wurlitzer makes clarinets with German System and with the "Reform Boehm system", developed by Fritz Wurlitzer in the late 1940s, an instrument with Boehm fingering system and the sound of an Oehler Clarinet.
Seggelke Klarinetten, is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Bamberg in the Bavarian Upper Franconia. The company manufactures clarinets according to the German system and the French system as well as in a combination of both systems, starting from the Boehm system. A specialty of the company is the reproduction of historical clarinets.
The company F. Arthur Uebel GmbH (FAU) is a German manufacturer of clarinets with headquarters in Wiesbaden and production facilities in Markneukirchen (Saxony).
↑ Gisbert König, Eine Reise durch die deutsche Klarinettenbaulandschaft (A journey through the German clarinet making landscape) in 'rohrblatt - die Zeitschrift für Oboe, Klarinette, Saxophon und Fagott (the magazine for oboe, clarinet, saxophone and bassoon) 38 (2023), vol. 3 p. 07-117, PDF-file, here p. 107-109 Buffet Crampon Deutschland]
Jerome Perrod NAMM Oral History Program Interview (2015)
Buffet Crampon Group. The term "Group" refers to all the companies that include the term "Buffet Crampon" in their company name, i.e. Buffet Crampon SAS in Mantes-la-Ville and its subsidiaries in Germany, China, Japan, the US and the Netherlands.
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