Hello there, back again with another review for you! This time, we will be looking at a Bb clarinet made by one of the best clarinet manufacturers in the world, Buffet Crampon. In this Buffet Crampon Festival review, I would like to briefly introduce you to this prestigious clarinet brand and also feature one of the best professional clarinets around.
For those who have never heard of the Buffet Crampon brand, here’s a quick introduction. Buffet Crampon was founded in 1825 by French instrument maker Denis Buffet Auger in the heart of Paris and he immediately gained respect in the musician community with his magnificent 13-key clarinets. Later on, in 1836 Denis’ son, Jean-Louis Buffet married Zoe Crampon and created the Buffet Crampon brand name.
Buffet Crampon is very well known for its Boehm system clarinets. The company has a nice catalogue of clarinets for both student and professional levels.
How are Clarinets Made? Watch This Cool Video by Buffet Crampon!
While I was working in the musical instruments industry as a foreign trade manager, I had to chance to import Buffet Crampon clarinets. We would really have to be really careful with how many Buffet Crampon clarinets we were going to import as they are extremely costly for most musicians. Only real professional clarinet players would ask for Buffet Crampon clarinets.
The reason why I would like to feature Buffet Crampon Festival Bb Clarinet is that it’s a cigilovic.com visitor-approved product! This means that one of my visitors bought this from Thomann and this shows clearly a huge value especially if you are from outside of Europe (Visitors from USA and Canada!)
The Buffet Crampon Festival model actually features two types of body materials. The original one I am featuring here has Grenadilla (African blackwood) and the one called Green LinE is made with Green LinE material. Buffet Crampon usually offers these two body wood as options for their other clarinets as well.
Green LinE and Grenadilla options feature almost identical tech specs. Let’s have a quick look at the Buffet Crampon Festival tech specs table here below.
Buffet Crampon Festival Clarinet Tech Specs
| Model | BC1139L-2: Bb, Grenadilla BC1139GL-2: Bb, Green LinE BC1239L-2: A, Grenadilla BC1239GL-2: A, Green LinE |
| Key | A/Bb |
| Tuning | 440Hz/442Hz |
| Bore | Polycylindrical |
| Barrel A | 2.55" and 2.52" |
| Barrel Bb | 2.55" and 2.59" |
| Eb/Ab Lever | Standard |
| Eb/Ab Lever | Needle and flat blue springs |
| Pads | 100% waterproof material (GT), leather and natural cork |
| System | Boehm system |
| Base Model | Modified R13 Prestige |
| Body | Grenadilla wood (Dalbergia Melanoxylon) or Green LinE |
| Key System & Bell Ring | Silver-plated |
| Keys | 18 |
| Rings | 6 |
| Thumbrest | Adjustable |
| Case & Accessories | Included |
| Mouthpiece | Not Included |
Both the Grenadilla and Green LinE options have identical tech specs. I have also listed the Green LinE and Grenadilla options on the top of the table, so you can easily see they all belong to the same Festival series.
What is Green LinE?
Buffet Crampon‘s Green LinE series has been around since 1994 and its material consists of 95% of Grenadilla powder and carbon fibre pressed together. This material is pretty durable against temperature and humidity changes. As you may know, Grenadilla is prone to cracks due to its structure.
Green LinE material is also good for the environment as the company can make use of spare Grenadilla pieces that come out of the manufacturing processes.
The Buffet Crampon Festival series is pretty suitable for different genres, but still requires an adjustment that you can make up with different mouthpieces, ligatures and reeds. It’s probably one of the best high-end clarinets that offer such flexibility.
According to professional clarinet players, the Festival series is a better fit for those who seek flexibility across genres rather than a traditional, classical-oriented repertoire. 
This doesn’t mean it is not a suitable model for classical repertoire. As it’s a pretty lightweight instrument, it allows performers to play for longer periods of time without having any strain on the body.
Where to Buy Buffet Crampon Clarinets in USA & Canada?
As Buffet Crampon is a French clarinet manufacturer, any Buffet Crampon clarinets can be purchased via Thomann. Especially if you live in USA or Canada and want to buy Buffet Crampon clarinets, you will get the greatest value if you prefer Thomann.
Many of my international visitors have benefited from one of the biggest brand analysis articles on the internet. In my “Is It Worth Buying from Thomann in USA & Canada?” article, I went through over 2200 musical instrument brands and provided a huge list to my visitors.
Check out my “Is It Worth Buying from Thomann in USA & Canada?” article here
As you will also notice, Buffet Crampton is on the list and guarantees a huge value if you buy it from Thomann.
Why? Because Thomann is the best musical instrument store on the planet! And you will always get the best price, beating every competitor store in the business. Particularly if you want to purchase rare musical instruments that are made in Europe, you have to prefer the Thomann website.
If you have doubts about the whole buying and customs process, you should definitely check out my “Buying From Thomann in USA & Canada” article as well. So far, hundreds of my visitors have benefited from this article and bought their boutique musical instruments and accessories from Thomann.
Check out my “Buying From Thomann in USA & Canada” article here
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Buffet Crampon Festival Bb clarinet is a cigilovic.com visitor-approved product! This means at least one of my visitors bought this from Thomann using the guidance of my website. Be the next one and enjoy your boutique clarinet!
I hope you enjoyed this article and found these insights helpful. Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
