On Monday, my friend Justin and I had the opportunity to visit the factory of Buffet Crampon in the Paris suburb of Mantes-la-Ville. I have played on Buffet clarinets for 15 years, and have long wanted to visit the Paris factory. We were invited by my current teacher, Eddy Vanoosthuyse, and we went by bus with him and a large group of students from a music academy in Izegem, Belgium. The factory is one of the best places to pick out a new Buffet clarinet because they have so many instruments available to try. They also have repair techs on hand to make adjustments and provide feedback. I wasn’t in the market for a new clarinet, but I did want to try a few and see how they are made.
The bus trip lasted four hours. Upon arrival, our group was treated to lunch by Buffet at a nearby restaurant. I had steak tartare with fries, which I always like to get when I go to France. After lunch, we returned to the factory to try instruments. I tried only A clarinets: eight Toscas and four Festivals.
Lunch in Mantes-la-Ville
Trying clarinets
I spent some time in the repair room, where students were having adjustments made to the clarinets they had picked out. They have an old-school strobe tuner in the shop for testing the scale, and the tech will watch the tuner and then alter the pitch of specific notes for you by changing the size of the tone hole or degree of venting.
Repair shop
The most interesting part of the visit was the tour of the factory floor, where they manufacture 22,000 clarinets a year. Our tour guides were Philippe Leconte, head of artist relations, and Francois Kloc, director of sales for North America. Francois usually works out of the Buffet USA headquarters in Jacksonville, FL, but he happened to be in Paris.
Our Group. Philippe is on the left in the black coat.
Left to right: Francois Kloc, Justin O'Dell, Eddy Vanoosthuyse
Justin and Dan
Bass clarinet joints
A clarinet in its infancy
The bore and most tone holes are drilled by computerized precision machines, but the assembly work is done by hand.
Joints with recently drilled tone holes
A craftsman demonstrates how he inserts and drills posts
Clarinets with posts but no keys
The gold foil used to make the famous Buffet Crampon impression
A variety of clarinets in the finishing area
Justin posing as a clarinet craftsman
If you are a clarinetist and you are ever in Paris, I highly recommend a visit to the Buffet factory. They are very welcoming and it is something you won’t forget. Mantes-la-Ville is a half-hour train ride from Paris, and it has a long history of instrument making. The factory for Selmer saxaphones is just two blocks down the street from the Buffet factory.
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D. S. Friberg Blog 
Hello! I just saw your post on the sneezy site and followed up here to the pics. I am actually leaving at the end of April to participate in a 3 month internship over there. I can’t say that I’m not experiencing cold feet, but the pics definitely helped to warm them up! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Comment by Sarah February 23, 2010 @ 3:14 amI will likely be back there in April to have them add a left-hand Eb key to my Bb clainet. Maybe I’ll see you! 🙂
Comment by dsfriberg March 3, 2010 @ 9:58 pmHi dsfriberg!!!
Comment by Misael Zavala January 23, 2016 @ 10:05 pmHow much it cost to add the left hand Eb key to your Bb clarinet?
I have a E12 Intermediate clarinet.
Good question. I am not sure, and it would probably depend on who does the work for you. I have heard $500 as a ballpark.
Comment by dsfriberg February 4, 2016 @ 7:04 pmI need a clarinet and not just any clarinet i want the best of the best. can you help me on where to get one? I need an R13 vintage or festival clarinet with a unique design. Thanks!
Comment by mia August 11, 2010 @ 4:50 pmWhere do you live? You want to be able to play the instruments before you buy, so it’s best if you can find a location that has a number of each model in stock, which isn’t always easy. You want to compare several, at least. Are you in the U.S.? It may be a little hard to find multiple Vintage or Festival clarinets in one place in the U.S., as they are not as possible as, say the regular R13.
Comment by dsfriberg August 12, 2010 @ 4:10 amI will be in Paris and am planning to visit the factory on Wednesday, Oct 5th, 2011. Do you know what time they give tours or who I contact to get one?
Comment by Cheri Roberts August 11, 2011 @ 11:38 pmI would try these email address from Buffet’s website:
Comment by dsfriberg August 12, 2011 @ 6:00 amMarketing : info@buffetcrampon.fr
Sales Administration : contact@buffetcrampon.fr
They can at least point you in the right direction.
Excuse me.
I have some questions, I hope you can answer it all.
Do I need to pay to enter to the factory tour?
Do I need to pay to try the instruments?
What do I need to try a clarinet? My own mouthpiece and reed?
Comment by Misael Zavala January 23, 2016 @ 10:03 pmWhen I visited the factory (2010) the tour was arranged for us, so I didn’t have to set anything up myself. I would recommend just email Buffet-Crampon to inquire if you are planning to be in the area.
Comment by dsfriberg February 4, 2016 @ 7:01 pm