Buffet Crampon’s refined professional A clarinet with improved throat-tone intonation and smooth register transitions. Hand-selected by Rodriguez Musical Services, fully optimized, and shipped performance-ready.
$8,085.00
The Buffet Crampon Festival A shares the same modified R13 bore as the Festival Bb, with its raised register tube (borrowed from the RC design) that dramatically improves throat-tone intonation and smooths register transitions. Players who own or are purchasing the Festival Bb will find the A version a natural pairing, with matched tonal character and response between instruments.
The A’s slightly longer tube adds depth and warmth to the Festival’s already sweet, focused sound. The low register is full and powerful, and the overall character carries a wider spectrum of color than the standard R13 A. The Festival A comes standard with the left-hand Eb/Ab auxiliary lever and metal tenon caps. The 2024 redesign that improved right-hand intonation and bell response on the Bb applies to the A as well.
The Festival excels in contexts where tonal beauty and intonation matter most. Much of the repertoire written for A clarinet falls into exactly this category: lyrical orchestral solos, chamber music, and exposed passages where sweetness of tone and precise tuning are paramount. The Mozart Clarinet Concerto, Brahms Clarinet Quintet, and countless orchestral excerpts call for an A clarinet that can sing with warmth and control. The Festival’s character is well suited to this work.
Players who want smoother register transitions during exposed orchestral writing often gravitate toward the Festival A.
Every Festival A that Rodriguez Musical Services sells has been hand-selected by our performing clarinetists. We play-test numerous factory instruments to identify the clarinets with a rich, resonant tone, a sweet core (one that ‘sings’), evenness of scale and resistance, a sound that exhibits a large spectrum of colors, and the most consistent intonation.
Each selected Festival A then goes through the RMS 9-Hour Optimization. The instrument is completely disassembled, and every pad, bumper, and cork is removed until only grenadilla wood and metal remain. Custom leather pads replace the factory originals. Springs are adjusted, key heights are calibrated, and the entire mechanism is regulated so that the action feels effortless and the response is even across every register and dynamic level.
The result is what RMS calls “performance ready”: smooth key action, rich and resonant tone, and consistent response from the bottom of the chalumeau through the top of the altissimo.
Working professionals who want a refined A clarinet for orchestral and chamber playing, university faculty, orchestral section players, and advanced students preparing for auditions that require A clarinet repertoire will find the Festival A a compelling choice. Players who already own a Festival Bb get tonal consistency across both instruments. Players coming from an R13 A who want a sweeter, more focused sound with better inherent intonation often find the Festival A to be a significant step in that direction.
| Body | African blackwood (grenadilla) |
| Bore | R13 polycylindrical (modified, raised register tube) |
| Key | A |
| Keys | Silver-plated |
| Features | Left-hand Eb/Ab lever, metal tenon caps |
| Pads | Custom leather (RMS-installed) |
| Springs | Blue steel |
| Includes | Original Buffet Crampon case, RMS certificate of optimization |
Contact for availability. Trial eligible; request a trial to compare two hand-selected instruments in your home for 5 days.
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