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Buffet Festival 'Flexibility'

Author: Wayne Thompson
Date: 2003-01-14 05:18

I have had my new Festival for about two months, now. My first impression of it is great; it feels alive in my hands, and rings nicely. (Don't ask me to define these things scientifically! LOL) I have some concerns with intonation: the clarion is sharp and I need to pull out 2mm at the middle. Yet the D, E, and F in the upper Chalumeau are flat, as much as 10 cents. Throat is normal, ie somewhat sharp. So, I'm working at intonation. I haven't yet taken it back to the shop to get any tweaking. I trust them to help me with the horn, but I hope some of you can comment, too.

Here is my real question. Is the Festival inherently more flexible that the R-13? I mean, are the notes more bendable? (This is not a question about whether one is better than the other!)

In studying my tuning issues it seems that the notes can be pulled sharp and flat more easily than I am used to. I selected the horn at Boosey and Hawkes from three R-13's and three Festivals. I think I remember Francois Klok telling me at the time that one of the differences between the models is that the Festival has more under cutting and is thus more flexible. I believe I've read most of the list and bulletin board archives, but this has not been discussed.

Do any of you have comments on this?

Thanks,
Wayne Thompson

PS To summarize what has been discussed here and in the literature, the Festival has the more dense, unstained 'Prestige Wood', it's register vent is about 2 or 3 mm higher and thus it's tuning stategy must be somewhat different, it's bore may be slightly different, though the literature says it 'belongs to the R-13 family', it's silver plated and has the left hand G#/Eb, and of course it is priced similarly to the silver R-13 in music shops. I mention all of this simply because I like knowing these kinds of specifics myself, and there are continual questions from folks just starting their shopping about the differences in models.)

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