Robert Carrée designed the R13's polycylindrical bore around 1950; the model name appeared in 1955. The "R" series naming scheme wasn't actually coined by Buffet in France — it came from their U.S. distributor, who also named an R14, R15, and R16. None of those stuck. For whatever reason, Buffet kept "R13," and here we are.

Before polycylindrical bores, clarinets were a tuning nightmare. Carrée's breakthrough — varying the bore diameter along the instrument's length — addressed overtone alignment issues that had plagued clarinets for a century. Nearly every professional clarinet made between 1955 and the 1990s borrowed from this design.

Even today, the R13 remains the single best-selling professional clarinet in history. It's the clarinet everyone knows. It's the benchmark.

It's also, conveniently, available everywhere. Buffet's dealer network is so vast you can practically grab an R13 with your Slurpee. So why buy one here? Three reasons: mine are imported directly from France (which is why the price is lower — more on that below), they go through a full setup before shipping instead of coming straight out of a warehouse box, and you get dashboard data showing exactly how these instruments stack up — plus a 7-day trial to see if the R13 lives up to seventy years of peer pressure.

Buffet made some further refinements in the 1970s, and since then they've pretty much left it alone — preferring to put their R&D into newer models like the Tradition and Légende. The R13 is frozen in time, which is both its appeal and (depending on who you talk to) its limitation.

What are the limitations? Go into the R13 Dashboard below and you'll see. The low register runs flat. The throat tones run really flat. The 12ths stretch. The intonation spread is wider than most modern designs. That said, it's still the benchmark for its sound and response — quintessentially French: articulation is crisp, tone is bright and even across registers. My view: the R13 is a 1970s design playing in a 2020s market. Competitors (and, indeed Buffet themselves) have spent decades refining what Carrée started.

If you're upgrading from a student horn and the R13 is the only professional clarinet you've heard of, you're in the right place — but do yourself a favor and play a few alternatives before you decide. That's what we're here for!

Resistance: 5/10, Medium

The R13 is, unsurprisingly, middle-of-the-road. It is the epitome of "French" clarinets in my opinion, with a tight core, medium resistance, and good response.

In general, added resistance in a clarinet design usually keeps the louder dynamic ranges from spreading; the clarinet "holds its core" and focus, but will provide a smaller dynamic range (on both ends, loud and soft) and smaller color palette. A less resistant clarinet typically provides a much wider tonal palette to choose from, but will require more control from the player to control pitch and sound consistency.

When listening for how a clarinet responds to added air pressure and embouchure control, listen to the Weber example (wide dynamic range and color range), then the Berlioz excerpt (wide dynamic range, but narrow color range), and finally the Gershwin excerpt (narrow dynamic range and narrow color range). You will hear how these clarinets respond — for better or worse! — to my input as a clarinet player.

Important note about this clarinet's warranty.

These are new clarinets imported directly from France, which is why our price is so competitive.

The catch: no Buffet Crampon USA warranty, since we're not buying through their US channel. So I warranty them myself for two years — manufacturing and material defects, and cracks (because that's what everybody actually worries about), with the same exclusions Buffet's own warranty carries. My promise to you: you've got a covered claim, you let me know, and I'll take care of the whole process. Full terms below in the FAQ!

(This applies to the R13 only — our other Buffet models, like the Festival, come through Buffet's US channel and carry the standard Buffet Crampon USA warranty.)

All earspasm instruments come with a 7-day trial. Please read my trial policy before pulling out that credit card.