Thanks to Alan Kunze from Boise, Idaho, for giving me the opportunity to review his dad’s clarinet. Ray Kunze (Alan's dad) grew up, and played the clarinet as a young person in Milwaukee.

I previously reviewed two hard rubber G. Valette clarinets, one in A and one in Bb. They were both excellent, and so it is not all that surprising that this one is very good too.

Serial  #7839x The last number is illegible on both the left and right hand joints.

Barrel:  68.26mm That’s quite long!

Bore LH joint top:  14.9mm/14.75mm a few mm farther in

Bore LH joint at bottom:  14.75mm

Intonation results taken when playing loud and not lipping. See how to interpret these results on the Model Comparison Page.

For this test, I pulled  0 mm at the barrel, and 0  mm at the center tenon.

Intonation summary: Truthfully, there are many Buffet R13s from this period that do not play as well in tune as this clarinet. It would be helpful to have a 66mm barrel for this clarinet, so that it could have room to push in when playing with other instruments that go sharp.

Key work quality: Typical for Couesnon in this period. The key work is not as sturdy as good quality modern clarinets.

This clarinet is most appropriate for: Anyone in Alan’s family that will value having this fine antique clarinet.

Condition issues noted:  The wood is in good shape, as are the springs and they keys. No cracks were found in the wood.