Evette Buffet Crampon Made in Germany Plastic Student Bb Clarinet
Reviewed in 2026 by Jared Burchfield
Introduction: This plastic Evette was my first ever clarinet purchase and also the first wind instrument that I ever owned. Back in high school, I decided that I wanted to purchase my own clarinet, but I knew very little about clarinet brands or instrument repair at the time. I often heard my band directors and other clarinetist saying that Buffet Crampon was a reputable brand name to buy a clarinet from, so I went looking for one. Shocked by the astronomically high prices of even used Buffet instruments, I went on eBay to see if I could find anything cheaper. And that was where I encountered this Evette sponsored by Buffet Crampon plastic clarinet for just $50 complete with a mouthpiece and a case. I purchased it in 2017, and I was very excited to finally own my own clarinet. It was playable when I got it, although it needed a lot of work. It eventually became the subject of my very first overhaul attempt on a clarinet once I got interested in repair, and admittedly my overhaul attempt probably made it worse than it had before. Ultimately, I ended up selling it once to a friend of mine who has a band director who dropped it off at a local thrift store a few years later, after which I bought this clarinet back for the same price I had bought it at first. I have since overhauled it correctly with new pads, new corks and a full cleaning and adjustment. After getting everything repaired, I thought I would take the time to review my very first clarinet purchase.
General Information: This clarinet is branded “Evette sponsored by Buffet Crampon” and it was probably made in the 1970s or 1980s. Evette was a brand name owned by Buffet Crampon in France, and many of their wooden clarinets were similar to that of Buffet’s own professional instruments. Apparently the German clarinet maker Schreiber was also involved in the manufacture of this clarinet, as it is stamped made in Germany on the back of the lower joint by the serial number. The relation of these three brands is not well documented and different sources seem to suggest different things, so for our purposes it is just important to know that the three companies were involved in each other’s clarinet making and that Buffet owned both of them. Evette branded clarinets are no longer manufactured today, but form posts suggest that this particular line of Evette clarinets later were rebranded as the now popular Buffet Crampon B12, which is the entry-level Buffet student clarinet still manufactured today.
Playability and Tuning: For this review, I played the Evette with my Vandoren BD5 mouthpiece, a Vandoren V12 reed and a Rovner Mark III dark ligature. The clarinet produces a decent tone overall and honestly I think the sound is fairly warm, although there are a lot of stuffy notes on this instrument that stick out immediately. Open G, C# sharp, both alternate E flats and the throat B flat are incredibly stuffy, and really I think it’s safe to say that pretty much the entirety of the throat to register on this clarinet is pretty stuffy and weak sounding even compared to other student models from brands like Bundy, Vito and Yamaha. The rest of the lower register sounds pretty decent, and there’s really not much stuffiness on the lower register besides the low G, which is incredibly stuffy for some reason. The clarion is much better with the only real standouts being the lower clarion, D, which shares the same stuffiness as the low G. Overall, I feel like though the sound is sort of warm and round, it feels kind of weak and I don’t really feel as though I can project very well without pushing the instrument out of tune. And speaking of intonation, all of those stuffy notes that I mentioned earlier are all hilariously flat to the point of almost being unbelievable, especially the side trill Eb. I remember this being a problem when I was overhauling this instrument a second time last year and I remember spending a lot of time trying to adjust the thickness of the cork and the thickness of the pad to make this note sound good, but I can never really get it to a point where it actually sounded even remotely usable. Playing through the throat tone register on a tuner with this instrument is comical because throat B flat is super flat and much like the R13 I reviewed, the throat tones in general are just really flat which is weird and not the typical clarinet tendency. As we work our way down from there, open G is stuffy, but thankfully it is kind of in tune. As you continue to walk down chromatically, the flatness continues until you arrive at D which is like 20 cents sharp, after which the sharpness continues until you finally arrive at low A and G which are finally close to being in tune, although still pretty weak and dull. Going up is a lot better and really the clarion register on this clarinet is significantly better than the chalameau in general, but it’s still pretty rough throughout. The lower part of the clarion register trends flat, but then after you pass G in the upper register, it suddenly jumps sharp and stays that way all the way to altissimo. So needless to say, it’s hard to really talk about my playing experience when I can hardly play in tune on this instrument. It is likely that there are some set up and adjustment things that I could do to make this instrument a little better. But then again, before I attempted any overhauls on it I remember many of these issues being present, especially with the stuffiness. Overall, I would describe playing this instrument as laborious and difficult because it’s so out of tune. You have to work so hard to get the notes to come out clearly because of the lack of responsiveness and even if you manage that, they’re so out of tune that it’s hardly worth the effort.
Build Quality and Construction: The body of this clarinet is made of a plastic resin similar to that of many other student clarinets of the time period as opposed to the false wood look that many modern student horns possess. This instrument has a glossy finish on the plastic which I like and really, I prefer this glossy look to the fake wood because the fake wood just looks cheap, and it really doesn’t look much like wood in the first place. The keywork is nickel plated, and I am pleased to say that the nickel plating on this clarinet looks very nice and has held up well over the years, which is something I couldn’t say for the new R13 that I purchased some years ago. That being said, the instrument overall just feels incredibly cheap, even by student horn standards. The whole thing is very lightweight and weights considerably less than other student clarinets that I have. And the keywork, well, it is evident that Buffet was trying to create the cheapest clarinet possible when they made this keywork. From the many manufacturing defects, such as rough edges and areas that were not finished correctly to the misshapen pad cups that aren’t completely round to the actively breaking solder joints the lower joint rings, it is clear that this key work was designed to be as cheap as possible. Action is clunky in some spots yet decent in others, and probably the best part of the keys are the left-hand pinky keys which actually feel fantastic. But when you take the instrument apart, the keys are just light and rough feeling. They feel as though they were made from a very low quality metal and I can’t help but question the durability of this in an actual band room setting. Also, it is worth noting that the ring around the bell has always spun around ever since I’ve owned this instrument. It has never been secured in place which just adds to the incredibly cheap feel. Buffet also decided to use a nylon adjustment screw on the throat G# and A keys as well. These nylon parts do not last and are prone to stripping easily if even the slightest force with a normal screwdriver is applied, and sure enough the nylon adjustment screw on this clarinet was destroyed and unusable when I got it. Overall, I just feel like this clarinet is very cheaply put together with poor craftsmanship and very lacking attention to details that even other student makers get right. I know that the Evette was always known as a cheap Buffet, and this clarinet certainly holds up to that reputation. On the good side though, at least the key action is decent in some places and for the most part works as you would expect, although they are certain keys such as the alternate F/C which have a lot of play and not much spring. I have seen this on other student clarinets and on some higher end instruments too, so that’s not really a big point of concern.
Case: This clarinet originally came in a Vito case that I later ended up selling to a friend of mine so I don’t actually have the original case. Also, I’m not entirely sure what the original case would’ve looked like for one of these instruments so there’s no point in trying to review a case that we don’t have.
Conclusion: The Evette is a cheap student clarinet designed to be the entry-level offering from a well known clarinet brand and not much else. The playability of this instrument was unimpressive, and I would almost say that it was borderline non-functional because of the many extreme intonation issues, especially in the throat tone register. And combining that with the stuffiness and the cheap clunky keywork, this clarinet really feels as though it was made for students to play the first few notes on, after which they would be practically required to upgrade to a better clarinet. It is possible that my clarinet is off adjustment wise, but I have tried everything that I can think of with this instrument. And even before I started working on it myself, I remember it being incredibly stuffy and having strange intonation. At least I know that my memory is not failing me, because playing this instrument some 10 years after I first bought it has not made me feel much better about it. Sure, it holds sentimental value as my first instrument, but there is a reason it sits on my desk next to my computer and is rarely played. Between all the issues noted here it is really just something that I don’t want to put any more time, effort, or money into because I have other instruments that I paid a lot less for that play a lot better.
I really tried to be open minded and give this instrument an honest unbiased review, because as you all know from reading other reviews on this site, I’m not overly fond of Buffet products to begin with because of my bad experiences with the R13 line, and this instrument did not help to change my opinion. This is the second Buffet related clarinet I have ever reviewed and it too suffers from a lot of the same problems as the R13s I have played did: stuffy and dull tone, weird and inconsistent intonation, and general build quality issues that I would not expect to find on an instrument made by such a highly held and experienced instrument maker. And I should also mention that this instrument is older, and as such I would’ve expected the quality to be at least a little bit better, but based on this experience it seems the older Buffet clarinets are not much better then the new ones.
In addition to my opinions on this instrument, I would like to also note that in spite of what some say there are in fact good and bad plastic student clarinets out there, and this clarinet proves it. I have spent a lot of time on this website speaking highly of plastic instruments and being surprised by how good some of them actually are, but I think it is about time that I finally reviewed one that lives up to every criticism that I hear people give to a plastic clarinet: poor tone, strange intonation, clunky keywork, and cheap build quality. I could completely understand someone disliking a plastic instrument if this was the only one you had ever played. I often gravitate towards well made plastic instruments for their durability, reliability and consistency, but even I could hardly stand to play this one for the purposes of this review. Though I hate to leave such a bad review on a clarinet that I’ve had for so much of my life, I feel that I should be honest and saying that I wouldn’t mess with one of these clarinets and would advise that you do the same. And given that this is the basis for the current Buffet B12, it makes me incredibly curious to review a newer B12 and see if it has improved. And it wouldn’t really take much. If Buffet could just make a decent quality instrument that produces a good tone and plays in tune, that would be a great start.