Buffet E-11 serial number misalignment

Reedymom

I am not a clarinet player, but my 14-year old daughter is now in her fourth year of playing. She has been using a Buffet B12 that i picked up used, but has been wanting to move on to an E-11, as recommended by her band teacher. Santa decided to grant her this wish, so today, we purchased an E-11 at a local music store. My daughter tried about 6-7 different E-11's and finally decided on the one model that they had that was made in France and had the silver keys.

All was well and we paid and headed home.Upon trying to register the clarinet on the Buffet website I noticed that the serial number on the longer, second joint had not been stamped on properly and the last 3-4 digits were double stamped and hard to read. The numbers on the first joint read easily and clearly and are cleanly imprinted. My question is if I should worry about this or just be happy that I got a good deal ($200 less than other locally quoted prices) or have i been fooled and should return it immediately. Does this misaligned serial number indicate any inherent problems with the joint itself. Any advice from seasoned players would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
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Serial numbers are often mis-stamped. Provided that the number doesn't look like it's been deliberately scratched off and modified so someone could pawn it (i.e. you have a stolen instrument), you shouldn't have any worries.
 
Thank you for your reply. The numbers do not appear as being scratched off, but rather an overlap of mis-stamped numbers with the final number appearing to with a "0" and "1" . From the top joint I can see that it should have been a "0". It sounds like it is not something to worry about and that she should go ahead and enjoy playing the instrument.
Thanks.
 
Kwality. Job 17.

(FWIW, the E11 isn't a bad horn. I've had a couple. I've seen mis-stamped serials on lotsa horns, so I wouldn't say it's a quality issue.)
 
What I have seen is that the first part of the serial is clear, and maybe the whole serial is clear on one joint, but the second part of the serial on one of the joints is indistinct. The stamp (which I believe was always applied by hand, at least to the wooden horns) was just "kissed" on the one side as the worker finished rolling it in place.

I have had that problem with my theft ID stamp at times. As the end of it is a 1/2" diameter phenolic plastic knob, it's a little hard to apply the pressure evenly, especially on a curved surface. I have to do the stamp, then check it under the loupe to make sure that it's all there.

It's a hardened, tool steel "stamp" with the identification information on it in microscopic type, and it easily presses into every surface that I've ever tried to stamp it on. If you don't know where to look, it looks like a scratch, but under magnification, it's all there. Horns cost too much to take a chance on someone lifting one - at least with ID on the horn/PA head/speaker/whatever, you've got positive ID for the police to look for.

On the other hand, one of the horns that I bought through eBay shows evidence of someone trying to tamper with the SN. The last digit on one of the joints is almost completely gone - there's enough of an impression there that, if you know that it's a "4" or whatever, you can pick it out. But, why they did one joint and not the other is the real mystery. As it came from Puerto Rico, just about any scenario you care to postulate could be true.
 
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