I've mentioned that I had a Buffet B11 Bb version of this -- standard Boehm system, though. I bought it because:
* It played very nicely
* It was pretty cheap
* It looked kewl
I don't remember if the keywork was copper plated, then lacquered or just plated. I don't remember it feeling odd. IIRC, I only used a Vandoren B40 mouthpiece on it. I thought about crystal, but the expense drove me away.
I traded it in a couple years later for a new YCL-34.
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I can't say it was a marketing ploy, per se. It's true that the Vito Dazzlers (different color clarinets) came out a bit before this. However, SML used to sell a clear oboe with the same copper keywork and Selmer and Kohlert experimented with clear horns in the past. I keep hearing that there's even a clear bass clarinet out there, somewhere.
I can say that I created a huge fuss when, a few years earlier, I tried to use my Pan American metal clarinet in band. I was told I couldn't because it looked too different, so the director would have freaked out over a clear horn. I played my way out of that problem -- i.e. I sounded good enough that the director had to keep me. I then switched to bass clarinet and eventually to bari sax.