In the 1870s, the Boehm system clarinet became more popular in Italy, Belgium and the U.S.  Almost no other type of clarinet was used in France around this time. While the Boehm system clarinet found its initial success in France, it began replacing Albert system clarinet and its descendants in Belgium, Italy, and America in the 1870s. This mirrored the process of Manuel Gomez, a “prominent clarinetist in London who used the Boehm system and the Full Boehm system clarinet—in England in the 1890s”. [1]

 What we call the “Boehm” system below is actually a mechanism introduced in 1843 by Klosé, which was based on Boehm’s flute mechanism. It is almost always referred to (also for the oboe) as “Boehm,” but Boehm himself had nothing to do with it. Some German makers use a later system called the “Oehler,” and there are a few examples of that mechanism.

By the early twentieth century, most clarinetists used Boehm system or a Boehm system derivative (exceptions being performers from Germany, Austria, and Russia). The only popular alternative was the ‘Full Boehm System’ clarinet, which was introduced by Buffet Crampon, a French manufacturer of wind instruments based in Mantes-la-Ville.