Klarinet Archive - Posting 000287.txt from 2003/12

From: "CLARK FOBES {USER_LASTNAME}" <reedman@-----.netcom.com>
Subj: [kl] Copying Kaspar
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 17:39:25 -0500

Greg Smith stated:

"Personally, I don't even refer to original Kaspars or Chedevilles that have
been adjusted in any way as "original" since they have been altered in some
way unintended by their original makers."

Greg makes an important point here. It is rare now to find Kaspars that have
not been adjusted (or ruined) by other makers.
I believe the prevalence of refaced Kaspars is a further indication that
needs in mouthpieces are changing from what the players used during the long
period of production by the Kaspars (about 1920 - 1975).

In fact, if one compares the Chicago Kaspars to the Cicero Kaspars, there
was a significant change in the shape of the chamber (Chicagos tending to be
GENERALLY deeper than the Ciceros). I don't know if the change in blank was
a result of a conscious desire to produce a more powerful mouthpiece or if
it was simply result of using blanks that were available.(These were
reputed to be Chedeville blanks. The blanks used by Franklin L. Kaspar after
he moved to Ann Arbor are mostly J.J. Babbitt blanks.) It really is hard to
pinpoint a date of cahnge in blanks, because the work of both Kaspars
overlapped and I believe the younger Kaspar continued work in Chicago for a
period of time after the elder moved to Ann Arbor (ca.1950). But we do know
that Frank Kaspar the younger moved his shop from Chicago to Cicero some
time in the 60s. I have not seen a Cicero mouthpiece with the deep baffle
design of he Chicago. Perhaps Greg might have more information about this.
It was in the 60s, I believe that Kaspar developed some of the best
mouthpieces and was vaulted to greater fame due to his association with
Marcellus. Marcellus apparently insisted that his students all play Kaspar
mouthpieces with Morre reeds and subsequently birthed a legion of fine
players who in turn had their students buy Kaspar mouthpieces. A great
legacy indeed.

Clark W Fobes

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