Klarinet Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 2005/10

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Kaspar Mouthpiece with Solid Silver Facing
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2005 01:14:04 -0400

Tom,

I own 30 Cicero Kaspar mouthpieces and bought and sold hundreds while Frank
was alive....and every one had an asymmetrical facing.

Forest Aten

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom.Henson@-----.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 9:49 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Kaspar Mouthpiece with Solid Silver Facing
>
> Hello all,
>
> I figure that this list would be a good place to start in asking this
> question. I recently obtained an original Kaspar Cicero # 13 mouthpiece
> from a friend who has retired and was a student of Marcellus. It is the
> most unusual Kaspar I have seen, and I have only seen one other like it.
> The entire tip, rails, and table are solid silver and beautifully worked
> into the rubber Chedeville blank. The workmanship is so good that it is
> almost unbelievable.
>
> I was told by the person I bought it from that it was custom made by
> Frank Kaspar for Ted Johnson, who played it in the Cleveland Orchestra
> and who sat next to Robert Marcellus. So this particular mouthpiece was
> used professionally and not just some oddity. I have been unable to find
> out anything else about this mouthpiece or how many like this Frank
> Kaspar might have made. I was also told by the person that I bought it
> from that it has an asymmetrical facing, something that Kaspar was not
> known for, so this would also lead me to believe that it was a custom
> piece and the facing was specifically requested by Ted Johnson.
>
> In talking with the other person who has one almost exactly like mine,
> they told me that they were quite rare and that they had not even seen
> one on eBay. I sent the mouthpiece to them as they were interested and
> wanted to measure and document it. They told me that it was indeed
> original and unaltered in any way. Of course, being that the entire
> facing is solid silver, I would think it would be quite a bit harder to
> reface, but guess it is possible.
>
> The really good part is that the mouthpiece plays really well. The reed,
> vibrating against the silver instead of rubber, produces a little
> different sound, but not radically different than any other Kaspar I
> have played. It still has the deep, resonant sound that they are known
> for. One thing that it does very well is articulation. The reed is able
> to respond quite quickly, possibly due to vibrating against a harder
> surface. This may have been the whole idea behind this set up.
>
> If anyone has ever seen, heard, or has any knowledge about this, please
> let me know. I am just really curious about it. I was also told that
> Frank Kaspar learned to fashion a mouthpiece like this from his days
> working for Goldbeck, and that Goldbeck had experimented with this as
> well.
>
> Tom Henson
>
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