Klarinet Archive - Posting 000097.txt from 2005/10

From: X-MailScanner-tom.henson@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] Brad Behn
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:23:56 -0400

Hello Bartholomew,

This may be a little late in response to your question, but I see that
someone else also has posted a good response to your original message.

It is a very difficult thing to compare one brand of anything to another
simply because it would, at best, be subjective. It might even be highly
subjective and of little real value. On the other hand it can be
illuminating to a degree if objectively done.

I am not able to answer your question directly, but I will say this
about Brad's new Vintage line of mouthpieces. I use a capital "V" in
regards to his line of mouthpieces because that is what he calls it and
to distinguish from the older vintage mouthpieces that one finds
typically on places like eBay. Those would be vintage Kaspar's and
Chedeville's mainly to compare to what he is offering.

The best suggestion that I can give you is to visit his excellent and
very informative websites. The first website deals with the Artist line
of mouthpieces that you mention, and the second site deals only with the
Vintage line.

http://www.behnmouthpieces.com/

http://www.clarinetmouthpiece.com/

I have read this information in detail and also talked with Brad on the
phone about the Vintage line. As we all know, many clarinetist are
interested in the vintage mouthpieces made by Kaspar and Chedeville.
There were actually two Frank Kaspar's and two Chedeville's, Henri and
Charles. I believe that both of the Chedeville's are related like the
two Kaspar's were.

To try and simplify why so many people are interested in the vintage
mouthpieces is due mainly to the sound that they produce. Many people
feel that the sound that these great mouthpieces produce are due in part
to the rubber formulation used and the fact that they were made from
hard rod rubber instead of just molded like they are today. These two
ways of making mouthpiece blanks are quite different indeed, the rod
rubber being more expensive to make and fashion into a blank. When one
listens to a good quality recording from great clarinetists from the
past who used these mouthpieces, it becomes apparent what the people
today are looking for, but feel they are missing. Just one example of
many, are the recordings of Harold Wright as put out on the Boston
Records label. I mention these recordings in particular because they
were all recorded live in a performance setting and not done in a
studio. If one listens to these recordings with headphones and with an
ear to fine detail, the sound that Mr. Wright produced was just
wonderful in my opinion. Simply incredible. It is my understanding that
he played on either an old Chedeville or Lelandais blank. I don't know
who did the facings for him, but someone on this list is sure to know.

Now, there have been two other firms that have come out with what they
are claiming is an authentic copy of the vintage Chedeville mouthpieces.
The first one is Glotin from France. Glotin bought up the Chedeville
company in the 1970's and inherited whatever was left of the firm at
that time. Evidently, they had the "blueprint's" or enough documentation
on hand to make a modern day copy of the original Chedeville's. It is
supposed to made of rod rubber just like the originals, but I don't know
if the facing is applied by machine, by hand, or both. How well they
succeeded I can not say as I have not played on one of these mouthpieces
personally. I know that others on the list have and have also posted
comments as well. Their mouthpiece sells in the US for about $310. I
find a flaw in their approach in that their goal was to make an exact
copy of the originals. I have no idea of what facing they applied to
this blank.

The second attempt that I know of was a collaboration between Guy
Chadash and Chris Hill. It is my understanding that they did research
using some original Chedeville's and tried to find out what the exact
formulation was of the rubber compound used. They then proceeded to form
the rubber into hard rod rubber billets like that used in the old days.
However, unlike the old days, they are using CNC machinery to machine
the rod rubber billet down to the final shape of the mouthpiece and then
Chris Hill applies a hand facing and tunes them. I have played on one of
these mouthpieces and liked it. You can tell that the blank was produced
on a CNC machine as there are tiny machining lines visible in the
surface and the mouthpiece has a dull grey/black color to it. No attempt
is made to polish the surface to a high gloss, unlike the Glotin copy. I
am not certain what these sell for, but I would think they sell for over
$200 in the US. I bought mine used and so do not know what the full
price currently is.

Now to Brad Behn and his Vintage line. Brad also did extensive research
like the others did before him. He decided that the one mouthpiece that
he would use as a master for the rubber formulation was an old 1930's
era Henri Chedeville mouthpiece. I do not know what Chadash/Hill used as
their master for the formulation analysis. Glotin choose to copy a
Charles Chedeville and not an Henri. Once Brad was satisfied that he had
the proper rubber formula that was used (there are hundreds of
formulations at the very least if not more), he spent more time
researching the actual molding process. It is my opinion that this may
be where he is different than the others. He experimented with curing
the rubber at different temperatures and for various amounts of time.
This is an expensive part of making a mouthpiece blank. The fact that
this is a very slow process means that it is now in disuse due to the
cost and amount of time involved. Molding a mouthpiece into a finished
blank is just so much more efficient and faster as well as cost
effective.=20

Next, Brad takes the rod rubber billet and machines it down to a
finished blank using CNC machinery like Chadash/Hill. This process also
is very expensive when one considers how long it took to write the
proper program for the machine to make a blank to a any perfect degree,
according to your master blank or your measurements. I would say that
this is a very long and painstaking process of trial and error of
getting it just perfect. Finally, Brad says that he hand applies the
facing and can use any number of facings that works well on his blanks.
He told me that there are many, many facings that can be successfully
applied. Here is another area where I believe his knowledge as a refacer
is very helpful. Brad has refaced many mouthpieces over his career, and
has refaced and worked on many original Kaspar's and Chedeville's. He
says that his goal was not to copy the facing off of the master
mouthpiece, but to apply a facing that would take the resonant
properties of this very high grade rod rubber into account and maximize
it's full potential. He told me that when looking at the very best
vintage Chedeville's that he had seen, that many of them were anomalies
in that they were more the exception than the rule. Meaning that not
every Chedeville was a good or even great mouthpiece. That is why people
like Kaspar would buy the Chedeville blanks, machine off their name and
markings, and then proceed to apply their own facing. That is when a
truly great mouthpiece was born and these are the ones that are the most
prized and sought after. I would even imagine that a stock Chedeville
mouthpiece was no better or worse than any other stock mouthpiece then
on the market. That is why one must be very careful when buying them. If
you don't know the history of the mouthpiece with any certainty, you
really don't know what you are getting and much of it may just be hype.

I will be receiving some of Brad's Vintage mouthpieces in a few days on
trial and I will be happy to share my feelings to the list, but that is
all I can give you, an opinion, which by nature is subjective to me and
my set up. At $650 a mouthpiece, Brad's mouthpieces will not even put a
dent in the market and will probably not affect those on this list that
make them such as Clark Fobes and Walter Grabner. What I have a feeling
these mouthpieces will do, is to get people to think twice about buying
a vintage mouthpiece on eBay and paying about the same amount of money
for them. This could, over time, cause a reduction in asking price for
these vintage mouthpieces and I think that would be a good thing. That
way, more people could afford to try them and decide for themselves if
the legend is real or not.

Tom Henson

-----Original Message-----
From: Bart Rogers [mailto:drkevin2b@-----.com]=20
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 2:37 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Brad Behn

Can anyone give me any experiences with the Brad Behn Vintage and Artist
mouthpieces? How do they compare with other custom makers?

Thanks.

Bartholomew

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org