Klarinet Archive - Posting 000119.txt from 2006/12

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Stephen Fox
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:58:56 -0500

At the time you visited me some 30 years ago, I had two Selmer basset =
horns. Today Karen Sremac owns them. The Fox is quite new and a =
spectacular instrument.

Good to hear from you.

Dan Leeson =20
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: kurtheisig@-----.net]
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 1:21 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Stephen Fox

Danny,

That must be some horn! The Selmer Basset horn I played at your =
house--is it 30 years ago?--was the finest clarinet, in any key, that I =
had played.

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
>From: dnleeson <dnleeson@-----.net>
>Sent: Dec 20, 2006 2:21 PM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: RE: [kl] Stephen Fox
>
>Well, I had pretty much retired from playing and I had no
>instruments. But when I saw the 2006 year looming, I realized
>that I wanted to participate as player for the Mozart 250th.
>
>I had owned to Selmer basset horns. They were nice instruments
>but I had sold them. One of them was Rosario Mazzeo's own basset
>horn and, as good as it was, it had problems.
>
>I went to the German makers but stopped looking the moment it
>became apparent that they would not make an instrument with a
>standard clarinet mouthpiece. Theirs all had alto clarinet
>mouthpieces. Beautiful things. Like looking at a Mercedes Benz.
>And in tune, or at least the ones I had heard. But an alto
>clarinet mouthpiece?? No way.
>
>It was then that I contacted Steve Fox, first, because he had a
>good reputation for turning out a quality product, and second, he
>was prepared to build what I wanted. First thing was the wood.
>I did not want African blackwood. I wanted something else.
>Second I wanted gold keys. Third I wanted a plateau system with
>certain fingering constraints. And last, it had to use a soprano
>clarinet mouthpiece and be a narrow bored instrument. Oh yes. I
>wanted a wooden bell. Metal bells (which I had on both my past
>basset horns and my bass clarinet) affected the sound of the
>instrument in ways that I did not care for. I also noticed that
>the basset clarinets being made in the UK were with wooden bells.
>You have no idea how much time and money I spent trying to get a
>wooden bell made for my bass. Today Morrie Backun makes one, but
>not then.
>
>So Steve Fox and I had some email and some phone calls and I made
>down payment. It was that simple.
>
>18 months later I had the instrument and, except for one problem
>that I eventually learned to live with, everything was OK. I
>don't want you to think that all was perfect because that is
>almost never the case with a hand made instrument. But those
>things did not bother me.
>
>After about two years, Keith contacted me and asked if he could
>come by my home in California to try the horn. He did, and he
>ordered the same instrument from Fox, though there were a few
>minor touchpiece changes. Then one of the players at Keith's
>Santa Fe workshop ordered one, but in African blackwood.
>
>That's about the story. Now I am done playing. There are
>physical problem that I face that prevent me from playing as well
>as I once did. My memory is getting poor as is my breath
>control, but I did 8 Requiem's this year, three Gran Partittas,
>and a bunch of other things. So I am happy going out of clarinet
>playing the way I did. I did not want people to start saying,
>"When is he going to stop playing?" as I have heard them say
>about other musicians. I got out while still competent.
>
>Dan Leeson
>DNLeeson@-----.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Wayne Thompson [mailto:wthompson222@-----.net]
>Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 2:02 PM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: [kl] Stephen Fox
>
>
>Dan and Keith,
>Do you care to tell the story of how you learned of
>Stephen Fox and decided to order a Basset Horn from
>him? Dan, did you have a chance to play a basset horn
>that he had made? Ten years ago was early in his
>business, was it not? Keith, I believe I've read that
>you bought yours after playing Dan's; but that's
>probably oversimplifying, yes?
>
>Wayne
>
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