Author: chedmanus
Date: 2006-02-05 15:58
I recently received a shipment of Backun mouthpieces to try; overall I think they are decent, not great in my book.
I am not the type of person to become caught up in the hype of a new mouthpiece, instrument, reed, etc, but the Backun mouthpieces caused such a stir in many circles of professionals whom I deal with that I couldnt resist. What sold me was the news that David Shifrin is using them, having abandoned his old faithful (and incredible) Kanter for these new pieces. Surely this was my new mouthpiece - I was sadly mistaken.
First off, I'd like to say that the level of professionalism and courtesy I received from Morrie and his staff was exceptional. They were polite, eager to please and treated me as if I was their most important customer. The ordering process was fast, they had some mouthpieces ready and shipped them with light-speed quickness. I do not like the price of the mouthpieces (too high), or the fact that you must pay for all pieces before shipment, any returns being refunded.
The mouthpieces didnt work for me very well and Morrie refunded my money promptly as promised. I received a very polite email from his staff at the end of the deal and that was that; quite a nice transaction compared with some nightmares Ive experienced with returns and other mouthpiece makers.
I tested the Shifrin model for about a week:
The mouthpieces play very easily and are in tune with a fine high register. I find the sound a bit 2 dimensional and small, boxed in and hard to voice; they have a certain restricted feeling to them. They dont possess any really great colours, if anything I had to work hard to put colour in. Dynamics were also a bit of a problem, they didnt seem to like being pushed beyond a mf or f at the most. The blanks seem ok to me, but oddly resemble and feel like a Zinner of some sort...The quality of workmanship is great, and the logo is quite clever.
I tried the mouthpieces on the job and had to switch back straight away - for me they had no volume or body of sound. I did try all sorts of reed combinations with the same result.
Overall I dont find these a remakable improvement to the other products on the market. The price is the one thing that made my decision - it just wasnt worth it to me.
It is not my intention to discourage anyone from trying the Backun mouthpieces - they are without a doubt the result of many hours of careful study, trial and error and are beautifully crafted. What doesnt work for me may work great for the next guy, and vice versa. I personally would be interested in trying Backuns mouthpieces in a few years, once they have been fine tuned a bit.
Post Edited (2006-02-05 16:26)
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