 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: A Brady
Date: 2010-02-27 00:03
I recently came into possession of a Chicago Kaspar, marked 16, through a friend after an estate sale. The mouthpiece had a very nice sound, but was quite open for me, and tuned quite high, typical for Kaspars.
I decided to have Brad Behn take a look at it, and we decided to go ahead and close it down a bit (1.16 to 1.04 approximately), and generally perfect the piece.
The results are outstanding. I am now producing a very pure and resonant sound on a very reed friendly mouthpiece, altogether a marvelous playing experience.
I was not looking for a new (vintage) mouthpiece, as I have been, and continue to be, very pleased with the CH 1.04 I have been playing for the last year and a half or so, but this Kaspar is a wonderful addition to my collection, and will be used extensively at the top of the rotation. Brad perfected the piece, while still retaining the wonderful Kaspar resonance and response, which was my main goal for the reface. I will play this with a 67 mm barrel to tune in 440 situations, the 66 works well for 442.
A marvelous combination of fine original workmanship, vintage rubber (Chedeville blank), and modern craftsmanship. Bravo, Brad!
Alan Brady
AB
Post Edited (2010-02-27 00:05)
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2010-02-27 01:51
I play a Kaspar Cicero 12 that Brad refaced that is really amazing. I also have several ch. chedevilles and others that Brad has reworked and all play very well.
I trust Brad to work on ANY mouthpiece! Amazing work!
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Author: Chetclarinet
Date: 2010-02-27 02:01
I also have had several Chicago and Cicero Kaspar mouthpieces worked on by Brad Behn, and all play beautifully! Brad has the artistic skill to improve the feel and response of these famous mouthpieces while preserving the charactistic sound and projection . I am currently playing on a Frank kaspar Chicago L Model that he evidently made for students of Robert Lindemann , Principal Clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony during the 1940's.
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Author: Bill Patry
Date: 2010-02-27 17:39
All great to hear, because I am sending off to Brad on Monday a Kaspar Ann Arbor., for re-boring and refacing to work with a Rossi large bore Viennese model. We had great conversations about what to do and I feel quite confident the end result will be fabulous.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-02-27 17:44
Chet -
Everett Matson told me that he had studied with Lindemann, who played Oehler clarinets with a narrow mouthpiece and string ligature. He showed me several of Lindemann's mouthpieces, which had the German shape -- one black, another brown and the third a fluorescent yellow.
Frank Kaspar undoubtedly made mouthpieces for Lindemann students and may have tried to duplicate the German playing qualities, but these were adaptations to the French style blank rather than copies.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Chetclarinet
Date: 2010-03-01 01:06
Ken--thanks for the interesting info! Actually, the two L model Kaspar mouthpieces I use these days have a "darker", slightly less focused sound than the "normal" Kaspars I have.
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Author: Glen Sargent
Date: 2010-03-21 15:50
I recently had Brad "duplicate" an Ann Arbor Kaspar I borrowed onto another Ann Arbor I found in a junk old clarinet (bought the clarinet just to get the mouthpiece). The "junker" mpc did not play very well, but the one I was borrowing was a great piece owned by a long time pro clarinetist with a military band (now VERY retired). Brad quickly made the "junker" play superbly - not EXACTLY like the older piece, but very close - my new #1 mpc.
Brad also spent a lot of time helping me with a major change in reed/mouthpiece concept - I'm a doubler and was having some problems with consistency in my clarinet setup - Brad threw out quite a bit of information for me to digest, and then sent me a box of mpcs to try out. None of his pieces quite were right for me, but he continued to be a great resource for info until the Kaspar situation resolved and my change seems to be settling.
A real pro and a great source of information - even if you don't spend a gob of $$ he was very helpful. I would recommend his services to anyone.
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