The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ChristianSchubert
Date: 2010-10-24 16:51
I recently discovered Ramón Wodkowski, a brilliant, brilliant mouthpiece craftsman, because the Houston Symphony was just on a two week tour in the UK. A colleague in our section had heard very positive reviews about Ramón's work and three of us in the section decided to pack up all of our treasured vintage gear (Kaspars, Chedvilles, Kanters, Selmers, etc.) and take them to London just in case Ramón was as good as people were saying.
All I can say is that we went in with high expectations but were still blown away after working with Ramón because the experience and the results were far beyond what any of us could have imagined. Every single mouthpiece Ramón worked on turned out WAY better. His knowledge about mouthpieces going back decades and decades is vast, his approach is very conservative, being careful to respect the inherent qualities of the practically irreplaceable vintage pieces we were handing across the table one after another after another. His skill and technique is very impressive. He knew what to do with each mouthpiece, brilliantly working in the intended style of each different facing, working in small steps. Watching that progression as my two colleagues were playing the mouthpieces after small adjustments was fascinating. Ramón was not shooting in the dark at all - every adjustment made sense as you heard each piece get better and better. Ramón never went in the WRONG direction. Very impressive.
As far as my own personal experience, I have played James Kanter mouthpieces ever since I was in Junior High school. I have 5 of them, three of which Jim made for me in the 80's. Two of those three I have played for most of my career. Therefore, due to almost 30 years of wear and tear, those two mouthpieces were about ready to have some work done. On his website, Ramón lists Jim Kanter and Everett Matson as his two teachers making me feel extra confident bringing my Kanters to Ramón. After Ramon refaced the first one, I played every concert on our tour on that mouthpiece. It is the best mouthpiece I had ever played (for me, obviously). So at the end of the tour, after having so much luck with the first mouthpiece, I stayed an extra day in London and had Ramón work on three more of my Kanters. I am now in the very lucky situation of having four Kanter mouthpieces that all feel better than they have felt in years, or ever felt. It is hard to decide which one of those four to play they are all so good. Those four mouthpieces also all sound/feel better than my fifth Kanter mouthpiece which I have played for the last seven years. I decided to leave that one untouched until my return to our concert hall here in Houston so I could have a baseline to judge against.
My other two colleagues in the clarinet section are having similar experiences with the Kaspars, H. Chedvilles, C. Chedvilles, Bettoneys and Selmers that Ramón worked on for them. We are back in Houston and all of us are playing on Ramón's work and recommending him to anyone who asks.
Bottom line. If you have nice stuff, it is absolutely worth the effort to take it to Ramón first!! His website is: http://www.ramonwodkowski.com/
Christian Schubert
Clarinetist, Houston Symphony, Texas, USA
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Best Clarinet Mouthpiece Craftsman! new |
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ChristianSchubert |
2010-10-24 16:51 |
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William |
2010-10-25 14:49 |
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John J. Moses |
2010-10-25 17:56 |
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sclarinet |
2010-10-25 23:29 |
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David Spiegelthal |
2010-10-26 12:44 |
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