 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2009-08-05 05:03
There is a video of Glen on youtube working on a mouthpiece. Does anyone know what he is doing with the strips of abrasive? Is he working on the facing curve one rail at a time? The common flat strokes on the abrasive paper is to bring the opening down but I'm not sure what he is doing the rest of the time. Ideas?
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2009-08-05 16:10
I have a Sohnston-Selmer sop cl mp, [too close] for me, but I felt it dated from the 30-40's. Its came on a Geo. Bundy wood of that time period. Could this be one made by him? [Glen that is] I also inherited a Chedeville Lelandis alto sax mp, so, is it as rare as iseems? if so what value might it have? All comments appreciated, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-08-05 22:41
Hard to tell what he's doingexactly but it looks like he's holding sandpaper against a metal rod and sanding the baffle or maybe the walls.
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-08-05 23:15
Yes, he seems to have worked on only one rail after he mentioned that he didn't make "that" mistake very often (of not getting one rail like the other).
I don't know about his other work, but Glen made the most beautiful sounding/playing Selmer C* bass cl. mouthpieces I've encountered to date. He really excavated and shaped the shallow baffle of the stock Selmer Bass C*'s - much like Matson did with a sharpened edge of a bolt(!) - so I'm not surprised to see him furiously sanding a baffle in this video. And his facings were really comfortable for many, many people.
One of my former colleagues, Donald Carroll, Bass Cl. of the San Francisco Symphony for many, many years, was from the L.A. area and knew Glen very well for several decades. Don had so many magnificent Glen Johnston pieces, both sax and clarinet, that more than several times he just gave them away to his best students and his colleagues (that was Don Carroll for you!). I have two Selmer bass mthpcs from Don that are the finest I've ever encountered.
Can anyone shed more light as to Glen's history, etc? I only know bits and pieces of his storied past from my years working with Don Carroll in S.F. when I was playing out there. I'm sure that Glen was very valuable to many players in the L.A area and beyond.
Thanks in advance for any contributions about him and his artistry.
Gregory Smith
http://www.gregory-smith.com
Post Edited (2009-08-05 23:16)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2009-08-05 23:40
Yes, Glen only had one leg when I knew him and studied with him. He lost a leg in an earlier hunting accident. He supported the rebel "guild" movement in Local 47 and this, together with the leg situation, probably reduced his working gig situation. Glen played in the LA Philharmonic some and was on many early movie recordings as a wonderful Eb clarinet, bass clarinet, and saxophone player. While he was not a jazz improviser, he knew many jazz players and worked on their instruments and mouthpieces.
Glen studied the oboe for three years with Henri Debuescher, the long time first oboe in the LA Philharmonic. He told me that it was the best thing he ever did as Debuescher was noted for his artistic playing, also being a vocal coach. I believe that he also studied clarinet with Perrier, although I'm not positive of that.
Glen showed me how he worked on mouthpieces and I try to emulate his work, although I am not in the mouthpiece business and mostly work on my and my family mouthpieces plus a few friends. However, I made some tools for him that he used for many years. Certain commercial makers don't always make mouthpieces in his way.
There were chamber groups playing at his place frequently and I have a little of that music somewhere that he arranged.
His dislike of electronic tuners was well known and he relied on a big fork. About four of my clarinets were tuned by him and he also worked on my saxophones and mouthpieces. Sometimes he scratched his initials on a mouthpiece he liked near the cork.
Many more stories of Glen abound in Los Angeles. Good Luck!
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2009-08-06 22:14
In talking to Will Grizzle he mentioned that Glen used needle springs and drill bits of various diameters to roll the mouthpiece on when facing a mouthpiece. The spring would roll and move up the table so there would never be a flat spot on the facing curve. Large dia drill bits would start more towards the tip. As an amateur refacer I use this is with some of my work. It is easy to use.
Freelance woodwind performer
Post Edited (2009-08-07 02:39)
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