 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kris
Date: 2011-09-17 01:28
Wow! Thanks for sharing your experience! Really cool!
~* Kris *~
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-09-17 02:20
Now you guys know what I did for 15 years! It is a cool place; the size of the building and the automation. It's almost like a shock to see for the first time, such as each reed machine popping out a reed every 6 seconds or less, times 31 machines. I'd still be there if they didn't use pesticides, which got me sick. Too bad for them! Did you smell the weird dust from the cutting of the reeds and tubes?
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2011-09-17 02:23)
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-09-17 03:03
Thanks! They are really secretive about how much or how little you can see.
Usually the building behind the main building is where they cut the tubes to their selected size such as bari sax thicknesses to the
Eb clarinet size. Were you able to see that part? Those ladies that work in the back building are so friggen fast!
That's also where they made the Rico mouthpieces which Arnold Brillhart tried to design, but there were too many issues and they never played at all. I was asked to step in when Arnold left, he was 93 yrs old and still very sharp. Anyway the molds and the facing machines were pretty poor. Somewhat of a disaster actually, but a pretty good idea of making a mouthpiece that would never break. Too bad the designs had so many faults. Did you see any of that part?
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-09-17 06:49
The mouthpieces didn't break because of the material. I'm pretty open about what Rico did and does, but this is one of the very few times where I shouldn't say anything. Rico went to great lengths finding this material and deserve to keep the compound safe from the world. I can say it was kind of a very dense rubber like material mixture. They came in the form of tiny pallets, heated and then dipped into a 2 or 3 sectioned injection metal mold. When I say dipped, it's actually 1000 pounds or more of pressure pushed into the injection molds. This is also something special to see.
By redoing the soprano sax mouthpieces they played really well. But right off of the mold and into the refacing machine the mouthpieces in my opinion were unplayable. I'm actually using the reworked soprano sax MP on my horn.
The clarinet molds had too deep of an incline and in a "U" position right behind the tip. That was a nightmare, because you'd have to make a new $40,000 or more mold to fix this problem. I'm out of the scene now so I have no idea if they ever attempted to fix the problem or if they actually knew how to fix the problem., based on the rework I did to them. About the time I was getting into fixing the design defects is when I left. Rico did keep me on the project for about 4 months working out of my house. That was my last dealings with Rico.
If they ever ask me to work out of my home and with the molder I'd take the job.
I don't hate Rico, I'm just very disturbed that we weren't told. So Rico as a company is fine, it's the selected few people involved that didn't tell the musicians about the chemicals. I wish I could have sued the people involved, and not Rico. That wasn't an option.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2011-09-17 07:02)
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Author: The Doctor ★2017
Date: 2011-09-17 11:49
Bob, thank you for the first hand information and experiences. I think that everyone would agree that the design and architecture of a mouthpiece is the most important aspect of a mouthpiece's playing ability but must be married with the qualities of the material in the mouthpiece. The resonate qualities of the material can be helped or hindered by the design. It is also very expensive to make changes of design using the molding process because the metal cores must be altered for the initial injection molding step. As Bob indicated these cores can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Also, quality of the ingredients, the composition of additives, and the vulcanization temperature and pressure, tempering steps, and cooling steps also affect the material of the blank.
L. Omar Henderson
www.doctorsprod.com
www.chedevillemp.com
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-09-17 18:41
Great job on the tour, thanks for posting it. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Curious, I'm curious who you are since we both live in the Baltimore area. I tried sending you an e-mail asking but it came back to me telling me that you don't have a Yahoo account as listed in your web site. Contact me when you get a chance at palanker@aol.com
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2011-09-17 19:42)
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-09-18 18:19
MarlboroughMan - Sound proof rooms near the vamp machines. Vamp machines are where the blanks are cut into reeds.
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