Contrabass Digest

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2000-06-05

 
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 00:48:49 +0100
From: "Klaus Bjerre" <K-Bone @ vip.cybercity.dk>
Subject: Re: [CB] F mezzo-soprano mouthpiece and a bit more

Dear Alberto (and all Listmembers)

As a brass and recorder player I am no wizzard in sax knowledge.

Your mail address could point to a Swedish residence, so one source of
having your problem solved could be a contact to I. K. Gottfried of
Copenhagen. The present owner Lars Jonasson and his staff are quite good at
creating and finding solutions for serious wind musicians. As Lars and Peter
from the staff both are sax players themselves, there might be a good chance
that they could help you out, as they have done for a lot of your instrument
collegues.

You can find ways to contact the company at

http://www.gottfried.dk

This address does lead to the "...a bit more" part of the title. I have been
customer at I. K. Gottfried's since 1961. My very good friend Lars took over
the company in 1992. When the company celebrated its official 200th
anniversary he wanted to be a booklet telling about the company history to
be a part of the happenings. I was very honored that Lars asked me to write
that booklet.

The text and the illustrations have been transfered to form the core of the
company net-site. Although the company in the older times did concentrate on
brass instruments, this story might be of interest to readers in countries,
where that old companies might be very rare.

The translation to English has been done by non-musicians, but it might
still be functional. The Technology button does lead to a section, where I
have tried to give a short overview of the developments of the brass
instruments of the period.
 

All the best

Klaus

---------------------------------------------------------

From: LeliaLoban @ aol.com
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 19:09:20 EDT
Subject: [CB] mouthpiece case?

Eric Mumpower <nocturne @ arepa.com> wrote,
>I was wondering, has anyone ever seen for sale something along the lines of
>a small rigid case for a bass clarinet mouthpiece? I just bought a wooden
>mouthpiece and I don't want it to get scratched or chipped rattling around
>in my case.

I don't know if anyone has made a case specifically for this use, but try
flea markets, yard sales and retail camera stores for camera lens cases.
They're solid-walled and very well padded.  Most, I think, would be a bit big
for a bass clarinet mpc, but bubble pack or a flannel rag wrapped around the
mpc can fill out the space if necessary.  I've also found quite an assortment
of felt, padded leather or lined velvet bags with drawstrings, probably meant
for jewelry.  For travelling, I'd trust the hard camera lens cases more, but
the bags seem fine for separating mouthpieces and other items in the parts
compartments of cases at home.

Velvet, padded booze bottle gift bags turn up at yard sales all the time for
only a dollar or two.  These make great sax neck bags.  I even found a Chivas
Regal bag, velvet lined with flannel, big enough for my bass sax neck.  True,
the velvet bag with fancy golden drawstring *with tassels* (lah di dah) looks
a tad chi-chi for that scuffed, disreputable-looking neck....

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A bargain is something you cannot use at a price you cannot resist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------------------------------------------------------

From: PaulC135 @ aol.com
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 19:34:15 EDT
Subject: Re: [CB] [Contra digest]
 

In a message dated 6/4/00 10:29:44 PM, contrabass writes:

<< No mouthpiece came with it, so I bought an odd sized mouthpiece from a
vintage sax 'specialist' supposed to work on the horn...the results are ok
but not great, I have a strong feeling that the overall performance of the
instrument would be greatly improved with the 'right' equipment.
Any ideas, opinions, names, leads? I'm totally in the dark.. >>

The only mouthpiece that will work on the F mezzo is the one designed for the
instrument and made by Conn.  Other mouthpieces, vintage or modern, be they
smaller designed alto mouthpieces (as someone mentioned in an earlier post)
or oversized soprano mouthpiece will not work well.  A sound may come out up
and down the instrument, but intonation, response and tonal quality will
suffer dramatically.
    The Babbit mouthpiece company of Elkhart actually makes an F mezzo
mouthpiece based on the actual molds from the Conn company.  I have tried
them, and they are very close in sound and function to the mouthpieces made
at the time the instrument was produced, and they are recommended for
mouthpiece-orphaned F-mezzoers.  Kermit Welch of California recently
auctioned one off on Ebay, but he may still have it.  For more information on
the F mezzos, take a look at my  F mezzo column in the Saxophone Journal from
a few years back.  I also demonstrate an F mezzo and a Conn-0-Sax (also in F)
on my Vintage Saxophones Revisited CD.

Paul Cohen
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 01:09:36 +0100
From: "Klaus Bjerre" <K-Bone @ vip.cybercity.dk>
Subject: Re: [CB] mouthpiece case?

Still being only a brass and recorder player I have had to create a few
custom solutions for secure transports. My suggestion for the present
problem could be somewhat like this:

To secure the rigidity of a mpc case you could try to find a PVC or other
plastic tubing of a not too thin wall strength. Material might be found at a
plumbers' supply store.

To close the one tube end you could make a wood or plastic plug. Glue or
screw for an appropriate fastening.

To make the case scratch proof and to give it a more pleasant look you could
have a double layer string purse sewn. The inner layer should be within the
tubing. A zipper solution might be applicable.

For easy cleaning a soft synthetic fabric like the one used by Blues Reunion
for their mpc pouches could be a good solution.

All measuring, dimensioning, and specific design is still left to you. But
hopefully the idea could be helpful. Part of it is used in the cases for my
bass and great bass recorders.

All the best

Klaus
----------
> I was wondering, has anyone ever seen for sale something along the lines of
> a small rigid case for a bass clarinet mouthpiece? I just bought a wooden
> mouthpiece and I don't want it to get scratched or chipped rattling around
> in my case.
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 21:23:32 -0700
From: jim & joyce <lande @ erols.com>
Subject: [CB] gentle ligature

I use either velcro or string.  Even the back of velcro
could be a little scratchy.
Use a long cotton shoe lace.  Lay two inches next to the
reed, with the long end near the top, wrap six looks around
the mouthpiece and reed (always passing over the little
tail) and then tuck into the seventh loop.  Cut off extra
and then next time start with the cut end next to the reed.
Works great, although the velcro takes less time.  And for
some reason I used to always lose the shoelaces.  Also,
nobody asks about the velcro.

cheers
jim

---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 21:53:34 -0400
From: "farfl's house" <farfl @ idirect.ca>
Subject: Re: [CB] [Contra digest]

> Does anybody know of any recordings of the Conn-O-Sax?Players?

The one that comes to mind instantly is Gerald Oshita, who, before his untimely
passing, was also a wonderfully explorative sarrusophone player. I have at least
LP with him playing Conn-O-Sax.

Regards,
Steven Lederman

---------------------------------------------------------

From: NINEWINDS @ aol.com
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 23:04:56 EDT
Subject: Re: [CB] Conn-o-sax

Willis Jackson used this instrument. He referred to it as the "Gator horn"
since it's low sounds imitated the mating call of a bull alligator
(..somewhat....) He has albums/cds under his name and also as Willis Jackson
and the Gator horn etc etc.He is kind of a bluesy tenor saxophonist mostly.

Gerald Oshida, a multi instrumentalist from the San Francisco bay area also
played one, perhaps on a cd with Thomas Buckner and Roscoe Mitchell.

Vinny  Golia
---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 22:43:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: JJ McLallen <jam_ump10r @ yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [CB] [Contra digest]

Please forgive my time lapse as I just arrived in
Denver a few hours ago and just got the message from
Heliconman about jobs ---

Oh, Daryl (the instructor at RTC) is busting his butt
to make contacts here in Denver for me. All I'm trying
to do is expand my networking tentacles and see if I
can reach somewhere that hasn't been looked at.

Thanks for the help so far!

BTW -- is there anyone on this list from the Denver
area?

JJ

_________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints!
http://photos.yahoo.com
---------------------------------------------------------

From: "Jean Adler" <jean @ espressocom.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 09:56:17 -0500
Subject: Re: [CB] mouthpiece case?

Eric,
I sewed some little fabric pouches for my mouthpieces and neck of my horns.
It seems to help from scratching.  I use a Rovner ligature.  It doesn't
scratch it like a metal ligature might.
Jean
----- Original Message -----
> I was wondering, has anyone ever seen for sale something along the lines of
> a small rigid case for a bass clarinet mouthpiece? I just bought a wooden
> mouthpiece and I don't want it to get scratched or chipped rattling around
> in my case.
>
> (Also, does anyone have advice for ligatures which would be gentler to a
> wooden mouthpiece, or other advice for the care and upkeep thereof? :-)

---------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 09:10:13 -0600 (MDT)
From: Spike Spiegel <jnohe @ nmsu.edu>
Subject: Re: [CB] mouthpiece case?

On Sun, 4 Jun 2000, Eric Mumpower wrote:

> (Also, does anyone have advice for ligatures which would be gentler to a
> wooden mouthpiece, or other advice for the care and upkeep thereof? :-)

Well, finding a 'gentle' lig may not be necessary.  I use whatever lig
sounds best, and protect my mouthpiece with patches.  If you can't find or
order mouthpiece patches where you are at, electrician's tape ought to do
the job (make sure you use at least a layer of three...)

J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
"I don't know, and I don't have an opinion." - Jet Black

---------------------------------------------------------

From: "Jay Easton" <whistler @ aznet.net>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 08:56:17 -0700
Subject: [CB] F mezzo- mouthpiece
 

Hi!  I have an F-mezzo which also came with no mouthpiece-  at the suggestion of Paul Cohen, I looked up the phone number in an online yellow pages for the JJ Babbitt company, and found that they make mouthpieces for F mezzo-soprano saxophone.  You have to ask, though, as they are not shown in their catalogs.  The price was moderate, and it plays well, with a sweet tone and good intonation.  The F mezzo has such a unique and beautiful sound, it's really a pity they weren't a success!  They're beautiful little horns. I just commissioned a piece for F mezzo and piano, due to be finished in November.   To keep this on topic, I should mention that I also ordered one of Babbitt's bass sax mouthpieces, and it was the best of any modern mouthpiece I ever played on my old Buescher/Harwood bass. Good luck!

Jay Easton
 (My bass sax, incidentally, is for sale- it has just had an excellent overhaul/remanufacture by Woodwind and Brasswind, and it's GORGEOUS!  It comes with case, a stand, 3 mouthpieces, and other stuff. It's not cheap, though. I have to pay off my new Selmer bass! I also have a nice spare bass sax stand. if anyone is interested, my email is whistler @ aznet.net)
 

***End of Contrabass Digest***


 
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