[Hassles]

Can anybody offer an elaboration upon precisely what a Claude Lakey "Bruno" saxophone mouthpiece is? I have made attempts to find out without results so seek answers here - thanks in advance

 

[KeithL]

Well I don't know exactly but an "elaboration" as you suggest would be that Lakey made these out of blanks he was getting from C. Bruno & Sons and customizing in some way. This article gives a brief history of Claude Lakey mouthpieces and mentions he worked for them. https://hornsales.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/claude-lakey-mouthpieces/

It appears he began is mouthpiece business by purchasing blanks that already existed before being able to make or source his own custom designs. It sounds a lot like what Jody Espina did in creating Jody Jazz. Jody's earliest mouthpieces were customized Runyons before he could afford to make his own designs from scratch.

The mouthpieces themselves appear to be just cheap plastic blanks that Lakey worked on. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about them and there are a couple for sale on Reverb as well as one Sax Alley is selling for $30.

Elaboration complete

 

[Hassles]

It appears he began is mouthpiece business by purchasing blanks that already existed before being able to make or source his own custom designs. It sounds a lot like what Jody Espina did in creating Jody Jazz. Jody's earliest mouthpieces were customized Runyons before he could afford to make his own designs from scratch.

The mouthpieces themselves appear to be just cheap plastic blanks that Lakey worked on. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about them and there are a couple for sale on Reverb as well as one Sax Alley is selling for $30.

Elaboration complete

Thank you most sincerely.