I picked up a cool 1948-ish Buffet pre-R13 clarinet for a few hundred bucks over the weekend. It needs a lot of work (we're talking full overhaul), but has potential, I'd say.
What I didn't notice until I got home with the horn, however, was the mouthpiece in the case: a Frank Kaspar Ann Arbor.
My understanding is that the Ann Arbor mouthpieces are from the elder Kaspar's later years, after leaving Illinois. They don't seem to be the highly sought-after items that the Cicero and Chicago mouthpieces are, which have inspired a whole category of modern mouthpieces attempting to recreate their magic, but it's still pretty cool to come across something from the hand of the master.
The blank has three lines above the logo stamp, which I think indicates that it's a Babbitt blank, not the Chedeville that he and his nephew both used in the Chicago and Cicero Kaspars (could be wrong about that). There's also a pretty significant nick in the tip rail that looks like a mouthpiece cap was jammed on a little too hard at some point, but it doesn't go all the way through the rail. There's a bit left there! The facing has a little nick on the right rail. This is definitely not a collector's piece.
With that said, I couldn't wait to throw a reed on it and play it. I have no idea what the facing is like, but it felt like it wanted reeds that were a hair stiffer than the Vandoren B40 I've been playing,a V12 #3, for reference. Maybe a #3.25 would be ideal, but I'm playing the harder V12 #3 and softer V12 #3.5 reeds on it right now.
I'll confess that almost everything I know about Kaspar mouthpieces comes from the ad copy of people selling "Kaspar-style" mouthpieces who tend to use the word "dark" a lot, since "dark" = "good" in clarinet marketing, as far as I can tell. This is definitely not a dark mouthpiece to my ear. It has a wonderfully clear, focused tone, a refreshing departure from the B40 I've been playing lately, which tends to be a bit covered and unfocused for my liking. Maybe the relatively brighter tone is a result of the Babbitt blank? I like it a lot. I have a hard time believing the nicks on the side and tip rails don't affect the sound and playability, but it seems to play fine for me.
I've been really interested in older recordings of Anthony Gigliotti with the Philadelphia Orchestra lately. He had such a cool sound. Very clear, direct, focused and powerful. Not edgy, but not dark at all, to my ear. And he always seemed to move so much air! I've always admired his playing and wanted to have a clarity like that in my sound. I don't know what he played, but playing this mouthpiece, it seems easy for me to get a clear, powerful, centered sound while voicing in a way that feels comfortable and relaxed.
I'm under no illusion that I sound like Anthony Gigliotti, but I have been on a clarinet mouthpiece hunt lately and this really seems to be clicking for me right now.
I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should contact the seller about this and give them more money. Right now I'm leaning towards not. This isn't the collector's item that sells for $500+, even if it were in super clean shape, which it isn't. This thing probably wouldn't fetch $200 if I were upfront about it and I also don't plan on selling it or treating it like a collectible. I'm going to play it. Plus, it's not like I haggled at all on the price of a clarinet that needs an overhaul to even be playable.
But what do you think? I attached some pictures to give an idea of its condition.
What I didn't notice until I got home with the horn, however, was the mouthpiece in the case: a Frank Kaspar Ann Arbor.
My understanding is that the Ann Arbor mouthpieces are from the elder Kaspar's later years, after leaving Illinois. They don't seem to be the highly sought-after items that the Cicero and Chicago mouthpieces are, which have inspired a whole category of modern mouthpieces attempting to recreate their magic, but it's still pretty cool to come across something from the hand of the master.
The blank has three lines above the logo stamp, which I think indicates that it's a Babbitt blank, not the Chedeville that he and his nephew both used in the Chicago and Cicero Kaspars (could be wrong about that). There's also a pretty significant nick in the tip rail that looks like a mouthpiece cap was jammed on a little too hard at some point, but it doesn't go all the way through the rail. There's a bit left there! The facing has a little nick on the right rail. This is definitely not a collector's piece.
With that said, I couldn't wait to throw a reed on it and play it. I have no idea what the facing is like, but it felt like it wanted reeds that were a hair stiffer than the Vandoren B40 I've been playing,a V12 #3, for reference. Maybe a #3.25 would be ideal, but I'm playing the harder V12 #3 and softer V12 #3.5 reeds on it right now.
I'll confess that almost everything I know about Kaspar mouthpieces comes from the ad copy of people selling "Kaspar-style" mouthpieces who tend to use the word "dark" a lot, since "dark" = "good" in clarinet marketing, as far as I can tell. This is definitely not a dark mouthpiece to my ear. It has a wonderfully clear, focused tone, a refreshing departure from the B40 I've been playing lately, which tends to be a bit covered and unfocused for my liking. Maybe the relatively brighter tone is a result of the Babbitt blank? I like it a lot. I have a hard time believing the nicks on the side and tip rails don't affect the sound and playability, but it seems to play fine for me.
I've been really interested in older recordings of Anthony Gigliotti with the Philadelphia Orchestra lately. He had such a cool sound. Very clear, direct, focused and powerful. Not edgy, but not dark at all, to my ear. And he always seemed to move so much air! I've always admired his playing and wanted to have a clarity like that in my sound. I don't know what he played, but playing this mouthpiece, it seems easy for me to get a clear, powerful, centered sound while voicing in a way that feels comfortable and relaxed.
I'm under no illusion that I sound like Anthony Gigliotti, but I have been on a clarinet mouthpiece hunt lately and this really seems to be clicking for me right now.
I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should contact the seller about this and give them more money. Right now I'm leaning towards not. This isn't the collector's item that sells for $500+, even if it were in super clean shape, which it isn't. This thing probably wouldn't fetch $200 if I were upfront about it and I also don't plan on selling it or treating it like a collectible. I'm going to play it. Plus, it's not like I haggled at all on the price of a clarinet that needs an overhaul to even be playable.
But what do you think? I attached some pictures to give an idea of its condition.
