Horward Chicago Mouthpiece - Lelandais "Stencil"

That's a Lelandais alright! I never heard of "Horward Chicago".

How does it play?

I just spent a moment with it. Very close facing, as I expected - less than 0.060". I didn't have a hard enough reed for it. I have a slightly different vintage Lelandais Super Jazz that someone (no idea who) opened up to about .075" and it plays very nicely.

So of course I'm torn - keep a cool historical specimen in original condition or get it opened up so that it's actually useful.

But I'm also curious about the history of "Horward Chicago." Maybe I'll stop by the Harold Washington Public Library in Chicago and see if they can offer any leads.

Open it up! Put a proper facing on the thing and play it. Screw the "historical" bit, you don't need a Lelandais paperweight.

BarrySachs said:

Open it up! Put a proper facing on the thing and play it. Screw the "historical" bit, you don't need a Lelandais paperweight.

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Or you could try a popsicle stick on it first and then sell or trade it to me to go with the umpteen other Lelandais mouthpieces I've got

saintsday said:

Or you could try a popsicle stick on it first and then sell or trade it to me to go with the umpteen other Lelandais mouthpieces I've got

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You've got umpteen Lelandais mouthpieces? What models? How many? How much?.....Can I have some???:?

Yeah, I really have umpteen, mostly alto, and umpteen + if you count the Chedevilles. I'll try to do some sorting and see if I have any duplicates within the next week. I'm pretty sure there is at least one or two duplicates.

That looks like the original Lelandais Lig as well. I have one for tenor, it has the big Link screw with an octogon like yours.

saintsday said:

Yeah, I really have umpteen, mostly alto, and umpteen + if you count the Chedevilles. I'll try to do some sorting and see if I have any duplicates within the next week. I'm pretty sure there is at least one or two duplicates.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah! Gimme, gimme, gimme!:shock:

BarrySachs said:

Open it up! Put a proper facing on the thing and play it. Screw the "historical" bit, you don't need a Lelandais paperweight.

Click to expand...

I don't, but I also don't need a recurring nightmare with Grumps sending me to the death chamber for modifying a vintage mouthpiece.

chitownjazz said:

I don't, but I also don't need a recurring nightmare with Grumps sending me to the death chamber for modifying a vintage mouthpiece.

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A mouthpiece that doesn't play is worthless, vintage or otherwise.

Let's not take a perfectly good blank out of circulation to preserve a "relic" from the past. If we all did that, these things will become too expensive and hard to find.

Grumps will haunt you and hunt you. If the popsicle stick doesn't work: I'll pay you a profit.

See, you can feel him lurking on this thread. Maximizing the tension before the kill, like a tiger stalking downwind in the grass...