[Mark J]

I recently acquired an old mouthpiece and am trying to find out something about its origin. It is marked "Kelltone" and also labelled "MO". Has anyone else out there ever used a Kelltone and do you know when/where they were made?
Thanks,
Mark

 

[Kritavi]

Possibly they are associated with the clarinetest Reginald Kell. I have seen a few and they seem to be of decent quality.

 

[MojoBari]

No other info. But I have a white one on my site in the For Sale area.

 

[bulldoggymay1]

I have a Kell Geometric alto mouthpiece. Apparently very rare. Would be willing to sell. Contact at [email protected].

 

[bruce bailey]

Kell was the clarinetist who used a vibrato so maybe it is the same. Does it have a country of origin on it?

 

[SchlockRod]

Well this is an old post, but I'm hoping maybe someone can tell me about a tenor mouthpiece I just acquired.
I'm hoping someone can shed some light on these pieces... where made, by whom, etc. There is like zero info on the web about them.
I just acquired two of them, for tenor, and I find the "Geometric" model very intriguing. It looks to me to be a lot like a Bob Dukoff Hollywood, circa 1949, made of thin-wall rubber, with maybe a bit more rollover baffle and more scoop in the side walls. It is a very interesting player, and is marked "MC"... I wonder what that means... The facing looks pristine and finished very precisely, with fine perfect-looking vertical machining marks.
The other one is white plastic like a Brilhart, labeled "Kell Maxtone". It doesn't look that intriguing... like a Brilhart Tonalin copy perhaps. Straight side walls.
The "Geometric" model is apparently from about 1950, based on this article:
http://www.bestsaxophonewebsiteever.com/krzysztof-urbanski-scales-sound-jazz-education/

Thanks.

Theo

 

[DaveR]

I was sold a Kell Geometric tenor piece in Bill Lewington's shop in London in 1975. It was inexpensive, just as well, I was a student. It was sold to me by a kindly shop manager (Dennis, Bill's brother I think) because in my ignorance I went into the shop looking for a piece with more edge than my Lawton. Well, at that time I was a very undeveloped as a player so I think I was saved from myself. I suppose the Kells are an interesting collectors' thing now, but at the time they were probably just a cheap-ish option for beginners and students.

 

[SchlockRod]

I was sold a Kell Geometric tenor piece in Bill Lewington's shop in London in 1975. It was inexpensive, just as well, I was a student. It was sold to me by a kindly shop manager (Dennis, Bill's brother I think) because in my ignorance I went into the shop looking for a piece with more edge than my Lawton. Well, at that time I was a very undeveloped as a player so I think I was saved from myself. I suppose the Kells are an interesting collectors' thing now, but at the time they were probably just a cheap-ish option for beginners and students.

Thanks Dave!
I recently had a Lawton tenor piece, a non-B, non-BB chamber, and while it was not the edgiest piece, I've been playing almost exclusively Link-type pieces on my 10M... I felt that it was perhaps more toward a Dukoff Hollywood tone than a Link.
This piece was given to me in a bag of many other tenor pieces, most of which are (a) cheapo pieces or (b) old stuffy pieces.
This one struck me at first glance visually (externally) as yet another el cheapo... its body shape, the "Kell Geometric" lettering... But after I played it I said "Wow! Very interesting!" It is quite a "brilliant" sound. Not sure yet if I really like it, but the sound and response (excellent) made me look inside it and at the facing. The facing is pristine and looks incredibly well done, which would explain the response. The baffle/chamber look a lot like the Dukoff Hollywood pictures out there on the web.

 

[Rackety Sax]

"MC" likely refers to a medium-closed tip opening.

 

[SchlockRod]

"MC" likely refers to a medium-closed tip opening.

Could be. Now that you mention it, I believe I saw somewhere (one of only a few clues on the web about these pieces) that someone had one marked "MO"...

 

[SchlockRod]

It was an alto piece marked "O"... I'm trying to track the guy down. Michael Foster on saxophone.org forum. Anyone know him?
I'd like to get one of these for alto.