Sorry to talk about mouthpieces (jab) but...

Has anyone seen a Frank Wells or Mike Blanchard (his assistant) Link 
STM job?   I think a client sent me one to analyze.  The tip is bent 
open.  It measures .132" and now has a short straight baffle that is 
along the centerline of the bore.  The FL is 46 = 23mm.  It is an 
early Babbitt USA with no number on the shank.  The heels have both 
been gound down some to remove the original stamped #.  It is marked 
B335 on one heel and BM302 B355/46 on the other.  The left and right 
markings are in different styles making me think that it has been 
worked on twice.  The 1st time might have been too open at 3.55 mm 
= .140".  Now it is at 3.35 mm = .132".

The facing curve is real nice and symmetric until the very tip (it 
could have been dropped).  There is one bump and one flat spot on the 
curve by my standards.  The tip rail could be prettier.  The sides may 
have been scooped out some.  

Pretty cool find if we can verify the markings.

Living in Chicago has the advantage of being able to see the occassional example of Frank's work.  

What you describe sounds like something he may have done.  Apparently his favorite way to improve a Berg was to give it a good wack with a hammer (I'm not making this up - and he loved Berg's).

Frank and Mike seem to go sideways against the tip rail as most of the pieces that I have seen have a great curve right until the tip and then they go at a angle.

Mike Blanchard still goes into the Sax Shop in Skokie on a part time basis so you might give him a call.  I've talked to him a couple of times and he's a very nice guy.


Ed Svoboda
www.chicagomouthpieces.com
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Keith Bradbury" <kwbradbury@...>
> Sorry to talk about mouthpieces (jab) but...
> 
> Has anyone seen a Frank Wells or Mike Blanchard (his assistant) Link 
> STM job?   I think a client sent me one to analyze.  The tip is bent 
> open.  It measures .132" and now has a short straight baffle that is 
> along the centerline of the bore.  The FL is 46 = 23mm.  It is an 
> early Babbitt USA with no number on the shank.  The heels have both 
> been gound down some to remove the original stamped #.  It is marked 
> B335 on one heel and BM302 B355/46 on the other.  The left and right 
> markings are in different styles making me think that it has been 
> worked on twice.  The 1st time might have been too open at 3.55 mm 
> = .140".  Now it is at 3.35 mm = .132".
> 
> The facing curve is real nice and symmetric until the very tip (it 
> could have been dropped).  There is one bump and one flat spot on the 
> curve by my standards.  The tip rail could be prettier.  The sides may 
> have been scooped out some.  
> 
> Pretty cool find if we can verify the markings.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, esvoboda@... wrote:
>
> Living in Chicago has the advantage of being able to see the
occassional example of Frank's work.  
> 
> What you describe sounds like something he may have done. 
Apparently his favorite way to improve a Berg was to give it a good
wack with a hammer (I'm not making this up - and he loved Berg's).
> 
> Frank and Mike seem to go sideways against the tip rail as most of
the pieces that I have seen have a great curve right until the tip and
then they go at a angle.
> 
> Mike Blanchard still goes into the Sax Shop in Skokie on a part time
basis so you might give him a call.  I've talked to him a couple of
times and he's a very nice guy.
> 
> 
> Ed Svoboda
> www.chicagomouthpieces.com
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
>
Material Observations.  ---- New Message ----

Perhaps the Berg was aligned with the Earth's magnetic poles before
being struck with the hammer. Being steel it would become magnetised.
 Am I expected to believe that this would give a 'polarised sound' :)

I hate contradicting myself, but found that though my plastic alto
sounded dead compared to a metal one, with the same mouthpiece. The
opposite was the case with three B&H clarinets, all of the same large
bore. 
Using the same open lay jazz MPC on each in turn, the cheap Regent
hard plastic Sonorite was brightest, the intermediate wood Emperor was
warmer, the pro wood Imperial was creamy sounding.
The hard plastic seemed to help the overtones on the jazz MPC but I
would guess that the wood 926 would have helped to achieve a more
classical tone with the correct type of MPC.
My findings seem to indicate that the parallel bore synthetic clarinet
gave a better harmonic response than the tapered bore of the plastic sax. 
The material of sax & clarinet body's seem to produce different tonal
results from each other and therefore should not be lumped together
when talking about construction material effects on tone.  
HR is good for clarinet bodies(and MPC's) but very dense and heavy in
the hand.
Metal clarinets sound like clarinets in general, but not woody and are
surprisingly light.  Just my findings.     Eddie
 








Eddie


I've found metal clarinets still have that clarinet sound but not like
wood.    Eddie
tone than the tapered bore of the sax?  








From: "Keith Bradbury" <kwbradbury@...>
> > Sorry to talk about mouthpieces (jab) but...
> > 
> > Has anyone seen a Frank Wells or Mike Blanchard (his assistant) Link 
> > STM job?   I think a client sent me one to analyze.  The tip is bent 
> > open.  It measures .132" and now has a short straight baffle that is 
> > along the centerline of the bore.  The FL is 46 = 23mm.  It is an 
> > early Babbitt USA with no number on the shank.  The heels have both 
> > been gound down some to remove the original stamped #.  It is marked 
> > B335 on one heel and BM302 B355/46 on the other.  The left and right 
> > markings are in different styles making me think that it has been 
> > worked on twice.  The 1st time might have been too open at 3.55 mm 
> > = .140".  Now it is at 3.35 mm = .132".
> > 
> > The facing curve is real nice and symmetric until the very tip (it 
> > could have been dropped).  There is one bump and one flat spot on the 
> > curve by my standards.  The tip rail could be prettier.  The sides
may 
> > have been scooped out some.  
> > 
> > Pretty cool find if we can verify the markings.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >
>

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, esvoboda@... wrote:

> What you describe sounds like something he may have done.  
Apparently his favorite way to improve a Berg was to give it a good 
wack with a hammer (I'm not making this up - and he loved Berg's).
> 

I had heard this about Frank's Links.  Maybe it was less work for him 
to bend open SS Bergs too.

There are some photos of the Link I'm trying to ID on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
ViewItem&ih
2&item"0013804472&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1