Who in your mind is in this echelon of refacers who have paved the way?  What is the essence of their work in your opinion.  ie  how they inspired you.  
  I'll start with with two people.  Claude Humber and Ralph Morgan.    Claude was my introduction to this field.  He produced a wide variety of styles of mouthpieces for many tastes and obviously believed there were a myriad of facings that produced different results.  (not just one curve).  His own brand of mouthpiece suffered perhaps from the blank chosen but it was very affordable.  
    Ralph Morgan had incredible consistency with his mouthpieces.  Unlike Claude he was much more set with numbers. You can't satisfy everyone and Ralph's mouthpieces were in my estimation too conservative for many people.  If you wanted lots of "cut" in the sound or power to break windows his mouthpieces wouldn't do it.  On the other hand he would help beginning refacers like myself in any way he could.  He was real gentleman.      

I've learned more from Paul Coats than anybody. Paul just has that  
"sixth sense" about what is necessary to make a mouthpiece work its  
best. His approach is practical and requires great attention to  
detail. Paul understands what is necessary instinctively, and never  
ceases to amaze me at how very quickly he can transform a mouthpiece.

Santy Runyon taught me a great deal about what actually is happening  
inside the mouthpiece. He was the absolute master of design, as is  
easily seen from the huge variety of different models (all of which  
worked!) he offered over the years.

Jon Van Wie and Jody Espina both inspired me to think outside the box.

Say what you will about him, Dave Guardala had the most highly skilled  
hands I have seen.

Phil Barone is another great craftsman, with superb attention to  
detail and accuracy. All his mouthpieces are really works of the  
facers art.


On Apr 19, 2010, at 10:33 AM, John wrote:

> Who in your mind is in this echelon of refacers who have paved the  
> way? What is the essence of their work in your opinion. ie how they  
> inspired you.
> I'll start with with two people. Claude Humber and Ralph Morgan.  
> Claude was my introduction to this field. He produced a wide variety  
> of styles of mouthpieces for many tastes and obviously believed  
> there were a myriad of facings that produced different results. (not  
> just one curve). His own brand of mouthpiece suffered perhaps from  
> the blank chosen but it was very affordable.
> Ralph Morgan had incredible consistency with his mouthpieces. Unlike  
> Claude he was much more set with numbers. You can't satisfy everyone  
> and Ralph's mouthpieces were in my estimation too conservative for  
> many people. If you wanted lots of "cut" in the sound or power to  
> break windows his mouthpieces wouldn't do it. On the other hand he  
> would help beginning refacers like myself in any way he could. He  
> was real gentleman.
>
>
> 

--- In MouthpieceWork@yahoogroups.com, "John" <john_w_price33@...> wrote:
>
> Who in your mind is in this echelon of refacers who have paved the way?  What is the essence of their work in your opinion.  ie  how they inspired you.  


I attended the Hartt School in CT as a student of Jackie McLean from 1993-1997.  In that time, Phil Barone came to the school serveral times (to work with Jackie, really) and he was good enough to always take his time to look at our mouthpieces.  He would do some minor things like correct a crooked facing or add an epoxy baffle, etc.  This was my introduction to the craft and I was always amazed at the work he did for Jackie in particular.  Jackie had dozens and dozens of mouthpieces that Phil worked on and never sounded sweeter.

More recently, I have been buying mouthpieces worked on by Brian Powell and Keith to examine/measure/study.