Riffault Woodwind Mouthpieces - You have probably owned one.

I had been planning a trip to France for months.  A trip that was completely unrelated to saxophones.  So is this blog one of those that isn't about saxophones?   No, not quite.  I still did a little saxophone stuff.  I had been interested in Riffault mouthpieces for a long time.  I decided that I might take a side trip during my vacation and see if I could locate any information on the company Ets Riffault et Fils SARL.

Back when vintage mouthpieces were affordable on Ebay, I had bought quite a few.  I bought enough so that I began to see the same mouthpieces over and over.  Not exactly the same mouthpiece, because they often had different brand names embossed on them.  But sufficiently similar such that I thought the same maker was involved.  Many of the mouthpieces, despite the brand name, had "France" lightly stamped on them.  Even some well-known U.S. brands had these stamps.  In looking at possible French manufacturers, one name kept coming up.  Riffault et Fils.  

The history that I could find was sketchy, surprisingly sketchy given how often suspected Riffault et Fils mouthpieces appeared on Ebay.  I was a little surprised that I couldn't find more information, but I now realize that that is, in part, because of the Riffault et Fils business model.  Riffault was perfectly happy making "unbranded" mouthpieces for others, both saxophone and clarinet manufacturers, wholesale businesses, and mouthpiece finishing houses.  

We have seen a similar business model in JJ Babbitt, the U.S. fabricator who supplied mouthpieces to both saxophone makers (like Buescher) and finishing houses (like Dukoff).  Finding a mouthpiece with the name Babbitt stamped on it is not common.  The same is true with finding a mouthpiece stamped Riffault.  You can find them, but it is much more common to find Riffault and Babbitt mouthpieces embossed with another name, or even with no name.  

A complete vintage Riffault "bulb shank" alto mouthpiece with the original cap and ligature supplied by long-time partner Hérouard & Bénard.  This mouthpiece is unmarked except for the country of origin and the #3 facing (.057 inches tip opening).

In trying to track down information on Riffault et Fils, I consulted old trade publications and various websites like the French equivalent of Ancestry.com.  Once I got close, I contacted past distributors of Riffault mouthpieces and even the mayor and chamber of commerce in locations where I suspected Riffault et Fils had fabricated mouthpieces in the 1950's.  As you might suspect, not everyone shares an interest in what happened to an out-of-business mouthpiece company that started in 1928.  

I located an old address for the last company director of Riffault et Fils, Mr. Jacques Mimault.  I put the address in to Google Earth and did a "cyber drive by" at that location.  I found a door with the address above and a little bronze plaque next to the door.  

I zoomed in on the plaque and it read 

MANUFACTURE

BECS DU CLARINETTES

ET SAXOPHONES

M. RIFFAULT

Bingo.  You can click on the link above to see the actual plaque on Google Earth.  (Sorry, the link is broken and I haven't had time to fix it).

At this point, I needed local help (and the ability to speak French, which I don't have).  I contacted a friend in Paris who is a journalist for French Public Radio.  When he calls people and asks questions, he tends to get a much better response than I do.  He spoke with a person at the local chamber of commerce who said that she would look into it and see if visiting the site was possible.  She found that the factory site still had somebody living in the adjacent apartment; Madame Bernadette Mimault.  Bingo again.

With just an address in hand, I left for France and first spent several days in Paris.  While there, I also visited Selmer and Vandoren and asked if they had any information on Riffault et Fils.  As it turned out, Vandoren knew of somebody that might have information and agreed to email him with my query.  Several days later, a Vandoren employee responded and said that he had worked for a French clarinet publication and had spoken with somebody from Riffault years ago.  He gave me the same contact information for Bernadette Mimault and said that she was Maurice Riffault's daughter!!!  My third bingo in a row.   

While visiting at Selmer, I was lucky enough to have a cup of coffee with Henri Selmer in the employee lunch room.  He graciously offered me a choice of styles (for a price).

I had my friend arrange a meeting with Madame Mimault for me and my wife (who speaks French).  As we walked towards her door, a man came out of a side door of what I suspected was the old Riffault factory and walked along with us, saying that Bernadette was expecting us.  It turns out it was her husband, Jacques Mimault, the last CEO for Riffault et Fils. 

Bernadette worked at Riffault et Fils from 1953 until the company was sold in 2001.  She and Jacques were married in 1957 and he came to work for Riffault and Fils.  Although the company name is Riffault et "Fils" ("sons"), it turns out that Maurice Riffault had only one son (Jean, then vacationing in Corsica) and one son-in-law (Jacques).  But Riffault and Sons has a nice ring.

Maurice Urbain Riffault was born on May 8th, 1904 in Mehun-sur-Yèvre, France.  As a young man, he was an industrial designer working in Paris and involved in the design and fabrication of precision machines.  Neither Jacques or Bernadette were certain as to exactly what type of machinery, but it was apparently similar to that used to machine a precision facing on a mouthpiece.  Here is a patent design for facing woodwind mouthpieces by a fellow Frenchman, Eugene Bercioux.  

The above machine was patented in the U.S. after Mr. Bercioux acquired Woodwind Co. N.Y., but apparently it was not patented in France.  It does not appear that Maurice Riffault ever patented the machinery that he used.  

Maurice moved from Paris back to Mehun-sur-Yèvre to start his business in 1928.  He married in 1930.  As the business grew, he ended up in a three story facility on the Canal du Berry, a canal that is no longer used for commercial traffic, but still has some larger warehouses along the banks. 

The taller 3-story building to the right is the Riffault et Fils fabrication facility.  Attached living quarters are to the left.  The picture is taken from the "Joan of Arc" bridge.  It turns out that Joan of Arc lived in the town for a while and is more famous than Maurice Riffault.

In front of the facility is the Canal du Berry, a nice place for employees to take a lunch break.  This picture was also taken from the bridge.

Despite the facility having approximately 3,000 square feet and an open courtyard in the rear, no vulcanization of ebonite mouthpieces was done on site.  Maurice Riffault designed the molds that were used (and those changed some over the years), but the vulcanization was done off site.  It seems that the expenditure in vulcanization equipment, and the amount of space that the equipment would take up when not in use, made on-site vulcanization impractical.  That aspect was subcontracted out to a manufacturer that was engaged in the vulcanization of ebonite items full time.

Madame Mimault was primarily involved in the secretarial aspect of the business (with occasional polishing and packaging).  She kept track of inventory and ordered more blanks when needed.  She said that she didn't speak English, but she could read and write some in English.  She explained that part of her job was to translate incoming orders and respond (often in English).  But she rarely heard English actually spoken.  She knew that a French speaker reading English out loud isn't speaking English.  I have learned the same thing in that when I read something in French out loud, it isn't intelligible to a French speaker.  Fortunately, my wife was there to translate.  In subsequent emails from Bernadette, it's a little French and a little English, but it works.

Jacques Mimault was an electrical engineer working for British Petroleum and specializing in automation prior to their marriage in 1957.  He quickly came to work for Maurice Riffault and they moved into the facility shown above in 1958.  He became the "general manager" of Riffault, which he told me meant that he actually did everything from time to time.  Maurice Riffault remained the sole owner until 1980, at which time the business became Riffault et Fils.  Maurice died in 1988.

Both Jacques and Bernadette said that Maurice was very reluctant to put the Riffault brand name on mouthpieces.  Several times, Maurice and Jacques attended the largest annual European music trade fair (in Frankfort, Germany) not as vendors, but simply to meet with those vendors who would need mouthpieces for their woodwinds.  Later, they finally acquired a booth and attended trade fairs as a vendor (with Madame Bénard, who was the supplier of caps and ligatures used by Riffault).  (More on Hérouard et Bérnard in this blog.)  So it was just about 50 years after starting the business that Maurice Riffault became receptive to the idea of a Riffault branded mouthpiece and even Riffault reeds.*  

The reed business was short-lived and Jacques thought that most of them went to Japan, then a new market for Riffault.

Riffault advertising for the Asian market.  It did expose them to a new customer, Yanagisawa.

A vintage Riffault tenor R4 mouthpiece with the trademark "Steelite Ebonite" and the three ligature lines (along with the Yanagasawa logo).  The three ligature lines are often mistakenly claimed to indicate a Chedeville mouthpiece.

A rare Riffault handout, showing the Riffault logo.

By 1986, Riffault et Fils was actively advertising their mouthpieces internationally under their own name.

Not all of Riffault's reeds went to the Asian market.  This unopened box was from the estate of Charles Bay, a longtime purchaser of Riffault blanks.

By 1991, Riffault had partnered with Jupiter Band Instruments in the U.S. to distribute their reeds and mouthpieces.  Riffault had a unique packaging for both reeds and mouthpieces that looked like giant cold relief capsules.  Below is a picture from the Saxophone Journal (I have never seen the actual packaging).  It appears that they were supposed to look "medicinal."  Mr. Ireland, President of Jupiter, stated "we packaged the samples so that they would stay protected plus get the message across that Riffault is a prescription for remedying clarinet or saxophone tone problems."
  

Riffault's mouthpieces were all the "Superfini," and Mr. Ireland stated "the mouthpiece hand finishing is also unique in that the chamber, side, and tip rails are polished leaving no tool marks after the boring and facing process is completed." 

Although the majority of mouthpieces produced by Riffault et Fils over the years went out the door unbranded, Riffault was well aware of who would be the end user.  In some cases, they actually marked the pieces for the end user.  Two of Madame Mimault's favorite customers were Leon Leblanc (Noblet mouthpieces) and Vito Pascucci (Vito, Melodia, etc. mouthpieces).  She described them as "bon amis" and seemed to have found her meetings with them especially entertaining.  

Because of Riffault et Fils location close to the towns of La Couture-Boussey and Mantes-la-Jolie (the traditional center of French woodwind production), Riffault produced mouthpieces for many of the "local" companies.  If you know anything about woodwinds, you will likely recognize some of the local family names from this area: Marigaux, Leblanc, Strasser, Malerne, Noblet, Thibouville, Chédeville, etc.  Charles Chédeville had a shop making woodwind pads and reeds on Rue Leblanc in La Couture-Boussey.  Small world back then.

A treadle clarinet lathe (later electrified) at the Musée des Instruments a Vent in La Courture-Boussey (started in 1888).  A nice side trip.

This organ was donated to the Museum.  Here it is being played by some locals to test the accuracy of clarinets that they have manufactured.  At the organ, George Leblanc.  Playing clarinet is Leon Leblanc.  The mouthpieces were likely stamped Leblanc, but we now know who made them.

More locals holding woodwind instruments that they had manufactured.

Bernadette also ran through some foreign businesses she remembered Riffault selling mouthpieces to: Ideal, NEMC, Coast, Frank Kaspar, Charles Bay,  and Yanagisawa.  The first two are trade names that were distributed by large U.S. wholesalers.  Other customers may have been before her time or the names that ended up imprinted on the mouthpieces were never revealed to her.  She told me that Riffault never sold just blanks (what she called "becs brute").  All mouthpieces would be both polished and faced prior to being sent out.  Of course, that does not preclude a secondary seller from later putting their own proprietary facing on it and embossing their own name.  We have seen this with Dukoff using Babbitt blanks and maybe Otto Link using Goldbeck blanks.  The same thing routinely happened with Riffault blanks.  

Riffault produced thousands of mouthpieces a year and generally had 10-12 workers at any one time.  

These pictures are actually at the historic Vandoren facility circa 1937.  This is the same address, 56 Rue Lepic, Paris, that I visited when trying to locate Riffault et Fils.  Vandoren still maintains offices and a showroom at the address.  They were very helpful.

Even though electric lighting was available, the mouthpiece finishing business still relied heavily on natural lighting well into the 1930's.  The Woodwind Co, NY, had just moved into a building (131 W. 45th, NY) with a specially designed courtyard to allow natural light to the interior of the building.  

Jacques said that neither he, Bernadette, Jean, or Maurice could really play a clarinet or saxophone beyond simple scales, but they had no trouble in finding players who were perfectly willing to vigorously test mouthpieces and give comments.  He said that saxophone players from Bourges often showed up at the door, as well as members the Garde Républicaine and other French military bands (of which there are many).  

Jacques told a story of a player who purchased a mouthpiece and then returned to have it adjusted.  When he came back the third time for an adjustment, Bernadettes' brother, Jean, took the mouthpiece upstairs where it was examined and everybody agreed that it was perfect.  It was returned to the player unchanged and he was thrilled with the improvement to the piece.  I think that most mouthpiece facers can identify with this story.  Jacques said that, although they sometimes sold directly to individual musicians from their facility, they preferred not to do so for just this reason.  But he also told me that both he and Maurice had altered some designs and facings based on feedback from musicians.

Jacques has always been interested in music and was active in starting a music school in town.  The school is for adults and children and presently has 150 students.  He was also the adjunct mayor of Mehun-sur-Yèvre for a time and was active in a "sister city" program with a similar sized German town.

Bernadette explained to me some of the differences about the Riffault pieces over the years.  The "bulb shank" pieces were the first to be designed by Maurice.  Here is an example of one version from new old stock.

This is new old stock of a Riffault piece sold to Coast Wholesale Music Company.  This particular ligature and cap were sourced in the United States, although Riffault sometimes sold mouthpieces complete with ligatures and caps sourced in France (as discussed in this blog).  This design is an update of one of Riffault's first and longest run, which I will delineate primarily by the shank design.  I'll call this one the "waist bulb shank," although there are sufficient designs that an attempt at a full listing will require a separate blog.)

Many of the earliest "bulb shank" mouthpieces can be recognized by having three ligature rings, like the one below.  Of course, just having three ligature lines on a saxophone mouthpiece doesn't guarantee that it is a Riffault, but it was common enough to make it more probable than not.

This "bulb shank" does not have a narrow section, or "waist" between the bulb and the barrel as shown on the first alto piece.  Although this one does not have a brand name on it, it is embossed with the Riffault trademark "Steelite Ebonite."  When I asked Mr. Mimault about Steelite Ebonite he told me ebonite is ebonite and that the trademark was just that, i.e., a trademark.  So much for material matters.  Third parties sometimes marked their finished Riffault blanks with their own brand names and trademarks, such as "Steel Ebonite" and "Diamond Ebonite."

The above mouthpiece has no logo or brand name of any type.  It is stamped "Steelite Ebonite" and has a facing curve designation of R7.  An R7 Riffault alto facing is 2.05 mm or .080" and was Riffault's largest "in-house" tip opening for alto.  Here is recent advertising copy for Riffault mouthpieces showing the facing numbers.

You can see that some models still use the three band ligature line on saxophone pieces and the lower three lines on clarinet pieces.

Yes, I was surprised to learn that Riffault mouthpieces are still in production (sort of).  In 2001, Riffault was sold to their long-time business associate, Hérouard & Bérnard, the company that fabricated ligatures and mouthpiece caps for Riffault mouthpieces for decades.  

End pieces for various size "salt shaker" style mouthpiece caps ready for fabrication at the H&B facility. 

When I subsequently visited H&B, they were continuing the Riffault tradition in that they were filling a contract for clarinet mouthpieces for a well known French woodwind manufacturer.  The mouthpieces would not carry the Riffault name, but would carry on the Riffault tradition.  More on that visit in another blog. 

I spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Mimault about Riffault history for over an hour.  Although a French clarinet magazine (now out of print and I haven't located a copy) had interviewed them years ago, they were surprised that anyone was still interested.  They asked me if I was intending to start a mouthpiece business (no thanks).  I, on the other hand, was surprised that they did not have any pictures of the Riffault facility when it was fully operational.  Bernadette remembered a German company had visited and taken pictures, but she never saw the pictures.  She said that the fabrication facility was empty except for junk, as all equipment and tools had been sold to Hérouard & Bérnard.  H&B had sent workers to the Riffault facility to be trained and, later, Jacque had gone to H&B to help set up and train H&B employees in the art of mouthpiece finishing.  But, as we have seen, that was not the end of Riffault et Fils.

At the end of our visit, a little champagne with "Nadette et Jacky" at the apartment attached to the historic Riffault et Fils facility.

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I'm going to write a Part 2 to go over the various Riffault saxophone mouthpieces.  

I'm not going to go into much detail about Riffault clarinet mouthpieces.  My experience is that a clarinet mouthpiece is a clarinet mouthpiece.  I know, clarinet players will disagree.  Riffault sold clarinet mouthpieces to clarinet makers, like Buffett, SML, and Leblanc, and mouthpieces that were unmarked and later finished by Chedeville, Bay, Kaspar, etc.  It drives clarinet players crazy to hear this.  They (as with saxophone players) prefer to fantasize about special ebonite recipes, unique molds that have disappeared, and secret histories lost in the mists of time, all based only on what a business stamped on their mouthpiece.

As to clarinet mouthpieces, the three ligature rings often appearing on a Riffault saxophone piece show up as three rings lower on a Riffault clarinet piece.  That's one way to tell.  Of course, like the saxophone mouthpieces, some Riffault pieces shipped to customers without any ligature lines and even without the country of origin label.  But I'll explain that in Part 2.  Here are some Riffault clarinet pieces.

A Riffault clarinet piece embossed "Harmony" for the Philadelphia wholesaler N.H.F. Musical Merchandise Corp.  N.H.F. used "Harmony" as it's house brand and concentrated on supplying music stores in the eastern United States.  (The Ebay seller claimed that this is a Chedeville piece).  

Another Riffault clarinet piece embossed Martin Frères - Paris for New York music wholesaler Buegeleisen and Jacobson.  Some players fantasize that the Martin brothers were mouthpiece fabricators in Paris.  Nope.**  These are often claimed to be Chedeville or Kaspar pieces.

Another Riffault clarinet piece made for Buffet claimed by the seller to be a Chedeville mouthpiece.  Chedeville (a small local fabricator of reeds, pads, and some mouthpieces) used Riffault blanks, but I haven't found any evidence that Mr. Chedeville ever had the production capacity for contracting to provide mouthpieces for saxophone and clarinet manufacturers or musical instrument wholesalers like was routinely done by Riffault et Fils.  In fact, I've never seen a Chedeville mouthpiece that wasn't either stamped Chedeville or had the interlocking CC logo (not the "new" Chedeville logo, which is a completely unrelated business).  Chedeville heritage is claimed for a standard Riffault mouthpiece because it is likely to sell for $50 to $300 more.  Maybe the claim isn't completely bogus, as Mr. Chedeville did use Riffault blanks, but that is never the provenance that a seller wants to represent.

The Buffett Crampon logo is stamped right over the Riffault lines on this piece (also claimed to be a Chedeville).  I'm sure that Riffault provided clarinet mouthpieces to Buffett without the lines.  Maybe there was an inventory problem that required the immediate production of mouthpieces?  Even still, this seems odd.

Riffault clarinet blanks were (and still are) very popular, although usually accompanied by a very misleading story.  For instance, the claim for this Frank Kaspar embossed mouthpiece was that Mr. Kaspar got his blanks from Buffet Crampon et Cie, who got their blanks from Albert Lelandais, who got his blanks from Charles Chedeville, who milled the blank from rod rubber.  That story is ridiculous, but lucrative if one is selling the piece.  Don't worry about providing any evidence.  It is not necessary.

P.S.  While I was in Paris, I just happened by a music store that had a good selection of saxophones.  The elderly clerk asked if he could help me and, just for jollies, I asked if they might have any old ebonite saxophone mouthpieces.  He pulled out a vintage SML tenor mouthpiece.  Aha, the mouthpiece was clearly a Riffault et Fils product.  Maybe the clerk might have some knowledge about Riffault et Fils!  I asked him if he was familiar with the mouthpiece company Riffault.  He said that Riffault mouthpieces were "pas de bon becs" and I would be much happier with the SML.  Even if I spoke sufficient French, it's not worth the effort to explain to him that the vintage SML he was holding is a Riffault mouthpiece with a standard Riffault "R" facing.  SML made saxophones, not mouthpieces.  It is very likely that Riffault et Fils was completely responsible for the finishing of this mouthpiece, even the stamp.

The SML tenor in an R4 facing.

A different style SML tenor saxophone mouthpiece produced by Riffault.  This is the "waist bulb" style shown above as was sold to Coast and again in Part 2.

An SML mouthpiece with a Riffault R5 facing (1.95 mm).  I have seen this model show up as a Martin Handcraft U.S.A. mouthpiece, complete with the "France" country of origin label discussed in Part 2.  Other Martin Handcraft embossed pieces were made by JJ Babbitt.

*  I read in an old publication in which the JJ Babbitt Company stated that it wasn't until the 1960's that they first put the Babbitt name on one of their own mouthpieces (after the death of founder Jesse Babbitt).  Apparently Jesse Babbitt had the same misgivings as Maurice Riffault.  Why directly compete with those businesses to which you are wholesale marketing your mouthpieces?  Let others worry about fancy packaging and distribution issues.  In my 1965 issue of The Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries, Babbitt lists themselves as having mouthpiece models called the Babbitt Supreme and the J.J. Babbitt.  I own a Babbitt Artist and I have seen a few Babbitt Supremes, but I can't think of any other Babbitt branded mouthpieces.  As with Riffault, there are thousands of Babbitt mouthpieces out there, but relatively few actually marked Babbitt.

** There actually was a company called Martin Frères in France. The company was created in 1840 in the town of La Couture-Boussey by the brothers Jean-Baptiste Martin (1817 to 1877), Claude Eugène Martin (1819 to 1874), and Felix Martin (1821 to 1896). They produced hand made flutes and clarinets from approximately 1840 until their deaths. In the late 1890's, after the death of Felix Martin, the Thibouville family took over the trade name and continued using the Martin Frères name until approximately 1927. In the 1930's, the trade name was again revived by a group of American businessmen (Buegeleisen and Jacobson), using the Martin Frères name on a variety of stencil student and intermediate woodwinds and mouthpieces (including the above Riffault clarinet piece) until the 1960's. The trade name was finally abandoned in 1992.  Like the current trade names Chedeville and Cannonball, the name Martin Frères has been brought back from the dead (several times) and used on unrelated products.