Vintage Saxophone Mouthpiece Rescue #26

I know, you haven't seen all of my prior mouthpiece rescues.  It takes more time to write a blog about refacing a mouthpiece than it does to reface a mouthpiece.  Rescuing old saxophone mouthpieces is what I enjoy doing, not writing blogs about them.  I mainly write blogs to show how it is done, not to chronicle all the ones that I've done.  Usually it is only the "lost cause" mouthpieces that show up in a blog.  If it just needs a touch-up, that doesn't make for good reading, IMHO.

What does a truly "lost cause" mouthpiece look like?  How about this one.

Yes, that is the horrible discoloration that vintage ebonite shows after years of neglect and exposure to sunlight (and who knows what else).  And look at those teeth marks.  The only animal I know of that can make those striated teeth marks is the Lamprey eel.
  

I don't know if an eel just got loose in the saxophone case or if it actually could play a tenor saxophone.  Fortunately, that's not my problem.  I only need to get rid of the teeth marks.

The larger problem is going to be getting rid of the discoloration on this vintage "Pitt American" mouthpiece.  You might wonder why I would even want to try.  What is a Pitt American, anyway?  I did some research.  "Pitt American" was a brand name used by a music store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   Pretty clever of Rudolf and Jacob Volkwein, the brothers that started Volkwein Brothers Music Store in 1905.  

The business is still operating (mostly wholesale), but no longer uses Pitt American as its in-house stencils for musical instruments and accessories.  The Pitt brand name was used on both foreign and domestic instruments, most commonly metal clarinets (and some saxophones that were King stencils manufactured by H.N. White).  The brothers did not "make" musical instruments or accessories.  

Here is a vintage Pitt American tenor saxophone that is likely similar to the source of my mouthpiece.

As is common with stencil horns, the engraving has a large "badge" area that can be left blank so that when Joe's Music Store (or Volkwein Bros.) asks for 10 saxophones engraved "Joe's Special" (or "Pitt American") the H.N. White Company could rapidly fill the order.

So are Pitt American saxophone mouthpieces made of that special recipe vintage ebonite?  Yes.  Do they have that late 30's to late 50's jazz vibe?  Yes.  Do they have a cult-like following of collector/players willing to pay over $800 without even play testing?  No (not yet).  Mine showed up free in a box of junk that I bought for other reasons, but I might have paid up to $15 for it had it sold on Ebay.  Here's why.  (Later I'll tell you why not.)

Yes, those are cobwebs inside of the mouthpiece and the table is also discolored.

The inside of the chamber is also all scratched up by using some kind of a cleaning brush with an exposed metal tip.  Just the irresponsible behavior that you would expect from a Lamprey.

But the worst part is what I'm going to talk about for a bit.  All of these problems will be cleaned up just by putting on a new facing and doing some chamber work to make this play better than a vintage Otto Link Slant Signature.  

What I want to point out is an effect of the discoloration that isn't often talked about.  Most posts about a dull brown or greenish-brown discoloration are worried about how the mouthpiece looks.  Some posts about vintage ebonite mouthpieces talk about the sulfur smell and how to eliminate it.  But discoloration has a far worse effect on the mouthpiece than just the look and smell.

In order to discolor, usually accelerated by ultraviolet light,* but also by contact with other chemicals, ebonite releases some the sulfur on its surface (hence the smell).  The reduced sulfur content of the material that is left behind (mainly natural rubber, linseed oil, and a colorant, usually lamp black), results in the brownish or greenish discoloration.  But the surface integrity has actually changed.  The surface becomes hygroscopic (it holds some water) and it will be unavoidably altered by removing the discolored material.  In theory, it would be possible to stain the compromised ebonite to make it black again.  There are commercial products and home remedies (like black shoe polish) that can do this.  The surface is still compromised, but if cosmetics and odor is the only interest, it might not matter.

Here is what I mean by altering the surface when removing discoloration.  The side of my lost cause mouthpiece showed a marked delineation between the brown oxidized area and the apparently sound black ebonite.  This is what that delineation looked like when the brown was removed.  It is most obvious below the ligature line at the top left of the bright reflection. (Someday I will learn how to add arrows to my pictures).

The line between what was brown and black is partially obscured by the reflection.  To the right of the reflection the brown to black surfaces are on the same level.  But to the left is a now an obvious alteration of the height of the two surfaces.  Removing the brown oxidation resulted in a "drop off" that is easy to feel.  Imagine what will happen to the surface levels when I clean up the table and rails.

Cleaning the table and rails will result in similar bumps halfway down the rails.  Removing the brown from the table will probably change the tip opening by a measurable amount.

I realize that this mouthpiece is an extreme example of a discolored mouthpiece.  It sat someplace for years in order to turn this brown.  On most discolored pieces, it is not the table that suffers the most from discoloration.  It is usually a stencil print of the ligature that is most obvious.  But that just made me wonder what is really going on.  

Could it be that an ebonite mouthpiece that is played regularly simply has the surface discoloration routinely removed from constant handling?   Playing a mouthpiece regularly still exposes it to light and oxygen.  Does the table and lay change over time but go unnoticed because what would be the softer brown surface naturally resulting from oxidation is consistently rubbed off by handling the piece?  

I would think that this happens to every old ebonite mouthpiece.  For absolute proof, I would need to travel back in time and take extremely accurate original curvature measurements from a 1930 ebonite mouthpiece (i.e., vintage measurements on the vintage mouthpiece).  Then travel back to the present, using the same measuring apparatus, I would need to measure that same mouthpiece again today.  Obviously, that is not going to happen.  So, given the apparent effects of time on the mouthpiece shown above, and the fact that erosion occurs naturally on most every surface, I'll just extrapolate that a claimed "original facing" on an old ebonite mouthpiece is not the same facing that was on it originally.  We might refer to the facing as "original," but it ain't.

All of the above was just a diversion.  Now I'm going to clean up this old mouthpiece and make it sing again.  Washing out the cobwebs didn't seem to make any difference.  The tip opening on this piece is approximately .065.  Besides being a small tip opening by today's standards, it has another common problem.  The Lamprey that played it apparently didn't use a mouthpiece cap.  The piece has been bumped right on the tip end.  That causes a tiny deformation in the tip rail.  

Under magnification, it is easy to see the problem on the right hand side.  The reed can't seal properly which dulls the  sound.  Old mouthpieces of this vintage are often accused of being dull, but microscopic wear and tear can be most of the cause.  A flat table and a new lay should change all that.

I wasn't at my work bench, so I didn't have my lighted desk magnifier.  Still, it is fairly obvious that there is a problem.  I then tried to "polish" the dent out by simply burnishing the lay on a glass table top.  This process can sometimes clean up little imperfections, but not this one.

It simply made the imperfection more obvious.  Some of the tip is now polished, but a surprising large area around the dent was not because the imperfection is a high point.  That gives you some idea of what a flat reed would do when trying to seal the tip opening.  I may have found the primary reason why this vintage mouthpiece sounds dull.  So, do I spend $300 for a modern mouthpiece or do I fix this one? 

Maybe I'll just take a swipe across some 1,000 grit sandpaper and get rid of the high spot.

Above you can just barely see the remains of the deformed tip.  I didn't do any measurements or anything.  Just ran the facing down some fine sandpaper.  The change in playing, for those of you who still use cane reeds, was like finding a really good reed.  It seemed like a completely different mouthpiece.  Still, I'm going to continue with modifying the facing.

I should note that this is a very common blank from JJ Babbitt that was sold to lots of saxophone makers, music stores, wholesalers, and refinishing businesses.  There is no way of telling how long Babbitt produced this model.  Maybe as early as the 1930's and as late as the 1960's.  They appear regularly on Ebay, sometimes with very exotic claims as to pedigree and material with correspondingly ridiculous valuations.  Remember, it is just a chunk of hard rubber already formed into a tenor saxophone mouthpiece.  Bid accordingly. 

Cleaning it up is going to be the easy part and will largely occur as I put on the new table and facing (the rest of the mouthpiece being merely cosmetic).  The new facing numbers can be considered right from the start.  I usually enjoy playing something around .090 to .095, so that's what I'll shoot for.  I just read that a 7** tip opening (called a "seven double star") is the new groovy cool thing to claim, so I'll call whatever my tip opening ends up a Seven Double Star.  It does sound kind of cool.  And that alone will make it more valuable.  "What are you playing?"  "A Seven Double Star."  "Wow, I wish I had one!"  Well, now you can.

Here are the lay numbers.  These numbers are not some secret formula.  It is a smooth curve that gets me to a tip opening of approximately .090 inch.  I'm usually happy with that tip opening.

Feeler gauge            Brand number (.5mm)
.0015                                46.0

.005                                  40.5

.010                                  34.3
.016                                  30.0
.024                                  24.6
,035                                  19.0
.050                                  12.2

.063                                    9.0
.078                                    4.0

This facing is a little longer than most .090 tip openings, but I have found that's the way I like it.  Also, the numbers near the tip might have been tweaked a little.  When I play test I sometimes make little adjustments.

What does the finished piece look like?

It looks like a brand new mouthpiece.  But it is still a Pitt American.

It's just that opening it up gave me a little area to make a tiny (by modern standards) baffle.  Now it has that feeling of making the saxophone vibrate without the harsh screeching of a high baffle mouthpiece.

Remember when I said that the mouthpiece was free, but I might not have paid $15 for it on Ebay?  It was because of this picture.  Half way down the left hand rail there is a scratch across the rail and down the side and curving towards the shank.  But it isn't really a scratch.  It was a crack.  I mended it by putting super glue on the end of a needle and touching it to the crack from inside the chamber.  The glue instantly wicks out through the crack and leaves a "blush" around the crack on the exterior.  Don't touch it or it will make a mess.  Let it dry for a day and then when polishing the mended crack will disappear.

Here it is under magnification.  The new facing completely removed the line from the rail.

It is possible to contact me confidentially with information in the comment section below.  Simply include your email.  That way, if you choose, we can converse without your comment or email being made part of the blog comments.

*  Ultraviolet light basically means all daylight.  A regular mouthpiece cap stops exposure over most of the mouthpiece, but better is a mouthpiece bag of some sort.  If you leave your mouthpiece out on a desk top, even if the sun never hits it directly, it will discolor over time, leaving a photo imprint of the ligature if that is left on the mouthpiece.  Guess how I know that?  Better to store it in a bag.  Think of it as a necessary precaution, like drying out the inside after every use.  What, you don't dry out your mouthpiece after every use???

The Fake Jody Jazz HR* mouthpiece

I saw that fake Jody Jazz mouthpieces were appearing on Ebay.  The text in the Buy-It-Now "auction" was constantly changing.  They first appeared as Jody Jazz mouthpieces.  Later descriptions said that the mouthpiece was a "JJ" brand, however the name on the mouthpiece was obviously Jody Jazz in the same gold font as the real thing.  Some auctions said it was made of hard rubber, others said that it was bakelite.  Bakelite (the real name is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride) 

 is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin that is not universally considered "food safe."  It might not be something that you would want to put in your mouth every day (or ever).  Apparently, the people manufacturing this fake don't know or don't care about what woodwind mouthpieces are made of.

Mine was obviously made in China.  In fact, mine was shipped directly from China (although the Ebay store was located in Indonesia).  Authentic Jody Jazz mouthpieces are hand finished in the U.S. and, according to their advertisements, are individually played prior to sale by Jody Espina (or somebody at his facility in Savanna, GA).  Mine, being shipped directly from China, obviously was going to miss out on this essential quality control.  

There were other telltale clues that mine would be a fake.  The Jody Jazz HR* sells for about $200 in the U.S.  The Ebay Buy-It-Now price was $26.  I bought one and was immediately told that it was out of stock and my purchase price was refunded.  I went back to the same site, where the price was now $28, and bought it again.  Same thing happened.  I went back and bought it at $30 and that transaction went through.  It appeared that the seller had some kind of automated "sucker pricing" algorithm.  That is exactly what one would expect from an Ebay scammer selling knockoff products.  The mouthpiece showed up in two weeks with a cheap ligature and cap.  Guess what?  It was fake!

Although most fake Jody Jazz mouthpieces had disappeared from Ebay by the time I wrote this blog, many other fakes of various brands have recently appeared.  Many of them also claim to be made of Bakelite.  If you search Ebay for Bakelite saxophone mouthpieces, you may find fake Vandoren, Meyer, etc.  Here is a picture of the fake plastic Meyers (falsely claimed to be made of Bakelite, but who cares).  Notice that they have faked the current model of Meyer mouthpieces.  Don't they know the saxophone lore that the vintage Meyer Brothers mouthpieces magically enhance a player's ability and are therefore worth thousands of dollars?

Late model fake altos.

$26 for a fake Meyer medium chamber.  I have no idea what these are made of or what the chamber, lay, etc. looks like.  You should not expect that it looks or plays anything like an actual Meyer.

Back to my fake Jody Jazz.  Here is what a real Jody Jazz hard rubber HR* looks like.  This is a 7 tip (.105 inch).  The shank has a smooth "bugle" shape.

Notice that the thickness of the font script is fairly uniform.

Jody Jazz refers to their HR* model as having a medium round chamber.  Because the chamber is slightly larger than the shank bore, I would refer to it as a medium large chamber.  Here is my "chamber designation" rule for this type of mouthpiece.*  If I look in from the tip and see the mold line between chamber and shank, it's large, i.e., the chamber is larger than the shank bore.  If I look in from the shank and see the mold line, it's a small chamber.  If there is no mold line, i.e., the end of the chamber is the same as the shank bore, it's a medium chamber.  That's my test.  Probably too simplistic and it's not too important here.  

If I can't see the mold line from this direction, that means a large chamber.  On these the mold line is very small viewed from the tip (previous picture), hence my calling them a medium large chamber.

Below is the fake Jody Jazz mouthpiece viewed from tip and shank.  The view from the tip makes it look like it is a large chamber, but that "line" is just where the chamber drops into the larger shank bore.  When viewed from the shank, it is obvious that this is a small chamber not anything like a real Jody Jazz.  It is actually similar looking to an old Selmer.

A "pea shooter" style chamber.

We don't have to go into much detail about the differences between a real Jody Jazz HR* mouthpiece and my fake Ebay piece because they are clearly unrelated.  First, it didn't even look like the picture used on Ebay (which might have been a picture of a real Jody Jazz mouthpiece).  

The shank shape is wrong.  The original mass seller has been removed from Ebay (12/2021), but people who bought the $26 plastic knock-offs with this shank shape are now listing theirs (for over $100).  Another clue is that real Jodi Jazz mouthpieces came with a Jodi Jazz cap.  If no original cap, beware.

The embossing on my mouthpiece was a complete ripoff of the Jody Jazz logo, but was apparently laser etched from directly above.  This distorts the font a little.  

The logo is distorted because it was printed from directly above.  This makes the font lines thicker as it wraps around the mouthpiece, shown here as the start of the "J" is further from the center of the logo.

Second, it isn't Bakelite or hard rubber.  It appears to be injection molded ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), the same plastic used for black plumbing pipe and Legos toys.  Is it food safe?  Some say yes, some say no.  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated in 2015 that some ABS formulations are food safe.  Is my fake Jody Jazz one of those formulas?  I wouldn't bet on it.

The rear edge of the barrel by the table shows the "flash line" common with injection molding.  Not Bakelite, not hard rubber.  

Here's a better picture of the roughness of the finish and the flash line from the mold on the upper left.  I had already taken a few swipes across some course sandpaper to open the tip (and made a note of "71," i.e., .071 inches on the table)

Yes, I put it in my mouth and played it in the name of scientific discovery.  I died later that day.  Fortunately, I also own a Meyer Brothers mouthpiece that is the Holy Grail.  The Holy Grail enabled my corporal resurrection and the completion of this blog.

The fake Jody Jazz played, sort of.  In the Ebay advertisement, I had my choice of tip openings.  I chose a #7 tip (listed as .105 inches).  What I got was about a .060 tip opening.  I'm guessing that, no matter what tip opening you request, you would get a .060 tip opening.  A lot of players would never measure and so many would never know.  They find a mouthpiece that they like and simply assume that the tip opening is related to the embossed number.  This fake didn't even have a number (no surprise).

The tiny tip opening on my fake Jody Jazz is okay because the "finish" on the facing curve looked like it was put on with 100 grit sandpaper.  There were obvious milling marks on the tip and rails and slightly less, but still visible, marks on the table.  

The rails were tipped, the curvature was flat, etc.  Just what I would expect from a fake $30 Ebay mouthpiece.  Still, I was hoping that it would actually be hard rubber.  It turns out that you have to pay $40 to get a hard rubber mouthpiece.

The first thing I did was to flatten the table.  As is common with many mouthpieces whether new, old, Chinese, French, whatever, there was a sunken spot right at the top of the window.  I suspect that this is a result of the temperature increase resulting from machining the table flat.  Fixing it gave me a chance to use a butt cut while flattening.

This is what I'm talking about.  A swipe across fine sandpaper shows on the rails, almost to the top of the window, and at the butt end of the table, meaning that in between it is "hollow."

I wiped the above mouthpiece table across 1000 grit sandpaper to show me whether the table was flat.  It revealed a high spot before the end of the window and another at the heel of the table (both shown as a lighter "scuffed" finish). This indicates a sunken spot in the middle of the table where you can still see the original table.  It could be that a reed is flexible enough to fill this area given enough ligature pressure, but it might also flex the reed in a way that effectively increases the tip opening and throws off the curvature.  The picture above is an old Rico "Gregory" alto mouthpiece blank, but it is common to many mouthpieces. 

Even with a butt cut to cant the table on my "Jody Jazz," that only opened the tip to about .072.  Fortunately, the tip was thick enough to allow for a larger opening.  And, given that the piece was a $30 fake, I didn't care too much how I altered it.  The crooked rails took some time.  Also, even though I thought that I was being careful, I kept getting the lay too long for my intended tip opening.  I generally like long lays, but it was really easy to take a swipe and find that I had increased the "takeoff point" for the curvature by a millimeter too much.  Frustrating.

I decided to concentrate on simply putting on a lay for a .095 inch tip opening and not worry about the length of the lay for the moment.  This is not the accepted procedure.  If you get the lay perfect from the .005 feeler gauge to the tip, and then go back and adjust the table so that the .0015 gauge measures perfect, you will find that you have altered every measurement.  Your "perfect lay" will no longer be perfect.  That is true in theory.  But . . . .

Traditionally, you  measure the "start" of the curvature with a .0015" feeler gauge and a rigid piece of glass.  But you don't play the mouthpiece with a inflexible piece of glass.  You play with a flexible piece of cane (or resin infused carbon fiber if you are smart).  Try this test.  Measure with your .0015 feeler and mark the side of your mouthpiece with a pencil.  Put a reed on, tighten the ligature, and slide the .0015 feeler in.  Are you close to your mark.  Further?  Less?  You will find that you don't end up in the same place.  The reed, under pressure by the ligature, doesn't result in you actually starting at what you thought would be the .0015" starting point.

Even if you accidentally end up at the exact same point, you don't play with the mouthpiece and reed outside of your mouth (at least I've never seen a saxophone player that could do this).  So, put a tiny little bit of pressure on the reed tip and see where that moves your curvature "starting point."  Just the softest kiss of pressure.  You will see that you are well past what is commonly considered the "take off" point.  Your .005 measurement will be different.  Your .010 measurement will be different.  They will all be different when using a reed and a tiny little bit of pressure.  The measurements that you so carefully adjusted using a rigid piece of glass are not really the measurements that you end up playing.

The measurements will all still be "fair," meaning that there are no lumps or anomalies in the curvature (assuming that you have done a good job).  But I'm not convinced that the "starting point" is all that important because the reed has flexed past that point just from holding the mouthpiece in your lips.  A crooked starting point might have some effect (although I've enjoyed playing some remarkably crooked tables and only learned the condition after measuring), but your actual reed "starting point" will be well short of your measured rigid glass starting point.  

Anyway, I chose to simply give up on getting the take off point exactly right.  It's a $30 mouthpiece.  A good mouthpiece has to cost at least $200, right?  Based on current mouthpiece prices, this one shouldn't play at all.  Or, it should only be capable of making horrific inharmonious noise.  At best, it should sound like a student mouthpiece (although I have listened to hundreds of grade school students who play and sound better than I ever will).

It turns out that it plays just fine, except that I thought that it sounded a bit abrasive.  Abrasive is my terminology for the sound that the vast majority of saxophone players are striving for.  Most seem to be looking for the Superman of mouthpieces while I'm happiest with Clark Kent.  Although that sounds boring, keep in mind that Mr. Kent can turn into Superman when necessary.  Superman, constantly walking around in blue tights with red trunks, red boots, and a flowing cape isn't my style.  But I digress . . . .

Opening the tip tends to leave one with sufficient material to add more baffle, sometimes considerably more baffle.  That seems to work okay when putting a new opening on an old large chamber zero baffle piece.  There is more to it than that, however, because my old Link Slant Signature appears to have very little baffle, yet it can speak with authority when required.  But I have to admit, it can't scream like high baffle pieces.  It yells with authority instead of screaming.

The fake Jody Jazz after refacing.  I basically removed all of the extra baffle material at the tip.  This requires the removal of material about 7 mm into the chamber to keep from exaggerating the baffle as a result of the new tip opening.

The fake Jody Jazz piece opened to .95 inches had the tendency to scream.  Yes, it was louder, but I wasn't thrilled about the tone.  So I got rid of the baffle that had been created from enlarging the tip opening.  I removed it to the point where many players would say it didn't exist, like my old Slant.  Then I took it out to a practice session.  I admit I also took my Slant with me in case things didn't work out.  I told the alto player about my $30 knockoff and he said it sounded fine.  Afterwards, the guitar player said that I had played louder tonight (louder = good for guitar players).  

So the verdict is that, for fellow musicians, the difference between a +$800 vintage Link Slant Signature 6 and a $30 obviously fake Jody Jazz HR* is that the Jody Jazz knockoff is louder.  True, I had to reface the fake to a 7 and I spent way too much time doing that (probably an hour and a half).  On the other hand, it has now gone out of the house twice, and will again tonight.  It is my new love that probably won't last.  I'm guessing that the old Slant need only wait in order to become my favorite once again.  Strange how that works.

*  I'm talking about older style pieces that have undercut rails and no exaggerated wedge baffle.  Dukoff Power Chambers don't count because of the huge baffle.  Brilhart Tonolins don't count because of the flat sidewalls.  Those pieces are always going to be medium to small chambers regardless of how the chamber meets the shank bore.

Some Additional History on the Beginnings of Rico Reeds

When researching Malcolm Gregory, and how he became mistakenly associated with Gale mouthpieces, I came across the fact that Roy Maier and Frank De Michele (of Rico Products) had briefly been involved in the startup of Gale Products, Inc.  It turned out that Mr. Gregory had never been involved with Gale Products and lumping all Gale mouthpieces in with Gregory mouthpieces is based solely on one person's misunderstanding of the history.  Maier and De Michele were definitely involved as principles in Rico Products, Ltd., a woodwind reed manufacturing business.  

I did a bit of research on Maier and De Michele and found some mistaken history surrounding them as well.  That is to be expected.  We are talking about musical accessories, after all.  As musicians, we love to hear fantastic stories about musicians, their instruments, their mouthpieces, their ligatures, and even their reeds.  I kept looking in to the history of Rico Products, Ltd and its various changes over the years.  It turns out that there were a few twists and turns in that story as well.  Once again, the existing documentary evidence about Rico Products was quite different than the commonly told story.

Some of you may have read an article about Rico history on the internet.  When Rico Products sold to D'Addario & Co. Inc., a brief history was published and that has become the present day "Rico Story."  Here it is in its entirety from the D'Addario website.

Born in Italy, Joseph Rico (1876-1957) attended seminary school near Naples, where he showed special talent for music. As a teenager, he and his brother, Libereto, ran away from seminary school one night, embarked on a ship, and fled to America where they heard there was a world of opportunity for eager minds. Joseph was a harpist, pianist, and guitarist, and his brother was a mandolinist and violinist. As a result of their hard work, both musicians became quite well known in Chicago and New York. Joseph Rico started composing and conducting, and went on to Paris where he became a sought-after composer. His Valses Lentes are still played today.

In 1926, Joseph's nephew, Frank De Michele, a clarinetist with Walt Disney studios, wrote to him complaining about how hard it was to find good reeds in Los Angeles. He wrote: "Uncle Joe, you are so well established in the musical scene in Paris,* I'm sure you could find all kinds of good reeds for me." Joseph easily found reeds to send him, however three weeks later, Frank wrote again: "My friends liked the reeds you sent so much; I have none left for myself. Could you please send me more?" After a series of similar letters, Joseph's reed supplier regrettably explained that he could no longer provide reeds due to a cane shortage. His nephew asked Joseph if he could at least send some cane so that he could try making his own reeds. Joseph had a vacation cottage in the Var region of southern France where he found excellent reed cane. In 1928, Joseph Rico sent the first shipment of 350 kilos of reed cane to America. 

To honor his uncle, Frank asked if he could use his name to launch his first reed line named "Rico." Soon thereafter, Frank De Michele found four partners, including musician and engineer Roy J. Maier, to create the first Rico reed factory.

When I started looking into the story, I needed to find out how Maier and De Michele began.  

Frank De Michele was born on October 14, 1897 in Chicago.  He died in Los Angeles on June 14, 1956. Historical research on him is made difficult by the fact that his last name was spelled a variety of ways, even on official documents.  It appears that his preferred spelling was "De Michele."  But on public records it might be de Michele, DeMichele, or Demichele.  It helps if his full given name (Frank Vincent) was used, but often it is only Frank or even just the initial F.  Every mention of his name had to be cross-checked against a timeline to make certain that it wasn't one of the other Frank De Micheles living in the U.S. at the time (there were several).  In this blog I'm going to use "De Michele," as that is the spelling that he used in official documents.  Or maybe just "Frank."

Mr. De Michele was a bit more than just a studio woodwind musician as related in the Rico Story.  By 1920, prior to leaving Chicago for L.A., he was already listed in various directories as a band leader.  He had been married in November 16, 1917 to Monna Cloe Augstadt and, as a music composer, he had registered a copyrighted composition called The Mamonna Waltz (Mamonna being, I assume, some kind of tribute to his wife Monna).  Although the score is listed in the Library of Congress, I have yet to locate a copy.  

He was also involved in the sales of woodwind reeds long before 1928, as the Rico Story would have us believe.  He may have contacted his uncle Rico in 1926, but he had already started marketing his own brand name clarinet reeds (ANDRÉ).  Here are a couple boxes of them.

Click to enlarge.

Made in the U.S.A.

In a later trademark filing for ANDRÉ with the U.S. Patent Office, the logo included the Rico "Diamond," later used on other Rico products, including their M.C. Gregory brand of mouthpieces.  Mr. De Michele verified in the trademark application that he began personally using the trade name ANDRÉ for his reeds in 1919.  So it was years prior to him possibly working as a studio musician at Walt Disney Studios because he was still in Chicago.  The claim that in 1926,  "His nephew asked Joseph if he could at least send some cane so that he could try making his own reeds." isn't correct because in a sworn statement to the U.S. Patent Office he had already been making ANDRÉ reeds for six years.

Notice once again that the brand name ends with an acute É.  Very French looking for a made in the U.S.A. reed.  The actual reeds didn't have the acute E.

The claim in the Rico Story that

To honor his uncle, Frank asked if he could use his name 

to launch his first reed line named "Rico."

is not accurate.  Frank had already launched his first reed line a decade earlier and it was named ANDRÉ.  And the claim that 

In 1926, Joseph's nephew, Frank De Michele, a clarinetist with Walt Disney studios, 

wrote to him complaining about how hard it was to find good reeds in Los Angeles. 

is also very odd, given that Mr. De Michele later stated that he had been marketing the ANDRÉ brand of reeds since 1919.

Like many mid-west musicians, Mr. De Michele came to California, where in 1926 he was working as an owner/manager of a music store (Monterey Park Music Co.) in the historic Garvey building in Monterey Park, CA. (destroyed in an earthquake in 1937).  

Although the Rico Story implies that he was a musician at Walt Disney Studios in 1926, that doesn't appear to be the case based on city directories and Music Trades magazine.  He may have, while managing the music store, moonlighted as a musician.  He may also have made or marketed ANDRÉ brand woodwind reeds at the music store.  I'm just not certain that it would be possible to be the owner/manager of a music store in Monterey Park at the same time as a studio musician at the old Disney Studios (then located in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles).

Frank did have an Uncle Joe Rico, as stated in the Rico Story, however, Rico was Frank's mother's family name.  We have already seen that Frank was a bit of a romantic and named his 1918 composition after his wife Monna (aka Norma).  So it is also possible that he named his company Rico after his mother, Assunta (aka Susan) Rico.  Clearly, Frank would not have had to ask his uncle if he could use the name Rico, as it was his mother's family name.  But there would have been a good reason to say that the company was named after his uncle Joseph Rico.  While understated in the Rico Story, Joseph Rico (1876-1957) was far more famous than Frank or anybody else at Rico Products.  

Joseph Rico.

Uncle Joe had cut a few records prior to Frank asking him about woodwind reeds.  This 1920's "seventy-eight" record, "I've Cried So Much,"** was one of his big hits in France.  Naming the company after Joseph Rico would be similar to having a famous musician as a product endorser (although Uncle Joe played the harp).

The Rico Story sort of implies that Frank began Rico Products by joining with Roy Maier and others.  Actually, he first started a partnership prior to Rico Products with somebody of whom I had never heard, Mr. Lloyd Garrison Broadus.  Mr. Broadus was also a musician from the Midwest who had moved to California.  In the 1910 U.S. Federal census, Mr. Broadus (then 14 years old) was listed as having left school and was employed as a full time musician.  Tracking down information on Mr. Broadus was difficult because his name (like De Michele) was also often misspelled in various documents.  But here is an item with his name on it that shows that he was involved with Frank De Michele very early on.

The "Swiss" reed gauge.  Mr. Broadus was of recent Swiss dissent and, presumably, he developed the gauge and applied for a patent in 1931.

It is the back side of the meter that is interesting.  The company is claimed to be "importers," but of what and from where?  Was the meter made in Switzerland?  Probably not.  We have seen that the marketers of musical instruments and accessories often play fast and loose with Country Of Origin Labels (COOL designations)

I found this item because early entries in the Publisher's Guide to the Music Industries listed the "Swiss Reed Gauge" (for decades) as an accessory available from Rico Products, Ltd.  How could it be listed for years and years, first as a product of the "L.G.BROADUS DeMICHELE" company and later as a Rico product, yet I had never seen or heard of one?  I needed to find out what a Swiss Reed Gauge was.  I couldn't find another advertisement, a picture, or even a mention of it using Google searches.  It took several months of online searching before I found an old Ebay listing where one had sold online.  And then I found the patent issued to Mr. Broadus in 1933, which he had applied for in 1931.

Mr. Broadus shows up as having many musical occupations during his life.  As a musician, he lists his residence on one document as the town's theater.  He later lists himself as a salesman for musical instruments and as a music teacher.  At one point, he was a neighbor of Malcolm "M.C." Gregory (also a Rico employee) in Los Angeles.  By the 1940's, he was a rancher in San Diego County.  

Victor J. Evans (the attorney on the application) was a well known Washington D.C. attorney who died early in 1931.  Mr. Evens authored a common publication of the 1920's called How to Obtain a Patent.  That isn't likely his signature on the August, 1931 patent application, but rather a pro forma indication that the Evans law firm, then run by his surviving wife, was processing the patent.  The Evans law firm had a national reputation for patent, real estate, Native American law, etc., and it is likely that they advertised nationally.  It was a top shelf law firm.  

The application, the patent issue date, and just looking at the Swiss Reed Gauge gives us a timeline for Mr. Broadus and Mr. De Michelle starting what became Rico Products.  Mr. Broadus applied for the patent August 17, 1931.  The patent issued June 27, 1933.  But the meter itself states "Patent Pending."  That would indicate that it was manufactured between 1931 and 1933.  The business was then the "L.G. Broadus De Michelle Co." which later became Rico Products, Inc.  I haven't yet seen actual corporate filings for either, so it is possible that they were only business names at the time.  (Falsely claiming corporate status isn't illegal unless used to defraud). 

The patent shows that you screw down a clamp (#19 in Fig. 2 and 3) and the amount of pressure that it puts on a hinge point affects the reading.  Notice that the reed is flexed backwards in a way that would never occur to a woodwind reed when playing.

I was familiar with a subsequent Mario Maccaferri reed tester, in fact, here is a picture of mine.  The Maccaferri "Reed-O-Meter" would make a great gag gift.  

The Maccaferri velvet bag is useful for carrying a tenor mouthpiece.  The meter is stamped "patent pending." A patent did issue.

I can't imagine that the Swiss Reed Gauge was any more useful than the Maccaferri Reed-O-Meter (patented in 1953 and distinguishing the L.G. Broadus patent for the Swiss Reed Gauge).  It is distinguished in part by the mind-numbing complexity outlined in the Maccaferri patent application.  Here is the diagram from the application.

Competition from Maccaferri may be why the Swiss Reed Gauge remained in Rico's accessory line for decades.  Although the Swiss Reed Gauge was clearly made in the early 1930's prior to the beginning of Rico Products, it remained listed as a Rico accessory into the mid-1960's.  The same was true of Rico's Master by Gregory brand of mouthpieces made in the mid-1950's.  They remained listed as a Rico accessory into the mid-1970's in some publications, long after Rico had replaced it with its new Reloplex mouthpiece.  In fairness, the Maccaferri Reed-O-Meter didn't appear any more successful than Rico's meter, also having a dated appearance that made it look like the item had a single production run in the 1950's.  Apparently, if you're going to make a saxophone accessory, make a lot of them and sell them over the decades.

So we now know that prior to Rico Products, Frank De Michele had a business in addition to just ANDRÉ reeds.  In fact, they also had a line of ANDRÉ woodwind mouthpieces.  Here is a clarinet piece that showed up on Ebay for $1,200 with no explanation as to the price.  Maybe as a "pre-Rico" collectable??

Here is an example of an ANDRÉ saxophone mouthpiece.  It is claimed to be an M.C. Gregory piece, although Malcolm Gregory wasn't working for Rico (because Rico had yet to be formed.)  Price is $225.  Maybe Malcolm was working for his Hollywood neighbor, Mr. Broadus?

I haven't yet located the Broadus/De Michelle Company through the California Secretary of State, but Lloyd Broadus was definitely already around at the start of Rico Products, Ltd.  In fact, on April 19, 1938, it was Mr. Broadus and Mr. De Michele who applied for the well known Rico trademark (RICO printed over a treble clef and staff lines.)  

Prior to the treble clef and staff lines, Rico simply used an embellished "Rico" as the trademark.  Here are the earliest Rico brand reeds featured in a 1937 catalog.

Notice that the new found Rico company also had the Perm-Nent line of reeds, a plastic "chemical covering" cane reed that was the precursor to the Rico Plasticover that is still in production today. The Perm-Nent was coated all over and had a gold sticker on it.  It was fancier and more expensive than Rico's standard reeds.  

Starting in the 1920's and continuing through the 1950's, De Michelle used a diamond logo on Rico reeds and mouthpieces (most notably on various M.C. Gregory "Diamond" mouthpieces).  Below is a picture of a later offering featuring the "newer" 1938 Rico trademark.

Early Rico reeds showing the "new treble clef trademark.  Rico also used this trademark on some of the early mouthpieces that it produced (their early M.C. Gregory brand).

The 1938 trademark application states that Frank De Michele was President of Rico Products, Ltd., a California corporation (which I also have yet to obtain the corporate filings).  The application states that Broadus and De Michele had used the Rico trademark since 1936 and, as we have seen in another blog, Rico used the trademark on its M.C. Gregory brand of mouthpieces in the 1937-38 Selmer catalog along with a Rico logo that had fooled some into mistakenly claiming that Rico was a French company (logo shown below).  



The Rico logo used in the early Selmer catalogs says "Marque Deposse France."  Marque means trademark or brand.  Déposse means filed, registered or submitted.  France means the French Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle.  It implies that "Rico" is a registered trademark in France (and therefore possibly a French company).  While that was never true, there was no penalty for making the misrepresentation in the United States.  And, as we have seen, some people believed the misrepresentation and one person made up an entire M.C. Gregory Saga based on Rico being a French company that distributed mouthpieces fabricated by a Mr. M.C. Gregory with the help of his daughter, Gale, and his attorney, Cesar Tschudin.

The Rico Story says Mr. De Michele first started marketing Rico brand reeds in 1928, yet the U.S. trademark application by Mr. De Michele and Mr. Broadus states that they only began using the Rico trade name in 1936.  Prior to that, it appears that ANDRÉ was the trademarked name for their early reeds and mouthpieces.  Assuming that Mr. De Michelle did obtain French cane in 1928 from his uncle Joseph Rico, it wasn't until 1936 that he decided to market reeds using the Rico brand name.

The late 1930's were good years for Frank De Michele.  Rico Products had both its new M.C. Gregory brand of mouthpieces and the new Rico brand reeds in the Selmer catalogs.  Plus, De Michele was by then getting work as a studio musician.  I discovered that from the only musical credit that I could find for him.  Frank is given credit for playing the clarinet in the 1939 smash hit Pinocchio for Walt Disney Studios** (in a Disney Studio listing, not in the actual screen credits).  So he was eventually a studio musician for Disney, although more than a decade after claimed in the Rico Story.  

The Rico Story says that De Michele started making Rico reeds in 1928 and "soon thereafter" found four partners, one of them being Roy J. Maier, to start a Rico reed factory.  Sort of.  Lloyd Broadus was clearly already a business partner long before Rico was founded.  But Roy Maier didn't come on board quickly.  He joined Rico in 1939, according to an award given to Mr. Maier in 1990.  That would be several years after Rico reeds went on the market and many years after the ANDRÉ reeds and mouthpieces.  It was also after Rico had launched its newest mouthpiece, the M.C. Gregory.  The fourth and fifth partners seem to have been silent partners.  I think that I know who both of them were.  

Howard Lockie ran the Lockie Music Exchange in Los Angeles.  He had seen the success that De Michelle had with marketing ANDRÉ reeds prior to the formation of Rico Products.  The formation of Rico Products included Lockie proposing an exclusive distribution system through his two L.A. music stores.  The other "even more silent" partner was Herman Snyder.  Mr. Snyder appeared to have been a "money man" and had no other connection with the music industry.  Both Lockie and Snyder had other family members involved in both the music store and Rico Products, Inc.  

Most interesting is Herman Snyder's son, Nathan Snyder, a Los Angeles attorney.  I had come across his name when learning that Rico Products had incorporated a small unsuccessful mouthpiece business called Gale Products, Inc.  That business showed in its original corporate documents that De Michelle, Maier, and Nathan Snyder were on its board of directors (and Malcolm "M.C." Gregory was not involved).  It makes sense now.  The Snyder family was part of Rico Products, so when Rico started Gale Products, Nathan Snyder was on the board of directors.  As I had earlier supposed, Gale Products was essentially an unsuccessful and short-lived subsidiary of Rico Products.

I also have a crazy theory as to where Rico may have obtained the molds that it used for its line of M.C. Gregory brand mouthpieces.  There was a popular mouthpiece produced by Selmer (France) at the time (late 1920's through the mid 1930's) that bears a strikingly similar appearance to the M.C. Gregory line of mouthpieces in the late 1930's, although Selmer used a more elaborate shank band.  At the time, Roy Maier had an ongoing distribution agreement with Selmer U.S.A.  When Selmer (France) suddenly changed the molds for its Airflow model mouthpieces, where did the old molds go?  To Selmer U.S.A.?  Did Roy Maier end up with them and propose a mouthpiece business in addition to merging his reed fabrication business with De Michelle's business?  The theory is more logical than Mr. Malcolm Gregory, a Rico employee who had no musical experience, suddenly developing the M.C. Gregory line of saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces and then distributing them exclusively through Rico Products, Inc. 

Roy John Maier was born in Chelsea, Michigan on January 8, 1896 or 1897.***  He died on October 14, 1981.  On his 1917 WWI draft registration, he lists himself as an "entertainer" working at the Bismarck Gardens in Chicago.  Bismarck Gardens was a large summertime beer garden catering to Chicago's German immigrants.  With the outbreak of WWI, German heritage was unpopular such that the park's name was changed to Marigold Gardens (in fact it had already changed by the time Maier listed his place of employment on his draft registration).  With prohibition starting shortly thereafter, it was time for Mr. Maier to hit the road.

But before we leave Chicago, I would note that Mr. Maier was a professional working musician in Chicago and playing at a well known venue at the same time as Mr. De Michele.  Frank was listed in various publications as a band (and orchestra) leader prior to his leaving Chicago.  It is not unlikely that Frank and Roy knew each other, although I can't figure out any way to determine who the members of Mr. De Michele's Chicago bands may have been.  At the time, professional musician's often belonged to local unions, but the old Chicago union listings that I have found only show those union members who were not in good standing.  It appears that Lloyd Broadus also left the the mid-west for California about this time, but he ended up in L.A. via a side trip to Caspar, Wyoming where he worked in a theater pit.  Maybe that is where he obtained his affinity for ranching.

Roy Maier married Agnes Petkis in 1922 and was on the road by the 1930 U.S. Census Report, leaving his wife and seven year-old son (Roy Jr.) in Chicago.  

He later moved with his family to Los Angeles in the mid-30's, where he was a musician of some note (no pun intended).  In the picture below, he appears in a promotional handout for the Paul Whiteman orchestra.  He is on the upper right with his name and "reeds" underneath.  How apropos.  

Also listed is "Joe Venuti, violinist," the same musician who worked with Arnold Brilhart and Elmer Beechler to produce the first Brilhart mouthpieces.  It seems that a jazz violinist can produce respected woodwind mouthpieces.

On the bottom of the page, to the right of the fold, is alto saxophone player Chester Hazlett.  Mr. Hazlett already had his name on a mouthpiece by 1935.  

The Woodwind Company's "Chester Hazlett" mouthpiece.  It has a marbled Bakelite shank insert to add some flash.

But look at the promotional handout picture right under Paul Whiteman.  It shows a new singer, one of the "Rhythm Boys," by the name of Bing Crosby.  Here is Paul Whiteman recording with Mr. Maier and Bing Crosby  Open in a separate window to keep reading with Bing crooning in the background.

Roy Maier had also already been in the reed fabrication business prior to joining Rico Products.  His first venture may have been with Anthony Ciccone before Maier left Chicago in the 1930's.  "Tony" Ciccone stayed behind in Chicago to run his own woodwind reed business called Symmetricut.  (It turns out that Tony Ciccone is another name that is hard to research because there are several, including Madonna's homeless brother).  Years later, Rico Products purchased the Symmetricut brand name.  I don't think that brand name is still in use.

 Symmetricut reeds were distributed by Chicago Musical Instrument Co., the same company that was the sole distributor of Elmer Beechler's mouthpieces when he first began.

Here is Roy Maier's first solo venture into the reed business years prior to joining Rico Products.

Roy Maier reeds distributed by J.H. Schuler Co. of Hanover, Pennsylvania.

These are not the old Roy "J." Maier reeds that you might have seen (picture below).  Nor are they the still fairly common Roy J. Maier "Signature" reeds, which were not trademarked until 1942 (picture below).  These earlier reeds were exclusively marketed and distributed by the J.H. Schuler Company of Hanover, PA.  Who was J.H. Schuler?****  Well, jump into my time machine.  One of the products marketed by J.H. Schuler was a "free" vending machine placed in high school band rooms that dispensed woodwind reeds (for a price).  What a concept.  

Bottom right corner.  

On of the other things that J.H. Schuler was known for back in the day was "bamboo" costume jewelry.  It is now very collectible.

What's the connection?  I don't know, but it is kind of strange.  In the late 1920's, Roy Maier needed to fabricate delicate precision woodwind reeds from cane.  His exclusive distributor at the time was famous for delicate precision costume jewelry fabricated from cane.  Hmmmm.


There was a subsequent "Roy J. Maier" brand reed prior to Mr. Maier joining Rico Products.  This reed was affiliated with Selmer.  It appears that Selmer U.S.A. (not J.H. Schuler) distributed all Roy "J." Maier reeds prior to Maier joining Rico.  In the mid-30's, Selmer catalogs featured both Rico Products mouthpieces (the Gregory models), Rico reeds, and Roy J. Maier reeds.  But not until 1939 were Rico reeds and Mr. Roy Maier affiliated.   

Finally, after Roy Maier joined Rico Products, he trademarked the "Roy J. Maier "Signature" reed in 1942.  Maybe his actual signature (which he did trademark) separated it from the earlier Selmer trademarked Roy J. Maier reeds?  Or maybe his business affiliation with Selmer U.S.A. was so congenial that Selmer didn't care.

The trademarked Roy J. Maier signature now appears on the "Signature Reed."  Made in the U.S.A.  At the time, German Unterseeboots (U-boats) were patrolling the Atlantic.  The Var region of France, famous for cane, was occupied by the Nazis.  So the cane used for these reeds is likely from the U.S.A. and Rico was no longer claiming to use French cane that was aged 4 years.  Mr. Maier began buying swampy land in California for growing Rico Products cane.

Roy Maier Signature Reeds had their own advertising campaign separate from Rico reeds.  Here is a matchbook indicating that music stores handed these out as promotional material for the reeds.  Close cover before striking!

Notice that the matchbook also references Roy Maier model mouthpieces for saxophone and clarinet.

The same trademarked Roy Maier signature also appears on a "resonite" resin mouthpiece (this mouthpiece was also branded by Rico Products as both the Mickey Gillette and M.C. Gregory models). 

It appears that Mr. Maier kept the Roy J. Maier Signature reeds throughout his association with Rico.  He may even have had a separate corporation.  Here is an advertisement from International Musician in October of 1958.  These reeds were distributed exclusively through Selmer U.S.A.

I have seen some articles that say that Roy J. Maier was an engineer who also had an interest in music (he has some non-musical patents to his name).  I think that this might be a looser interpretation of "engineer" than most people today would use.  I've also seen a reference to Arnold Brilhart as an "engineer" who came to work for Rico Products late in life.  Roy Maier completed 2 years of high school (tenth grade).  Mr. Brilhart only completed eighth grade.  So neither was a licensed professional engineer like we might imagine.  They both were impressive engineers in the "inventor/designer" definition.

Roy Maier invented and patented the Rico ReedGard that shows up in every old saxophone case.  But that's a story for another time.  Also, the land that he had acquired in the Sonoma valley to grow arundo donax (cane for making woodwind reeds) turned out to have a better use.  And you thought, based on the Rico Story, that all of Rico's cane came from the Var region of France.  Guess again.  Having sold the swampy land where Rico Products once grew cane and thereby purchasing upland tracts, here is the Sonoma valley product with which the Roy J. Maier trade name is now associated.  Cheers.

  

"A tribute to the Roaring 20's musician and musical genius."  That also sounds like a story for another time.

*  Throughout my career in technical and legal writing, putting a verbal statement in quotation marks generally meant that the text was a verbatim transcription and supported by corroborating evidence.  If one wrote that, prior to the gunshot, the victim shouted "Don't shoot me!" the Judge would say "Based on what evidence?" (while defense counsel jumped up and down yelling "Objection!!")  How do we know that Frank said "Uncle Joe, you are so well established in the musical scene in Paris?"  Without a copy of the letter, it is like the quotation marks in a story where Goldilocks says "This bed is just right," i.e., it is likely a fairy tale.

**   These old records were not called "seventy-eights" at the time.  They were just records, as 78 rpm was basically all that there was, although the French used 77.92 rpm because, well, they are French.  Here are the lyrics to Joseph Rico's hit:

I cried so much for you
Prayed so much, without tenderizing you, wicked one!
I spent so many days, so many nights not think only of you!
I have everything deep inside me.
Had to hide so many burning tears ,
How I tired my heart to suffer so much for you!

In my madness,
I thought I was a boring poet,
That our life would be a wonderful romance ,
The wiser heart ,
Without seeing my eyes cloudy .
I read the last page: the page where we talk about farewell ...

I cried so much for you.
Prayed so much without tenderizing you wicked!
I spent so many days, so many nights not think only of you!
I have, deep inside me,
Had to hide so many burning tears .
How I tired my heart to suffer so much for you!

The broken soul,
Following his painful path ,
Far from the beloved one remains unhappy for a long time.
But we get tired
Each day consoles a little;
And every morning that passes.
Erase a tear in your eyes! ...

I cried so much for you
Prayed so much, without feeling wicked
I spent so many days, so many nights not think that you
I have everything deep inside me
Had to hide so many burning tears
How I tired my heart to suffer so much to suffer for you!

And you will need the sheet music:

*** Pinocchio is still impressive because of the animation and also because of a constant musical score during the entire movie.  Those of us of a certain age will remember Jiminy Cricket singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio as the ending to Sunday night's Wonderful World of Disney television show.

**** The birth date given on Mr. Maier's WWI and WWII draft registration cards differ by a year, again making research on him a little more difficult.  Even the date given on his state birth record says "about" 1896.

*****  J.H. Schuler Co. is still around.  It is a merchandising company that has been involved in a wide variety of products over the decades.


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