B.B.Q.---------NEW MOUTHPIECE PROPOSAL

[Charlie A.]

I wanted to ask you players out there a question for information purposes. I am considering coming out with a "new style" mouthpiece that is geared specifically for soul, blues, R & B, as well as a great ballad mouthpiece that plays with ease.
I have such a mouthpiece that I have played for years and I am considering attempting to reproduce it for the general market. There would be a few things different about it from others that I won't discuss here as we have not even begun on the reproduction phase of the project.
I know that there are many jazz and contemporary style players out there. What I 'm wondering is are there enough players that might want a mouthpiece that is styled out of the Memphis sound, Delta blues sound, and if you've got the guts ansd ability, one that "plays from the heart" straight to the "soul".
It will not be a good big band section mouthpiece but strictly a mouthpiece with a capacity for strength or gentleness depending on what the moment calls for and a sound unlike most anything on the market and would be a great mouthpiece for soul, r&b, and rock and roll horn sections that need the power to cut through. I have never been able to find another one that even comes close to the playing ease and sound that this piece produces. Whether we can be successful in the reproduction of it is to be determined. Jody E. has heard me play it and he felt that there might be a number of players out there looking for just such a piece.
I would appreciate some feedback on this as I want to know if there are enough players out there that are looking for this particular type of sound.
You can give your opinion over this forum or e mail me directly at charliea@watervalley.net.
Remember this mouthpiece is not in production at all. We are in the preliminary stages. I have played such this custom made mouthpiece for years when I want that particular. sound. For other purposes I play the Runyon Quantum Spoiler.
A good friend of mine, whom you all know, suggested I call it the B.B.Q.
Naturally BBQ we all know is an excellent food of southern heritage and the sound of this piece will have that sound, cut from southern soul and blues as well as Rock and Roll.
Looking forward to hearing your opinion about this.
Just curious,
Charlie A.

[LBAjazz]

Yeah. Let us know when you get through cloning the Holy Grail, too. Just kidding [sort of]. I would certainly be interested in such a piece.

[Charlie A.]

I can take it!!!!!!!
I fully understand where you are coming from. What we are going to try and do is extremely difficult and maybe impossible but we feel like the effort might just be worth it to a lot of players of a particular type.
No magic or anything of that sort. We are just going to try and duplicate a great mouthpiece--it may be impossible but if it works then it would be good for a lot of people.
Thanks for your reply. I expected to take some flack from this one.

charlie

[Bill Mecca]

Charlie,

it sounds interesting, I kno you don't want to go into too many details, but since I, like you, play a Quantum Spoiler, how would the sound differ?

we can all be struttin for some Bar B Q...;-)

[kcp]

I was going to ask the same question as billmecca but there I see he’s quicker than me. What you describe so far does sound interesting, can’t wait to hear more.

But about the name, are you sure that’s a good idea? Cause you know there already is a brand of mouthpiece that rhymes with “Onion (http://www.kimcpelletier.com/doodles/jamsession.jpg)” (<-- click there first) if there is going to be a mouthpiece named “BBQ” I'm affraid that’s going to create way too much confusion
... Like Here
http://www.kimcpelletier.com/doodles/jamsession2-sm.jpg (http://www.kimcpelletier.com/doodles/jamsession2.jpg)

:wink:

[phathorn]

Well...it had BETTER be Memphis BBQ....I would be VERY interested since I'm IN Memphis...

[Mike W]

Charlie A, I am interested.

[gary]

Well...it had BETTER be Memphis BBQ.
It's gotta sound like greasy pork, not beef.

I think the name's great and so is the concept. Of course you know you're running right up against some that are already on the market, not to mention Jody's latest ESP incarnation. Your's is going to have to really offer something unique to be profitable, and it's going to have to be playable right out of the box like Jody's not like some other designer mouthpieces that still need tweaking once the bank has been broken buying them.

A word of caution, and I'll likely get a few barbs about this but I'll say it anyway. And I just want to raise the issue, not overstate it. Getting feedback here is a good marketing idea and you will likely get some very valid and insightful comments. But be careful not to take the number of response, if large, too seriously.

There are those here who will bombard a new instrument/mpc topic with all kinds of questions and comments about how they can hardly wait for the product to hit the market and then just vaporate when it comes time to order and pay. This was evident with the JJ ESP mania and especially with the Goodson horns.

[super20dan]

i am interested but only in a bari and alto version. there is enough loud tenor mpcs allredy on the market

[Santee>]

Hi Charlie, I just had Donovan send me a plastic 15 Quantum tenor mpc., still not 100% the sound and feel I'm looking for. But I have a hunch I know kinda what you're looking for, what lots of us are... a similar sound of that of Michael Brecker. A big and dry low end, nice punch and grit on the top (Like you got a great LaVoz happenin!), and a mean tip-opening 8) hehe... I once had a Guardala Brecker and kept installing silicone baffles...really high ones... and eventually took a sheet of copper and some superglue and made a nice ramp. After glueing in the baffle, I had a little bit to file away, and wouldn't U know it, I slipped and ruined the mpc.'s tip!!! There goes $500.00!!!! But I keep going back to Dukoff...the step-down baffle w/large chamber. If the Quantum had some of the mouthpiece cut out on the sides between the baffle and the side-rails, that would make the sound a bit bigger, less compact. Let the baffle be maybe like Guardala's Brecker Mark II, maybe smooth the drop-downs a little, and have a huge chamber and thin side rails...maybe look into doing one of those Rovner tables? Make the reed vibrate a little more? Ok, Ok, what I'm tryin' to say is... SOUNDS GOOD!!! :lol: Let me know when U get 'em made please!

Peace,

Aaron ><>

[ving]

Kim,

Your drawings are great--enjoyed them immensely...


ving

[gary]

I know kinda what you're looking for, what lots of us are... a similar sound of that of Michael Brecker.
HUH!?

That's not my interpretation of " great mouthpiece for soul, r&b, and rock and roll horn sections". I'm thinking more Sil Austin, Red Prysock, Jr. Walker, the Memphis Horns, King Curtis.

Charlie-could you give us a few names to relate to so we're thinking the same as you? Thanks.

[MojoBari]

Santee, I can probably fix your Guardala. I'm always interested in new challenges. I've fixed several buggered up Links.

[shmuelyosef]

I have recently discovered the Lamberson 7SB, and find these to be pretty close to the ultimate R&B/Soul mouthpieces. I am originally from Detroit, and my music often strays to those roots. All this one needs for me is a little more edge when pushed, but it can whisper real phat and sexy just fine...I now use them in many settings on alto, tenor and bari.

[Santee>]

Thanx MojoBari, but after that slip-up (way back around '95) I decided to try to fix it myself... :? Now I think it's an alto mouthpiece! lol. Just livin' and learnin' :lol:

Thanx though anyway,

Aaron ><>

[Charlie A.]

Hi guys and gals--can't leave Kim out for sure. I have been quiet since the first posting about this "proposed" mouthpiece as I didn't want to start any unecessary static about a "piece" that there is only one in the world, to my knowledge and that one is mine.
I appreciate all of your posts and truly take all of them into serious consideration in the development of this piece. However the piece is already in existence in my sax case--the question is can we reproduce it. The bottom line is this. I have a good piece,"for me"! Whether it would be good for you---I don't know. Whether the sound I get you will get I don't know. I don't know how much of the sound is me and how much is my mouthpiece setup and sax, a Buffet Super Dynaction custom tenor made in the early 1970's. Only four like it were made. Made by Buffet but modified by American Music in Memphis by Jack Hale and Ted Talley. Jack owned the Memphis Horns as well as American Music.
I do know this and that is that it has moved beyond just an idea. We are currently in the initial "cloning" stage. I should have one piece to try next week and we will be able to tell to some degree why the sound is as it is.
This first piece is not going to be as open as my actual mouthpiece but rather will have a somewhat closer tip opening than I normally play, however I should be able to get some idea as to whether or not this thing can be cloned and will be playable.
I'm quite anxious about this project and if it works it will do most of what you have said that you wanted one to do. It will be full and forceful with good power response in the lower as well as the upper and altissimo registers yet can be subtoned and have an extremely full lower and dynamic upper register register when wanted.
Yep!!!!!!! It is Memphis BBQ as I have played most of my life there and in the Mississippi Delta---no imitation soul meat for me please!
I just wanted to let you know that this project is going forward, to what end we will just have to find out. As they say,"the proof is in the playing".
I will let you know as we move along whether we feel that it is feasable or possible to do this. Rest assured there is no scam involved here--this thing will play or it won't--bottom line. If it won't then it will not be offered to players.
Thanks again for your posts and interest and for the support that all of my friends and customers have given me for several years now. I will not put this piece into production for sale until I am satisfied that it will play from the box, Just as Jody's do, and that it will deliver what I say it will. Just keep in mind all players are different and what works for one may not work for another.
I will let you know what is happening as time moves on.

Regards,
Charlie A.

[Keith Ridenhour]

Charlie, heres what I'd do to market such a piece. I'd get a few people from intermediate, semi pro up to the pro level to record a brief sound bite of what they sound like using it . Its hard for me to imagine a "Memphis Sound" but it would be very helpful if you had two or three pros playing something on your webpage. Good PR for the pros, also. I know that everybody sounds different on a particular piece and just because you have a 130 Berg you might not sound like Lenny Picket, but it would me interesting (for someone like me) to hear. K

[Santee>]

[quote=Santee>]I know kinda what you're looking for, what lots of us are... a similar sound of that of Michael Brecker.
HUH!?

That's not my interpretation of " great mouthpiece for soul, r&b, and rock and roll horn sections".

Gary, you're saying that Michael Brecker isn't a dominant sound for soul, R&B, and Rock & Roll Horn Sections??? He's probably the most recorded sax player to do those type of sessions ever...

Here are just a few of the "Soul, R&B, and Rock & Roll" groups he's done horn section and/or solo work with... (and there are about 500 CD's he's been on mainly doing this exact type of work).

James Brown, Average White Band, Steely Dan, Spinners, Paul Simon, Saturday Night Live Band, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Funkadelic, The Spinners...

If Brecker's sound isn't one of the most famous horn section/ R&B sounds ever (don't forget the Brecker Bros. horns), then I gladly accept the

HUH!?

Peace,

Aaron ><>

[Dr_sax]

So after a while, what´s the state of the BBQ? There is not a clue on Charlies site. Are there some pictures perhaps? Soundclips? :?

[Mark R]

Dr. Sax for further updates on the BBQ please check at:

http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=16490