When I phoned Francois to ask for a date to have my silver FL touched up, we talked about his new line of bronze mouthpieces that look like his old silver ones. I was ready to have one made for me but sadly never made it to Belgium because I got my old FL 7* silver back from Paul Heller who wanted my 9* FL silver instead.
Francois explained his new bronze mouthpiece would cost me about 800 EUR incl. VAT, custom tailored in his workshop for my favourite horn and musical taste. A friend of mine came over and showed me his new FL bronze. Those are great mouthpieces, but they sound different from the silver ones, no doubt about that.
Now those new models come up on Fleebay and other platform for a lot of money, and what annoys me is that people use the demand for and prices of vintage silver FLs to push prices on their new models just because their shape resembles that of the older silver models. I guess Francois will not be amused....
These are just two examples:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Francois-Lou...264844?hash=item3f88a21b4c:g:CI4AAOSwcC5Z1kKU
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Francois-Lou...977509?hash=item3f8860afe5:g:qpkAAOSwMf5Z0iVW
Now anybody can do with their new FLs what they like and can earn some bucks with Francois' good name, but people should be aware they can get those mouthpiece at 30 to 50% less from the master himself if they take their time and see him in his workshop.
Just to let you know, at least you guys in Europe.
Francois explained his new bronze mouthpiece would cost me about 800 EUR incl. VAT, custom tailored in his workshop for my favourite horn and musical taste. A friend of mine came over and showed me his new FL bronze. Those are great mouthpieces, but they sound different from the silver ones, no doubt about that.
Now those new models come up on Fleebay and other platform for a lot of money, and what annoys me is that people use the demand for and prices of vintage silver FLs to push prices on their new models just because their shape resembles that of the older silver models. I guess Francois will not be amused....
These are just two examples:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Francois-Lou...264844?hash=item3f88a21b4c:g:CI4AAOSwcC5Z1kKU
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Francois-Lou...977509?hash=item3f8860afe5:g:qpkAAOSwMf5Z0iVW
Now anybody can do with their new FLs what they like and can earn some bucks with Francois' good name, but people should be aware they can get those mouthpiece at 30 to 50% less from the master himself if they take their time and see him in his workshop.
Just to let you know, at least you guys in Europe.