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New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces second hand

8K views 24 replies 6 participants last post by  Henblower 
#1 ·
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.
 
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#2 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

Unfortunately, we in the US have no other choice it seems. I have been searching for quite awhile, and it appears the distributor has no idea when or if these pieces will ever be available here. I have tried at least 3 or 4 times to contact Francois through his website over the last several months, but he never replies. I'm know he's a very busy man, and I'm sure he's inundated with emails everyday, so I understand. I can't justify spending upwards of $2,000 USD on eBay, and a trip to Europe would be even more expensive. I've played a Spectruoso for 8 years and I'm very happy with it, so I will just keep my fingers crossed that one day these pieces make their way to the states.
 
#4 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

I've played a Spectruoso for 8 years and I'm very happy with it, so I will just keep my fingers crossed that one day these pieces make their way to the states.
The Metal Spectruoso is a bit "quiter" than the resin Spectruoso.

Don't expect to have a bright focused mouthpiece... from the new metal one.

The old silver ones I've tried they were not bright&loud mouthpieces.

The bright sound of Bob Berg was because of Bob Berg way to play the saxophone (just check older records from the 70's with Horace Silver and Cedar Walton for reference).
 
#3 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

I talked to Francois on the phone a while ago and will soon ask him about this situation. If there is a way for people from overseas to get one of those directly from him, I'll let you know.
 
#8 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

I had one of the new metals for about a year, it was a decent piece but honestly not any better for me than other pieces I use that cost less than HALF of a metal Francois Louis. To put it in a comparison, the tone I got with it was between a 10mfan Robusto and a 10mfan Boss-two much easier to acquire as well as less expensive mouthpieces. I'm not trying to knock the piece, but if I can potentially save somebody some time and money for a super expensive mouthpiece he/she may or may not like I'm glad to do just that.
 
#10 ·
I had one of the new metals for about a year, it was a decent piece but honestly not any better for me than other pieces I use that cost less than HALF of a metal Francois Louis. To put it in a comparison, the tone I got with it was between a 10mfan Robusto and a 10mfan Boss-two much easier to acquire as well as less expensive mouthpieces. I'm not trying to knock the piece, but if I can potentially save somebody some time and money for a super expensive mouthpiece he/she may or may not like I'm glad to do just that.
Appreciate your feedback, but unless it is just poorly made, a mouthpiece is too personal a thing to judge without trying it. Unfortunately, in this situation, with the piece being so hard to find in the US, there's no option to try before you buy, haha. That said, I've been playing a FL Spectruoso for 8 years and never considered trying anything else until I learned of his new metal piece. Of course, maybe I won't like it either, but I have so much confidence in FL's designs that I'm willing to roll the dice... but not for 2X the price.
 
#19 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

First of all: the more legendary a mouthiece becomes the higher is the risk you will be disappointed instead of "being blown away". I have owned four or five of the legendary silver mouthpieces by Francois over the years, and none of them was like "unpack-play-drop dead". It was all work and trying to find what the pieces have to offer. In the end, I can understand why people (like me) have bought and still buy them at about three times their price back in the 90s. The legend of those silver pieces fires the prices of the few new bornze pieces.
I gave one of those silver pieces to my friend Paul Heller of WDR Bigband, and this is what he sounded on it in a production with Maria Schneider (this was taken from a broadcast of the concert in 2015). Paul gave me back this piece a couple of weeks ago because he liked the 0.130 I had bought in between better. So we traded.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qd7srzh9...ia Schneider II 04_2015. Paul Heller.mp3?dl=0

Second: Francois is a very gentle, humble and friendly guy whose main interest is music, not business. I tried to mail him last week and he didn't answer. I don't take this personal and I'm sure I'll get through to him in time. His way of producing this new line of metal pieces is in fact that you go there, bring your favourite horn, play and explain the sound you have in mind. Francois will work on the blank, have you play, works again etc. until the mouthpiece is what you want it to be. After that, he finalizes the piece buy plating it. This process reminds me a lot of what Alexander Dumble does to guitar amplifiers. Twenty-five years ago when I still played the guitar, I had a Dumble Steel String Singer built for David Lindley that David gave to me, and you could really hear what sound David had in mind when Dumble built that amp for him. This is what Francois does: if he fine-tunes a mouthpiece for me it does not mean you will be happy with it.
Of course this is not really a way to go for people who don't live near enough to go and see him in his workshop. As I said, if I get through to him I will ask him if he sees any chance of offering them "from a distance". If I do, I will come back to this thread.
 
#20 ·
First of all: the more legendary a mouthiece becomes the higher is the risk you will be disappointed instead of "being blown away". I have owned four or five of the legendary silver mouthpieces by Francois over the years, and none of them was like "unpack-play-drop dead". It was all work and trying to find what the pieces have to offer. In the end, I can understand why people (like me) have bought and still buy them at about three times their price back in the 90s. The legend of those silver pieces fires the prices of the few new bornze pieces.
I gave one of those silver pieces to my friend Paul Heller of WDR Bigband, and this is what he sounded on it in a production with Maria Schneider (this was taken from a broadcast of the concert in 2015). Paul gave me back this piece a couple of weeks ago because he liked the 0.130 I had bought in between better. So we traded.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4qd7srzh9...ia Schneider II 04_2015. Paul Heller.mp3?dl=0

Second: Francois is a very gentle, humble and friendly guy whose main interest is music, not business. I tried to mail him last week and he didn't answer. I don't take this personal and I'm sure I'll get through to him in time. His way of producing this new line of metal pieces is in fact that you go there, bring your favourite horn, play and explain the sound you have in mind. Francois will work on the blank, have you play, works again etc. until the mouthpiece is what you want it to be. After that, he finalizes the piece buy plating it. This process reminds me a lot of what Alexander Dumble does to guitar amplifiers. Twenty-five years ago when I still played the guitar, I had a Dumble Steel String Singer built for David Lindley that David gave to me, and you could really hear what sound David had in mind when Dumble built that amp for him. This is what Francois does: if he fine-tunes a mouthpiece for me it does not mean you will be happy with it.
Of course this is not really a way to go for people who don't live near enough to go and see him in his workshop. As I said, if I get through to him I will ask him if he sees any chance of offering them "from a distance". If I do, I will come back to this thread.
Thanks so much for your post. I had the same experience with the Spectruoso. I was coming off a long hiatus and decided I wanted to play the mpc before I started playing again. It took a lot of time and work to get to know the mouthpiece and I have never looked back. If I didn't learn of his new metal piece, it wouldn't cross my mind to change mouthpieces. I think his design is truly brilliant and I love his products.

I too don't take it personally that he hasn't replied to my emails. In the past he was always very kind and took the time to answer all my questions. Of course schedules change and life gets busy at times, sometimes very very busy. So I totally understand. I've always had the impression that his character is exactly as you described. That's certainly the impression I got the few times I interacted with him. I hope someday to meet him in person so I can thank him for his work. It has had a huge impact.
 
#21 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

I briefly owned one of the new FL bronze pieces. Unfortunately I didn't like the way it played at all. I'm used to playing Links and the FL was quite different in response and was suprisingly dark and dry in tone. Forum member Tono has owned both the vintage silver and the current production bronze FL. He said the new model is very different to the old silver mouthpieces.
 
#22 ·
I received a reply from Francois today! He explained that because these pieces are labor intensive, and are taking more time than he has, these pieces are not currently available. I'm assuming the only way to get one direct would be to travel to his workshop. Now I don't feel too bad about buying that one off eBay a few days ago ?. Looking forward to receiving it next week.
 
#24 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

Received the piece today, can't believe how great it is, haha. It's like the Spectruoso... on steroids. I actually find it to be quite bright, but without losing any heft or body. Incredible punch and crisp articulation. What a great piece.

Thanks to everyone that replied!
Post a clip, Frank.. post a clip !
 
#25 ·
Re: New Francois Louis bronze mouthpieces s/h overpriced

I have to update this thread because the initial information in post #1 is not true anymore: a new bronze Francois Louis mouthpiece actually was about 800 EUR when Francois started the project of building metal mouthpiece again. Now, the price is about 1200 EUR (1350 USD) new. When I was at his workshop, Francois explained to me there is a lot of work and fine-tuning involved in making these mouthpieces. I think it would be unfair not to put things right.
 
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