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Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 16:27:44 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: Re: [CB] LeBlanc complaints
>The office in Paris was closed down in the mid '90's, and is now a hospital, so
>the instruments are not in Paris. But there is an address in La Couture-Boussey,
>where the factory still makes small clarinets and the bodies for bassett horns
>and bass clarinets which noone knows how to make the keys in Kenosha.
>Does anyone know where La Couture-Boussey is? I cannot find it in any of my
>maps or guide books. Probably it isn't very far from Paris.
It is apparently about 50 miles West of Paris. In searching for it, I found that it has a musical instrument museum - see
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/musee.instrumental/ . Interestingly, there is different information in the French and English versions of the site: the French side actually has tables of the instruments in the collection. They list a number of clarinets by Leblanc , including a Bb contrabass , but nothing lower. (They also have a Bb bass sarrusophone and an ophicleide , under "instruments divers")
You can find it now on Yahoo maps , which now can display maps of France, Germany, and a number of other countries. You can see La Couture-Boussey at
http://uk.maps.yahoo.com/py/lg:uk/lc:uk/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&addr=&city=La+Coutu
re-boussey&state=&slt=48.898200&sln=1.406200&name=&zip=27&country=fr&BFCat=&
BFClient=&mag=4&desc=&cs=5&newmag=3&poititle=&poi= (if the link doesn't wrap too many times...)
Enjoy,
Grant
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Grant Green contrabass.com
Sarrusophones & other Contrabass Winds
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Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 03:43:39 +0100
From: "Simon Bull"
Subject: Re: [CB] [CB Digest]
Thank you, Grant, for your input regarding the ebay tubax. I had not seen this aspect, that a horn on ebay could be seen simply as good advertising, and I will relay this to Benedikt.
Regarding the Sopranissimo sax, or Soprillo, as Benedikt calls it, I had the feeling that he only made one, as a kind of study thing, but I will ask him if it ever was in production, and how many were sold, if it was. Although what this has to do with a contrabass list is a mystery to me...:-)
The business with the bass sax is a bit complicated. I had a low C extension for my contrabass clarinet built by Benedikt last year, (I sent some photos to Grant, I think) and during the discussions we had about things reedy and low, Benedikt mentioned to me that in his opinion, nobody had yet built a bass sax that was "acoustically correct", and that he intended to rectify this. When he had time. I didn't think much more about it, until late last year, when I was interviewed for a local blowers magazine that was doing an article about doubling. They asked me to list which instruments I played, which I did, and at the end I said something like: "Oh, and I hope to buy one of Benedikt's new bass saxes, when he has them ready."
So Benedikt reads this thing, and calls me up to say "How do you know about the bass sax?" Turns out he was keeping this quiet, because he is not sure how it is going to turn out, and doesn't want to make a big deal out of it until he is sure. He considers the Selmer bass to be a playable instrument, that works, and unless his new design is a drastic improvement over this, they are not worth tooling up for. In other words, he will not bring this thing onto the market unless it meets his very strict criteria. And boy is he strict. I tried to order one, and pay for it, sight unseen, simply on the basis of the quality of his other work, (you have to see the extension he made me to believe it!) but he wouldn't have it. If it works out, and he is happy with the result, it will be presented at the Frankfurt music fair next year, and then be available to all. After I have my sticky fingers on serial number one, that is.
Grant asked me how it was going with the tubax, and that is also interesting. I have been playing this now for almost a year, using my bari mouthpiece, as designed for, and more fun you cannot imagine. Three octaves plus, like playing bari, but sounding an octave lower. Slowly, though, I am coming to the conclusion that it doesn't sound like it should, so I have ordered a bass sax mouthpiece from a maker here in Germany that has worked on mouthpieces for Benedikt, and I will also get, from Benedikt, the other crook that is needed to use the larger mouthpiece. I guess it won't be so easy, especially in the upper registers, but hope that the difference in sound will make it worthwhile. I will let you know how it works out.
In the meantime, though, if anyone has any doubts about whether a tubax is what it is cracked up to be, put them to rest. It is the best thing since sliced bread, for anyone that likes their music real, real low.
Simon
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From: NINEWINDS
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 00:06:14 EST
Subject: Re: [CB] [CB Digest]
In a message dated 3/22/02 3:50:47 PM, contra writes:
<< BTW, do you know if he's sold many of the sopranissimo saxes? >>
They aren't in production yet.
Vinny Golia
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From: "James Carrie"
Subject: [CB] HECKEL CONTRABASSOON for sale
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 21:58:15 -0000
Heckel CONTRABASSOON #229 for sale. Manufactured in 1898. Good working order but would benefit from some top quality restoration. $16,000. Please e-mail for more info. e-mail james.carrie@wanadoo.fr
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Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 14:50:37 -0800
From: tubadave
Subject: [CB] [Fwd: Roth/Orsi contra reed]
Maybe someone on the list is interested in this. He seems to have had
trouble selling at 10,000Euro.
David F
From: "Paolo Gavelli" <paologavelli@katamail.com>
Subject: Re: Roth/Orsi contra reed
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 23:38:42 +0100
Hi.
I have decided to sell to a lowest price.
6000 Euro.
Paolo
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