MF Mouthpieces 1963-1972

[shakuhachi]

For those who are interested to know more about those pieces. I have played all of Maynards mpcs over the years and own a complete collection of them.

I always was sure about that his special design of inner rim (very high alpha angle) and cup (V-vups, concave, straight or convex) are a main presumption for his effortless full range skills.

A long time I was in doubt about the influence of the drill sizes: he used about 25-26 in early years and later going large using 15-19. I never got used to this greater drill sizes!

For me, his „straight“ v- cups worked best at the end. So I landed on his Giardinelli and FBL pieces. Maynard was going to use deeper v-cups with FBL when going to England.

Returning to US he changed a bit shallower again (Holton) and with Jet-Tone convex design he could get some compromise between retaining high alpha angel and getting more cup volume. But the alpha angel went even higher.

Latest I bought the Giardinelli MF1-3 pieces as offered by Greg Black: GB NY Legend MF1-3. Why?

They all have the same rim as Benjamin Strickland assured me. Because these v-cups are „straight“ the entry angle has to become lower as the cup gots deeper. On the other side a shallower cup will react more sensible in the interelationship on the lip vibration because of the feedback of the instrument.

So one has to find the right spot of the lip setting and inner cup configuration for the own physiognomie. The mpc has to lead the relaxed lips on their way building a narrower arperture when going higher and letting more soft tissue into the cup (but not much more lip as most common players of big mouthpieces are used to! Lynn Nicholson called it „unfurling“ not „putting“). There shoud be no bottoming out when going to a shallower piece.

I found the GB NY Legend MF1-3 very helpful to make this journey. In the beginning years ago I thought. „use exactly the size Maynard used ( Giardinelli MF1)“. But today I found the deeper MF3 more efficient for me: the better balance of feedback and not an alpha angle as high as MF1.

I show three pics from my GB Legend MFs and my FBLs (TM, TD). By the way: there existed only two sizes FBL - TM and TD. A so-called shallower one with „TS“ or no marking is a legend!

You may see: the GB NY Legend MF2 is a bit shallower as FBL TM. Same to MF3 vs FBL TD. The GB NY Legend MF1 is the shallowest and equals GB NY4, but has a 26 drill whereas NY4 is 27.



Hope this helps!


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s661pevxo0zolj52totcf/MF-Mouthpiece-60-70s-1.jpg?rlkey=2sjum8b0i01i6jou9hi1z2rnr&raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ufoujqggn45qyfjjg602g/MF-Mouthpiece-60-70s-2.jpg?rlkey=rq2ed4n6jjl9ei5lfvrfv4kk1&raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8zeqm1i0ypxn9gytln4dq/MF-Mouthpiece-60-70s-3.jpg?rlkey=f1q3r1li3mbcq80lpatl3841w&raw=1

[chase1973]

Complete List Of MF's MPC History

1940's-1952: Rudy Muck 13c modified in Canada by Johnny DeStaldo. It had a #25 throat and a short shank

1952-1958: Dom Calicchio custom copy based off of the Muck model-this is the piece Roger Ingram had copied and has made ava for the public

1958-1967: Giardinelli models. 3 separate designs-all had a #25 throat and the Giardinelli #3 backbore

1967-1972: Jack Bell Models

1973-1976: Holton MF models (these were based more on the Giardinelli designs. In 1974, Lynn Nicholson reamed out the throat from a #25 to a whopping #19, he also sanded the plating off of the bottom portion of the shank so it would butt up against the leadpipe when inserted in the horn)

1976-1984: Jet-Tone models (3 separate models-varying in throat size. The #1 had the #19 throat, the #2 had a #24 throat and the #3 had a more forgiving #26 throat)

1984-1987: Schilke/Laskey models-copied from the Jet-Tone #1 however, Scott told me personally he altered the backbores to give more "focus" to Maynard's sound as he felt his sound was becoming too spready.

1988-1991: back to Jet-Tone

1992-2006: The Monette years