Calicchio #1 leadpipe?

supertrump · Regular Member Joined: 11 Aug 2005 Posts: 79

Hi guys,

I've been playing a wonderful vintage Calicchio which has a #2 bell & #1 pipe. ML bore. Anyone have any ideas on where this 1 pipe falls compared to the standard #2 or #7 etc? The horn plays with slightly warmer & broader sound than the 1s2 I'd blown, but was curious if anyone had any experience with this pipe? I contacted John Duda who told me he'd never heard about a 1 pipe & didn't know what it was! He's trying to find the original books to help find out. Here's a pic of the pipe!

https://beta.photobucket.com/u/miketpt/a/1097fe93-bd73-4da4-96b4-f92c6df7f24f/p/83d0f0d6-a36f-49ee-984a-f5d050790b6f

Yamahaguy · Heavyweight Member Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 3992

Wow, cool! Never seen that before...couple years back I had John send me the
#10 to try. Very focused and bright indeed as the website states. Definitely not
what you describe though. Then again, might be a prototype? I do know that
Chris had experimented with some things during his time. Rare bird anyhow!
Let us know what you find out.

Ed Kennedy · Heavyweight Member Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 3187

I believe that the leadpipe numbers were assigned in the order which the pipe was created by Dominic. Very likely the #1 was used on his New York "Superior" models. His horns were very strongly F Besson influenced. I had to replace a leadpipe on a NY Superior and chose a Kanstul CG pipe because of the common Besson heritage. It worked out very well.

supertrump · Regular Member Joined: 11 Aug 2005 Posts: 79

Thanks for the input guys I'll post here anything else I manage to find out. Interesting about the F.Besson/Superior model connection with this pipe. BTW the serial on the horn is 18XX so built in 1966 I think.

Ed Kennedy · Heavyweight Member Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 3187

You might contact Jerry Callet. He knows those horns inside out. He was dealing Calicchios in New York in the early '60's.

I worked on two of them belonging to musicians who'd moved from NY to Tampa Bay in the '80's. Both were exceptional horns. One was a #1 (not 1S) bell with a #2 leadpipe in lacquer. The other was a 1S-7. Both were picked at Callet's home (I think on Long Island) and purchased from Jerry. If I think of the guy's names I'll edit. One had a nickname "Cochise," an Italian with a Native American look. Jerry Puleo He'd played with Les Elgart. The other was named Saul Lefkov, married to a pianist ,/vocalist named Bonnie. They had a club act" "Bonnie and Saul." (with apologies to Ben Webster) I remembered!