Calicchio Artist Series: The Williams 1 Mouthpiece - A Brass Mavens Exclusive!
When the Calicchio Artist series was in development, many custom and production mouthpieces were considered. Here’s one that’s very interesting:
Inner rim diameter: 0.655"
Medium shallow V cup
# 25 throat
Marked D CALICCHIO WILLIAMS
Authentic Calicchio blank
This mouthpiece is a modified version of the Kanstul M-B5L LT - better known as the Monette B5L LT. The cup was designed for New York Broadway and freelance lead trumpet player Tony Kadleck. The lightweight blank responds quickly, and the no. 25 throat offers the player a balanced mouthpiece that is perhaps more accessible than the Monette original. The overall length of the mouthpiece is somewhat shorter than a conventional one, and the gap is somewhat larger. I measured the gap with this mouthpiece on my horn and it came out to about 3/16” which offers a bit of appropriate resistance and a little firmer slotting. Your mileage may vary.
The B5L was very popular at the time of development of the Artist series, so this somewhat unconventional design was approved to be included in the ambitious Calicchio Artist Series.
When the Calicchio Artist series was in development, many custom and production mouthpieces were considered. Here’s one that’s very interesting:
Inner rim diameter: 0.655"
Medium shallow V cup
# 25 throat
Marked D CALICCHIO WILLIAMS
Authentic Calicchio blank
This mouthpiece is a modified version of the Kanstul M-B5L LT - better known as the Monette B5L LT. The cup was designed for New York Broadway and freelance lead trumpet player Tony Kadleck. The lightweight blank responds quickly, and the no. 25 throat offers the player a balanced mouthpiece that is perhaps more accessible than the Monette original. The overall length of the mouthpiece is somewhat shorter than a conventional one, and the gap is somewhat larger. I measured the gap with this mouthpiece on my horn and it came out to about 3/16” which offers a bit of appropriate resistance and a little firmer slotting. Your mileage may vary.
The B5L was very popular at the time of development of the Artist series, so this somewhat unconventional design was approved to be included in the ambitious Calicchio Artist Series.
When the Calicchio Artist series was in development, many custom and production mouthpieces were considered. Here’s one that’s very interesting:
Inner rim diameter: 0.655"
Medium shallow V cup
# 25 throat
Marked D CALICCHIO WILLIAMS
Authentic Calicchio blank
This mouthpiece is a modified version of the Kanstul M-B5L LT - better known as the Monette B5L LT. The cup was designed for New York Broadway and freelance lead trumpet player Tony Kadleck. The lightweight blank responds quickly, and the no. 25 throat offers the player a balanced mouthpiece that is perhaps more accessible than the Monette original. The overall length of the mouthpiece is somewhat shorter than a conventional one, and the gap is somewhat larger. I measured the gap with this mouthpiece on my horn and it came out to about 3/16” which offers a bit of appropriate resistance and a little firmer slotting. Your mileage may vary.
The B5L was very popular at the time of development of the Artist series, so this somewhat unconventional design was approved to be included in the ambitious Calicchio Artist Series.
Domenick Calicchio may best be remembered as a master craftsman and instrument maker, but did you know that he also made fine custom mouthpieces? Dominick used traditional tooling and methods, and did not keep many notes or drawings of these unique pieces, but he crafted fabulous custom mouthpieces - by hand- for the best players of the day.
A few years ago, Calicchio’s owner master craftsman John Duda sought to recreate some of these famous one-of-a-kind mouthpieces as the Calicchio Artist Series, and collect others to be included in the collection. Trusted agents helped track down the owners and asked if they would consider allowing replicas of these hand made custom mouthpieces to be made.
It was decided that the task of recreating these 'Holy Grail' mouthpieces should only be entrusted to the experts at Kanstul Musical Instruments, the pioneer and industry leader in single point mouthpiece scanning and accurate duplication at the time. Zig Kanstul welcomed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to honor this part of Domenick Calicchio’s legacy and he appointed his master craftsman (who at one time had worked for Domenick himself) to do the work.
These rare mouthpieces were collected and scanned over a period of weeks, and the originals quickly and safely returned to their owners. But John's health began to decline and for a time the entire industry was facing the challenges of a major recession. Later, Zig Kanstul passed, and the factory he founded shuttered. John Duda himself passed away recently, and it seemed the Calicchio Artist Series mouthpieces might never see the light of day after all...until now!
With your purchase, you will have bragging rights that you are directly supporting the effort to not only save Calicchio Musical Instruments, but also to highlight the contributions Domenick Calicchio and John Duda made to the industry.
Kanstul Musical Instruments was a pioneer in single-point scanning and mouthpiece duplication. Before the factory was shuttered, players from around the world trusted Kanstul for their accuracy in duplicating the most valuable and unique mouthpieces, as well as extremely consistent production mouthpieces. It can be argued that Zig Kanstul’s master craftsman helped educate the current generation of mouthpiece makers, and he continues to serve as a resource and consultant to the industry to this day.
