Do I Need A New Mouthpiece

Do I Need A New Mouthpiece?

There’s a question for you! Ask most trumpet players - and let the games begin! But really - anyone who knows me knows that I am not a mouthpiece freak. Nor have I have I been searching for the perfect mouthpiece that will cure all my ills or solve all my problems. I just don’t think about mouthpieces in this way, and probably the less I think about it, the better.

So why did I change to a GR mouthpiece in February 2004? All the above must just be a big lie. But really, it isn’t; so maybe I should tell you how it came about.

I first met Gary Radtke at an ITG Conference four or five years ago. Chase Sanborn and Dennis Najoom told me I should go down to a certain exhibitor’s room to try his mouthpieces. Not a thrilling thing for me, I nevertheless went at their urging and played some of Gary’s mouthpieces. They were good, but I wasn’t really interested; I wasn’t looking for a mouthpiece, so I guess I turned myself off before I even played them. Then Gary started talking about technical aspects of the mouthpiece, and I politely headed for the door.

Chase Sanborn was quite impressed though, and shortly after this time, Chase had Gary manufacturing his mouthpieces. After a while Dennis Najoom was doing the same. Now let me tell you - Dennis and Chase are great musicians as well as two of my close friends, and they are not screwballs. So when they began working with Gary, I was impressed. Not convinced, but certainly impressed!

Over the next three years, I saw Gary at the various ITG Conferences, and I would visit his booth and maybe have dinner with him and Dennis. As time went along, we talked quite a bit and about a year ago, at the Conference held at Texas Christian University, I decided I wanted to see where this guy was coming from. Gary took a mold of my mouthpiece and kept it until I could get up to Wisconsin to see him. It took a while, but as soon as I knew I had a booking in the Milwaukee area, I called to ask him if I could come to his studio/shop to spend some time with him. Gary agreed, and the appointment was made.

I spent two days in the shop with Gary, and it was quite an experience. To say that Gary is intense is an understatement. He has a great deal of energy and is totally passionate about what he does. He works endless hours and can wear a young guy like me out over the period of couple of days. And that’s saying something!

Gary talks about Alpha angles and Beta angles and numbers and all sorts of things like that. Me? I just want to know how it feels, how it sounds, and does it make my job easier. Gary is a trumpet player, an engineer, and a master machinist; I am just a trumpet player who doesn’t want to know about the technical side, just the musical side. And that is exactly what Gary wants you to know about. He talks to you about all the technical stuff; he talks endlessly! But he really doesn’t care if you take in any of that stuff; he just wants you to sound good and enjoy what you are doing.

Gary and I spent two really enjoyable days together - at least I enjoyed them immensely! Gary has a dry sense of humor and is fun to be around - he likes people. You just have to get to the point of knowing him in that way. But Gary is also a wealth of information, and though most of it went over my head, some of it got through. Once you start to get the gist of it, the experience gets even better.

But the really important thing is in the playing, and that’s what really impressed me! Certain things started to jell, and I really liked what I heard. The changes he made had to do mostly with fixing the physically acoustic properties inside the mouthpiece - scientific stuff - and doing a bit of work on the rim. Gary also focused on the way the mouthpiece fit into the receiver and the “gap” between the end of the shank and the venturi. We all know that the slightest change can make a big difference, and this is exactly what happened. Drastic changes were not made and drastic differences in my playing did not occur. But to the professional, it is the subtleties that make all the difference. These subtleties were enough to sell me and convince me to play the mouthpiece that Gary made for me.

Gary Radtke is one of a kind - a throwback to the age when a person finds what he loves to do and then lets his passion drive him to “take it to the max.” Gary is dedicated and will spend hours working with someone who will never even begin to return the same. But that’s not the point, and that is not why Gary does what he does. He’s just that intense about it all! Another thing I like very much about Gary is the respect he has for the other people who do what he does. That is a rare quality in this business, and one that I greatly respect.

So, did I need a new mouthpiece? I don’t know! It just kind of morphed that way. Some friends - Chase and Dennis - piqued my interest, and I got to know Gary over time. He never tried to “sell” me on his mouthpieces, but I found, eventually, that I wanted to learn more of what he was doing. Subsequently, I had the opportunity to spend time with him, to see what he was all about, and that was it. I didn’t need a new mouthpiece; it just worked out that way. Thank you, Gary!

Marvin Stamm

December 2004

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