I wanted to write to extend a thank-you for submitting your article entitled, "The Effects of Environment on Woodwinds" to the TechniCom magazine. It was a great informational article that educated a lot of people about an area that not many players, repair technicians and manufacturers think about....

Sally C. Jewell
Director of Quality Control
G. Leblanc Corp.

I received your article "Grenadilla Wood and the Environment"...from the Woodwind Quarterly. The way you write about the subject is very clear and logical and gives a lot of reasons why [one should] oil instruments and use organic oils in general....I have always thought about the subject, but was never able to explain my views to anyone in technical terms....Thus I would like to ask if you would mind a translation of the article in Finnish for the Finnish Clarinet Society magazine?

Marketta Kivimaki
Master of Arts
Sibelius Academy
Specialist in Historical Clarinets
Finland

and thank you even more for the way my clarinet plays now! What an amazing turn around. I am playing that particular B-flat almost exclusively and just sent my A to Ernest Clark who will be sending it to you soon. I took both the B-flat you treated and another newer R-13 I had been playing on my tour to Europe last Spring and everyone (not one exception) preferred the sound of the treated horn. This horn has always had a particularly sweet, beautiful sound, but now it once again has the evenness, resistance, and pitch scale that it had lost. But I guess you are used to hearing this. ...I think your research and process application is something that would be very interesting to our membership. [Part of an invitation to present at the ICA’s ClarinetFest ‘97]

Robert Walzel
Professor of Clarinet
Texas Tech University
Festival Coordinator, ClarinetFest ‘97

I would like to report the changes in my clarinet. [The Leblanc clarinet has been an old friend through John’s college and professional career. It was immersion processed with a complete mechanical rebuild.]
1. The horn is much more responsive over-all.
2. The key action is very snug, quiet, and quick.
3. Octave jumps don’t "stall".
4. All the notes "pop in".
5. The fork Bb - Eb (lower) and F - Bb (upper) are evenly tuned. (It is) easy to adjust the pitch during play (with) less effort.
6. The high register entrances (are) much easier.
7. The throat tones and side alternates (are) "sweet" and in tune.

John Bredenberg
Denver, Colorado

I appreciate and admire your artistry so very much! My tenor [sax] is playing so well and I am looking forward to my gig tonight. You are great at what you do for all of us that you serve. Thanks again,

Keith Oxman
Teacher
Band Director
Jazz Musician

Thanks for the great rebuild on my Selmer Mark VI Alto—it really is a completely new instrument. You have given a 34 year old horn a second life. The mechanism feels and responds as though it were brand new—probably better! I am confident that your work on this instrument will withstand the test of time as your work has on my other instruments, making it nearly maintenance free. As I have played the instrument I have noticed several improvements that are probably attributable to the parabolic resonators that you installed:

1. The response is much "smother" and more immediate. The notes speak with more clarity and with less effort.
2. Both the response and the tone quality are more even between different registers of the instrument
3. The tone quality of the instrument is neither brighter nor darker, rather I would say that it is richer and fuller. All the overtones are present in the sound—nothing is muffled.
This allows me the flexibility of playing "brighter" or "darker" as appropriate for different styles of music by selecting different reeds, mouthpieces, etc. As always, Larry, I find your work to be of the highest quality. Even though there are many shops in Los Angeles that do instrument repair (there are even a few that are very good), I find it worth the trouble to me to come to Denver and have you do the work on my instruments whenever I can. It is truly a pleasure to do business with a craftsman such as yourself. As I am sure you are aware, true craftsmen are becoming extremely rare....

Jeff Benedict
Professor of Saxophone
Director of Jazz Studies
Department of Music
California State University, Los Angeles

I am writing to let you know how much I love the work you did on my clarinet (oil immersion done January, 2000). The tone is beautiful with seemingly richer harmonics-especially the throat tones. I’ve been oiling it once per month now. (I’m in San Diego at sea level). But I did oil it every three weeks or so when I was in Phoenix from January to April. [Sue has not experienced any instability problems with her instrument when moving from Denver to Phoenix and then to San Diego]. I can’t say enough about my clarinet-I love it!

Sue Wepfer
San Diego, California

In reference to your article...Bravo! Your findings are right on the money and need to be shared widely. I hope NAPBIRT members will take the time to educate their store owners and clients as to the true importance of what you have written....

Daniel Parker
President
Parker Youth Products
Fallbrook, California

...I wondered what effect the immersion process would have on its response. Well, I was surprised. The surprise was in the resonance that came from the horn. There was a vibrancy I had not heard or felt before. The spectrum of timbre has indeed been enriched through immersion.

James L. Hamlin
Colorado Springs, Colorado

...my clarinet plays "like buttah"!

Meg York
Albuquerque, New Mexico

I really like the way the wood looks after immersion. One of my customers told me, "I don't know what you did to my instrument, but it plays better than ever with much more resonance!"

David Straubinger
Owner and Technician
Straubinger Flutes
Indianapolis, Indiana

Clark Fobes
Musician,Technician
Mouthpiece and Barrel Maker
San Francisco, California

Peace,

Jeff Benedict
Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies
Department of Music
California State University, Los Angeles

Theo Wanne
Owner and Technician
Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven
Philadelphia, PA
www.mouthpieceheaven.com

Both my father and I really enjoyed your clinic at the NAPBIRT Convention and appreciated your visiting our facilities. We will follow the tests of the immersion process with great interest...

Leon Pascucci
President
G. Leblanc Corp.

Mr. Pascucci ...gave us your address. We would like to have the list of your publications about wood and instrument repairing.

Jose Manuel Garate Erviti
Erviti Musica
Spain

Thank you for the very interesting material you kindly sent me on June 28. I had a photocopy of a previous work from you, sent last year by G. Krell. Congratulations for your research.

Luis Rossi
Clarinet Maker
Chile

I wanted to write to you expressing my overwhelming appreciation and thanks on how much your article entitled "The Effects of Environment on Woodwinds" benefited me...see if you are not convinced that I’m a classic example of what you mention in your discussions on this subject. [The following is a condensed paraphrase of a three page letter] Elaine has a world class professional clarinet that had become, "A part of me.". After twenty years of hard use, she decided to send it to the factory for a complete overhaul. When she received it back, the clarinet played for about forty minutes before it ceased to work at all. Every time she played it, it would completely stop working after thirty to forty minutes. She was in a very bad situation because she had many future performances scheduled. A large local repair shop worked on her instrument to no avail. She again sent it back to the factory, but it still didn’t work. Eventually, a repairman gave her a copy of the above mentioned article. She oiled her clarinet, using an organic oil, for one week and she didn’t play it during the oiling. Finally, "I played it for an hour and one-half, giving it a real work-over. And it PLAYED Fine. ...I might also add that it has worked since."

Elaine Guertinge
Orange, Massachusetts

Congratulations on your presentation at ClarinetFest ‘97! I have had many enthusiastic comments about your clinic and I sincerely hope that it will generate more interest in the wonderful process you have developed. My instruments are better than they have ever been, especially with regard to evenness and quality of sound and pitch scale.

Robert Walzel
Festival Coordinator (RETIRED)
ClarinetFest ‘97

I am writing to let you know how much the clarinet faculty at Indiana University liked the R-13 Buffet A clarinet we "resuscitated" recently. Howard Klug, James Campbell and Eli Eban had decided to trade this instrument in on a new one, but I talked them into letting me send it to you for immersion. After you returned the instrument to me and I repaded it, all three of them played it and were pleased to accept it back into the School of Music’s clarinet inventory!

William Boyer
Boyer Woodwind Service
Bloomington, Indiana

I know of three repairmen in the country who know how to adjust a saxophone for a nice, very light touch—you are the third.

Donald Sinta
Professor of Saxophone

Thank you for the excellent work you did on the two Armstrong flutes. I especially appreciate your comments on the problem of different finger pressure for the different instruments. I am passing this information on to our doublers.

Eric M. Strohecker
TSgt USAF
Heartland of America Band
Offutt AFB, Nebraska

Your work on my vintage 1953 R13 Buffet makes me the object of jealousy of my fellow students here at the Rutgers' Music Program. Your trade secret Organic Oil Immersion treatment in addition to your complete rebuild makes my eBay purchase a very wise investment!

Terry Sterkel
New Jersey

...I am just as enthusiastic today with the Naylor Oil Treatment as I was when I first learned about it a few years back...a customer who came in last week and left his clarinet requested that I remove all keys and give the body parts a full hand oil treatment. During the conversation he reminded me that his clarinet has never played better and he further felt that he could not do without the vegetable based oil for his "baby". This is not the first time this has happened with this person as well as others. I was elated with their response to what you have touted over the years. Larry, it works. You and I both know that. And now some of the woodwind world knows it. Hopefully the idea will continue to come around. Another reason for thanks to you is all those "hand outs" you sent a few years back. I have carefully preserved the originals and make copies often to hand out to those who arrive at my shop. Without doubt the ones pertaining to care and oiling of wood bodies receive the best response and I hear back from them often enough to realize that they are now "happy campers".

Pat Hiatt
Hiatt’s Band Instrument Service
Waynesville, Ohio

I read your article...and found it an eye opener. I am an American working in Austria. I repair woodwinds and have had the exact same problems with the keys on new instruments binding...

Vickie Ball
Repair Technician
Kürner Brass & Reed
Austria

The clarinet plays beautifully—better than it has in years. Thanks immensely for a superb job. Since I can no longer blame the squeaks on the instrument, can you also overhaul my embouchure?...[Randy had put his instrument away for several years and is currently enjoying his music again]

Randy DeHoff
Littleton, Colorado

I like what you’ve done to the Selmer. Finally, someone who is on the ball!...

Arnie Charlot
Milpitas, California

I’ve had an entire semester to adjust to my "new clarinets". I can’t believe how they have come to life! I feel that I am a much more confident player because of the instruments.

Rebecca Hirsch
Hastings, Nebraska

You are an instrument repair God!! The horn responds great. I really can't tell you the difference it has made. I have wasted so many reeds thinking that that was the problem (now, all of them work). I can't stop practicing now because the frustration has stopped...

Jill Geist
Upland, California