| Groove,
As long as you brought up Bob and his work:
As you may have gathered if you’ve read my posts, I do consider Bob Reeves and his line of mouthpieces, to be the best commercial line on the market, bar none., and was very instrumental in the succes of so many top flight trumpet players both here in Los Angeles and around the globe.(I would consider Karl Hammond and his Schilke line a close second, especially now that his hands are somewhat untied and he can really show his true talents with Andrew Naumann in charge of the Schilke line)
Because of Bob’s years in the field (I believe he started in 1967 when he left Don Purviance and started his own line out of his garage) and experience in dealing with the world’s top players from around the world and helping them with there mouthpiece idiosyncrasies ( You all must know what a” pain in the a**” trumpet players are with there mouthpieces and what they expect out of them), he is unmatched in the industry today.
How would you like a day with your first appointment to be jerry Hey coming in for an alteration, Tim Morrison and Harken Hargenberger will be in around 10 for a new piece and alterations, Tower of Power is in town so both those players will be in after 12 for some work, Gary Grant needs a new rim made and he’ll be around 2 in the afternoon,
Don Green and Boyde Hood prin. and asst. prin for the LA Phil will be in at 4 for some work and Maurice Andre called and he’s flying in for a appearance and could you stay late because he needs a an alteration done before the concert.
That’s a day in the life of Bob Reeves and his staff.
I personally happened to walk into Bob’s Hollywood shop one day and saw Johnny Audino and Pete Candoli sitting in the waiting room, Doc S. was in the back trying out a new mouthpiece (Doc played a Reeves 42M / 692s and a 42s / Z for a number of years right after his departure from his Jet Tone / Getzen set-up) and Tom Stevens and Mario Guarnari were just leaving. WOW
One of the best things about dealing with Bob is he will treat your mouthpiece issue as seriously as one put to him by the leading pro in town. He doesn’t differentiate if you’re Bud Herseth or Chuck Findley or just a high school kid who just won a spot on the McDonald’s All-Star marching band, have been saving your money, decided to hop a plane from Phoenix into LA and wants his first Bob Reeves mouthpiece.
There is a funny story of Jerry Hey calling Bob and wanting Bob to pull a stuck mouthpiece out of his trumpet for him and could he stay late. Jerry didn’t want any repairman doing this for him because he was on his way to his 3rd session of the day and needed this mouthpiece, but he wanted to use a different trumpet. So an hour after closing, a taxi pulls up and the driver comes into the Hollywood Reeves shop with a gig bag with Jerry’s trumpet, mouthpiece stuck in the receiver in it, and hands the package to Bob. Bob pulls the mouthpiece and re-rounds the end to exact specs, gives it back to the driver and this taxi driver was to meet Jerry at his third session, at another studio in Hollywood, with the meter running the whole time. That’s a true testimate to how much these guys want only Bob to work on there pieces and how much trust they have in his abilities.
Lg |