Leblanc Backun

Steve

Steve

Clarinet CE/Moderator
Staff member
CE/Moderator
It looks like the partnership between Leblanc and Morrie backun is up this year and they are parting ways.

Morrie Backun has announced his 2011 Backun clarinet and stated on his Backun Musical Services facebook page

Dear Artist,

This year, Backun Musical Services (BMS) celebrates its 10th Anniversary. Reaching this milestone was made possible with tremendous support from the woodwind community and we are truly grateful that Backun products are now played all over the world. To celebrate our anniversary, I am proud to announce the launch of the Backun Clarinet, which we are crafting in our state-of-the-art facility in Vancouver, Canada. The Backun Clarinet makes its official debut in 2011. Every barrel and bell, every repair and every friendship created throughout our ten years in business is part of the history of this Clarinet. I look forward to sharing this milestone with you as we advance the art of woodwinds, once again.

With this new chapter beginning, I wanted to inform you that my contract to design instruments for Conn-Selmer, Inc. has been completed. Over the past several years I have designed Leblanc by Backun Clarinets for the Leblanc brand. This has been a wonderful opportunity and a great learning experience.

The coming year will see the launch of several exciting initiatives at BMS. Joining our family of products will be new lines of student and professional mouthpieces manufactured using one of the most technologically advanced machines available. To support this, we are expanding our presence in new markets with a dealer network that has global reach. Finally, BMS will also be expanding its retail sales; carrying new lines of instruments and accessories to better serve you.

Over the past ten years, we have a lot to be thankful for! One of our core values has always been to give back to the musical community so we are excited to announce the development of the BMS Artist Program, which is dedicated to educating the next generation of performing artists. Through masterclasses, workshops, online videos and performances we hope to inspire musicians around the world, helping them to advance the craft as you have done. We encourage you to join us in this endeavor and leave a lasting impression for all to see and hear. Please feel free to contact me to learn more about the Artist Program.

On behalf of the Backun family and staff, I want to thank you for your support. Without you, we would not be where we are today.

Here’s to the next ten years!

Warm regards,

Morrie
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Concerto's are gone too... This is a sad day in the clarinet world. I have a Buffet Jazz Festival that I love, but it can't touch my Leblanc's if I need to wail out...
 
pete said:
I came across Backun's website. It's at Backun Musical Services. Nice design. Heavily advertises the Leblanc instruments.


Again, I think the barrels and bells are quite pretty.
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his facebook site is more up to date than his website which is his current offerings. You can see his new "stuff" on his facebook BMS site.
 
per his facebook posting

Thursday, January 13, 2011 for thte introduction of his new clarinet


and He has pictures of his new clarinets on his facebook. Very interesting keywork, goldplated keywork and i believe not on a african blackwood, but also a full cocobolo clarinet.
 
per his facebook page .... the artists that will be showing off his new line of clarinets are:

Alan Lawson
Carey Bell
Chuck Currie
Corrado Guifreddi
Dr Denis Gainey
Eddie Daniels
Jessica Phillips
Jose Franch-Ballester
Paul Demers
Ricardo Morales
Tom Pulawski
London Silas Shavers
Mary Backun


excuse any typos ......
 
Trill keys are easy to screw with on a soprano clarinet. More or less peripheral to the basic operation of the instrument, they have been reshaped and reangled by maker after maker, all without any real difference.

Man, but I hated those "jump" trill keys from the Leblanc dream factory. These look like a new take on the "problem".

Oh, and for all of the wonderful design innovations on that horn, there is still nothing done about the wonderful bubbling G#/C# key problem. Marginal improvements in the trill keys are nothing compared to this little problem.
 
I see why some people might like this design, but to me it looks like it's different more than actually looking better. At least one type of adjustment looks like will be more difficult with this design. I can't see any problem with mounting the top two trill keys on seperate posts. It's also not possible tell from the photo if it's possible to remove some of the keys without removing the ones before, if it is, it could be a small advantage. As far as looks, I much prefer black wood with silver plating. I would only buy a gold plated clarinet if the clarinet I liked was only available with gold plating, and live with what I thought wasn't as nice looking. Also unclear from the photo, I hope the linkage arm under the bridge adjusting screw has the shape same as the body curve when the key is pressed.
 
Details, details. Just worry about the aesthetics and everything else will take care of itself.

:D

On a related note, has there ever been a woodwind that's been specifically designed to both play well AND easy to repair? There are some computers (remember, I'm a computer tech) that were designed that way. However, I'll never forgive Apple for the Snow iBook. Takes 2 hours to replace the hard drive.
 
I do remember Groovekiller once waxing prosaic about the octave key mechanism on one model Selmer sax, because it'd still work even if it was slightly out of alignment and corks/felts were worn, etc.

However, you're absolutely right about the more billable hours thing.

I've recommended that my company switch to all Macintosh computers because they'd fix an awful lot of problems, like, say, virus outbreaks (there are very, very few Macintosh-based viruses). However, this would put a couple techs out of jobs because there'd be less work.

Hey, Apple build quality is also GENERALLY good, compared to other manufacturers. Of course, they did have that capacitor problem a few years back and those bad batches of hard drives. Not to mention that when the NVRAM battery dies, you lose video.

Hmmm. In other words, all computers suck. Some just suck a little less than others.

Extending the metaphor, what kind of horns do our various repair techs say don't suck as much for repairs AND are decent playing horns?
 
pete said:
On a related note, has there ever been a woodwind that's been specifically designed to both play well AND easy to repair?
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There are a lot of things to consider.

I don't think it's good to compromise feel and playability, but if the design can be made to be easier to repair, that's definitely an advantage.

Making an instrument easier to repair doesn't mean only that. It will probably be easier for the factory to assemble and adjust. This could mean less time to build an instrument.

There are different types of ways an instrument can be easy to repair. The most basic is to try as much as possible to make it easy to remove keys without having to remove other keys. This means also that rod screw should have a clear pass without removing other keys (e.g. lower stack rod hitting pinky keys). Some things allows easier/faster adjustment like adjusting screws (e.g. soprano upper stack on Mark VI vs. modern Yangisawa). A removable bow can help a lot with removing dents. Some spring designs can cause problem (e.g. you put the key on and only then notice you can't get the spring to pass to its cradle, or some of those that actually go through a hole instead of a cradle).

Some things affect how easy and/or fast it is to achieve an accurate adjustment. For example the design of the keys and key arms is critical for this. Also keys that are not too soft and not too hard (sometimes caused by the shape of the keys rather than material). Yangisawa usually has a good design for this. Mark VI too. An obvious example of lousy key arm design is Bundy II. A King Zephyr bari I saw had a bad design of very rigid key arms with very bendy key cups. However this lousy design saved the day when someone had a major dent happen on a day of a concert, distorting a tone hole. As a quick fix I bent the key cup to seal. But this doesn't make it a good thing. Some older clarinets have rod screws for relatively long hinges. This can also cause problems with some types of adjustments. Same for the new Selmers with spring rod for right pinky keys.

Then there are design features that help make adjustment better or more reliable. The shape of the bridge key I mentioned is one. Actually the shape of many linkages. If they are not good, it might mean I need to shape them so takes longer. Using lousy materials might be a problem and make it diffcult to achieve accuracy, so need to replace them e.g. natural cork on Selmers.

There are problems more to do with build quality but affecting the repairs significantly. For example, especially some of the worst Chinese saxophones, you find what seems like a simple problem, let's say a binding key. You take the key off and find five other terrible problems that need correcting first. Other things making repairs more problematic can be poor soldering e.g. posts coming off with almost no force. I've even had a pearl holder fall while changing a pad on a crappy instrument! Unexpected things going wrong while repairing is a problem. These things usually don't happen with known quality makers but everything can happen.

For some names and examples, I think the closest to having all of this is Yangisawa. I remember working on a S992 right after a Selmer SIII and the difference was incredible. Yamahas are relatively comfortable to work on but depending on model, they have some issues. Selmers are excellent in some respects and terrible in others, also depending on model. Same for most of the pro models from the old ("vintage") makers, but hard to compare since thye were made long before many of the new features were invented. Older student models like Bundy II, student Conns, etc. are usually terrible to work on in many ways. Taiwanese and/or Chinese models can vary a lot, sometimes depending on what they are copied from, and how accurately they are copied. There are also the more unusual makers like the Italians. I don't remember anything particularly good about old Grassis. I remember fixing a too hard low C# spring on a new (and very expensive) Borgani soprano and it was a nightmare, since the reason was actually a very bad linkage design that needed drastic changes.
 
Nitai posted an excellent response to the question.

My very generalized observation is that what is not done or not done well at the time of manufacturing must be first corrected by the technician, BEFORE any regular repairs or lasting adjustments can be accomplished. Generally speaking the higher priced instruments are made to closer tolerances, with better designed mechanisms, and have better quality materials than lower priced ones. You do get what you pay for (when you look beyond the shiny exterior).

Like Nitai, I find the Bundy II a PITA just to get the upper stack, and bell keys on and off. Some idiot decided to put as many keys on a single rod as humanly possible. Other than that it is built like a tank, and plays quite well not considering the awkward feel to the keys. More than once have I replaced the upper stack to find that I forgot to put the high E key on first and then said: "*&^%^&#@#!!"

The Nogales Conn or "Mexi-Conn" as we like to call it should be named the "Wonder" saxophone, because you wonder which part is going to fall off next.
 
jbtsax said:
The Nogales Conn or "Mexi-Conn" as we like to call it should be named the "Wonder" saxophone, because you wonder which part is going to fall off next.
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I like the fact, sarcastically, that some of the posts aren't usually in a straight line, so you have to "coax" the key rods through each adjacent post. Then of course after coaxing it you forget to put the keys on .. not that i've done that :p

there are so many little things that a tech likes in instruments, such as the sliver Bb/Eb on a clarinets upper joint (between the 2nd and 3rd finger) - hoping that the rod is inserted from the top rather than from the bottom. As, if from the bottom then you have to remember to put the key on before the C#/G# normally and if it loosens, it then could theoretically fall out. Versus on the top you can add the key whenever and if it loosens it's not exactly gonna fall off going up. And of course, those trill keys as mentioned earlier.

That question was really loaded but Natai answered it really well.
 
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