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SuperAction80
Member
Obviously, I'm talking about the revival band. Specifically, I'm wondering if anyone here was working with the first iteration of the revival band back in the late 50's. It's a long shot, I know, but I'm curious. I own two horns used by a Mr. Edward J. Obusek. My Buescher 156 tenor and recently found and acquired Pan Am 68N clarinet were his. I'm friends with the family, and they gave me these horns for next to nothing. The 156 received the best restoration care under the best tech currently in my area. We maintained the integrity as much as humanly possible, and even restored a few things lost by seemingly one trip to another tech decades ago. (It was just a single missing snap. My guy had the replacement, but he noted that it was intentionally taken out. It irked both of us. 🤣) I just received the clarinet last week, and think that I'm going to replace the pads and corks on that one myself. I don't have Nortons and snap-ins to contend with. And, let's face facts, a clarinet is a bit easier to maintain. The easily chippable veneer on this one is PERFECT. I'm well brushed up on the points if failure on this model, and have some thoughts on how to prevent them. So, I want the overhaul on me. Really just pad and cork replacement with a bit of re-enforcement around the edges of the joints. Oh yeah, and some oil in the rods. Keys are working fine with no binding, but it was kept in a dry place. The glued on toneholes are in place and are perfect. The pad leather disintegrated from the seats inwards, but it still plays... eh, alright. Should be worse. These large bore clarinets seem to be forgiving.
The reason for my asking came from how much this particular man loved playing up until his last days. He passed in 2018, suffered from dementia in his final years, and I never had the pleasure to know him. Playing on his preferred equipment, I at least have a bit of an idea of how he thought. I have his old mouthpieces and even old reeds, so I can find equivalent reeds to try the mouthpieces out. It's been enlightening. The family is also scanning some old Polaroids of him playing on the bandstand when these horns were brand new. It's honestly a pretty cool blessing to have.
I'm just looking for more stories and info from former band members of that era. What was it like touring? If you knew Ed, all the better. Eventually, I'd like to make a digital time capsule of sorts. Gentlemen of this era worked as hard or harder than I have. It's very easy for me to document my successes and failures. We have phones that can do all of that now. The average PC can also create studio quality recordings. Past generations didn't have this luxury. Still, this era deserves our respect. We all know the name brand players of the time, but a lot more was going on in the music scene. Those other musicians deserve some recognition whenever they can get it. I'm just contributing where I can, because I know that these horns have some untold stories.
The reason for my asking came from how much this particular man loved playing up until his last days. He passed in 2018, suffered from dementia in his final years, and I never had the pleasure to know him. Playing on his preferred equipment, I at least have a bit of an idea of how he thought. I have his old mouthpieces and even old reeds, so I can find equivalent reeds to try the mouthpieces out. It's been enlightening. The family is also scanning some old Polaroids of him playing on the bandstand when these horns were brand new. It's honestly a pretty cool blessing to have.
I'm just looking for more stories and info from former band members of that era. What was it like touring? If you knew Ed, all the better. Eventually, I'd like to make a digital time capsule of sorts. Gentlemen of this era worked as hard or harder than I have. It's very easy for me to document my successes and failures. We have phones that can do all of that now. The average PC can also create studio quality recordings. Past generations didn't have this luxury. Still, this era deserves our respect. We all know the name brand players of the time, but a lot more was going on in the music scene. Those other musicians deserve some recognition whenever they can get it. I'm just contributing where I can, because I know that these horns have some untold stories.
