Introducing the Behn Vintage Collection:
Clarinet mouthpieces made from the ground-up

• Made from Behn proprietary rod rubber

• Our material is an exact reproduction of 1930's era Chedeville hard rubber

• Available only at Behn Mouthpieces International

Welcome to the home of the Vintage Collection, the flagship line of Behn Mouthpieces International.  Introduced here are four distinct clarinet mouthpiece designs, made from our own proprietary rod rubber to create a new level of resonance.  Inspired by the great Henri Chedeville, Charles Chedeville and Kaspar mouthpieces of the past, each design’s tonal character is unique, but due to their material, they all share the same acoustic advantage.

Bringing 1930's Chedeville hard rubber back!

Old rubber required long and costly manufacturing techniques that demanded hours of preperation, arduous hand-work, and expensive cure cycles. As a result of the formidable process, the rubber industry developed new, cheaper production techniques. Unfortunately, modern low-cost methods of rubber production altered the course of mouthpiece acoustics away from the glorious sounding rubber of the past.  Plastics and quicker curing rubbers eventually became the norm but the clarinet community was left with material that lacked the ring, depth, and resonance of the great Chedeville rubber of the thirties.

Our goal to make a great clarinet mouthpiece from the ground-up started with the material. Because the best old mouthpieces of the golden-era had special resonance and tonal qualities, we set out to produce the hard rubber from which they were made.  Unfortunately this was easier said than done.

We started with a thirties era Henri Chedeville mouthpiece that had a beautiful sound.  It was resonant, focused and deep sounding with a special effervescence that gave it a unique personality.  As this mouthpiece was such a beautiful player, a most difficult decision had to be made.

We had to destroy it to uncover the composition, cure, and acoustics of its hard rubber.  This involved spectroscopic analysis, repeated acoustic testing, and an extensive compound development program. 

From the ashes came a new life. It took more than three years, but our dream to produce the finest acoustic grade rod rubber of the pre-war era finally came true . By submitting our new material to an exhaustive examination process, we were able to confirm that Behn proprietary rubber is indeed an accurate reproduction of our old Chedeville’s material.  We are now producing this material in rod rubber form to manufacture Behn Vintage Collection mouthpieces.

Innovative designs!

With our laboratory relationship well developed, we were able to use their science and equipment to better explore the influences design has over the playing experience. Indeed intuition served us well over the years, but to confirm or deny intuition with real science was an educational experience. We determined that many fine mouthpiece designs of the past did not fully exploit the resonant potential of their exquisite material.

Originally we set out to make Kaspar and Chedeville reproductions, but due to knowledge gained through both, our laboratory's analysis, and detailed field tests, we discovered important flaws in the designs of those old famous mouthpieces.  Instead, using those famous designs as our inspiration, we undertook to improve the classic mouthpiece. 

Determined to realize the full potential of Behn proprietary hard rubber, we modified the internal and external details of our designs to better match our hard rubber’s resonance.  The results were exciting.  The shape of a player’s air column can now be fully attuned to the natural resonance characteristics of the material surrounding it.

Designed and manufactured exclusively by us in the USA!

We are in total control of our designs, rubber, and manufacturing process.  Made entirely in the USA, we make our rubber in laboratory conditions to ensure purity and consistency. Additionally, we make our clarinet mouthpieces with CNC machines, treating the output as super-blanks, ready for Behn’s precise handcrafting to voice the classic feel, sound, and response, of the "old-school."

When you try a Behn Vintage, you will experience the benefits of our proprietary hard rubber and our improvements made in design.  Now you can own a piece of history.