Chiff and Fipple Forums

Hi, longtime lurker who finally registered. I bought a used recorder from eBay and just love it! I'm a novice player, at best. Anyhow, I have never seen a mouthpiece quite like it and can't make out the maker. Looks like Lebíi made in Germany, has baroque fingering. Soprano in C.




Does this look familiar to anyone?

I'm just curious why the channels, probably a beginner thing, to not put the mouthpiece past the lips?

Thanks, Lisa

[ Fixed photo link. - Mod ]

Hi Lisa, welcome!

Squeakie wrote:I'm just curious why the channels, probably a beginner thing, to not put the mouthpiece past the lips?

Maybe. And/or a design quirk to save on the cost/weight of the plastic material?

It occurred to me that "Lebü" could be better candidate than "Lebíi", made a quick search and... presto!
Blockflöten Museum lists "Lebü" as a brand used by a G. Rudolph Uebel, and looking up that name under "Instruments" yields some interesting results. Hope that helps

A good catch, Flavius! Lebü is Übel (Uebel) spelled backwards. And according to the second museum example, the ribbed mouthpiece was patented:

This flute matches W. German patent 919 081 from 1949 (granted 1954) for a recorder head with spaced ribs and made of molded plastic.

I wonder where it was made. Adler was an East German (DDR) company in the postwar period. And if memory serves, E. German products tended to be marked generically Made in Germany, whereas W. German products were usually explicitly marked Made in West Germany.

Thank you Flavius! I looked at the embossed writing under an Ott light with magnifying glasses, took digital pictures and tweeked the colors, contrast, etc, to no avail. It was too worn to read. I ran my pictures through google image search and didn't get a match, which kind of surprises me as my pics weren't too far off from the museum ones.
It is really sweet sounding, I love it and am grateful for all the info. I am currently re-breaking it in as I figure it hasn't been played in a very long time.
Again, many thanks!
At MTGuru, when I finally make it home from work, I will examine the word Germany on the wooden barrel and see if I can see anything else in front of it. I didn't pay too close attention to that part.
Lisa

Hi, sorry for the slow reply. I am working near 70 hours this week and freetime, not working or sleeping, is limited! Under a magnifying glass and ottlight, "made in Germany" is imprinted onto the wooden barrel. Regards, Lisa

Squeakie wrote:Under a magnifying glass and ottlight, "made in Germany" is imprinted onto the wooden barrel.

Makes sense. That's consistent with what I wrote above.

Had never heard of Ottlights before. Interesting.

Ott lights are favored by crafters because they don't distort the colors of yarn, thread, paint, whatever. And they are bright! Mine is a floor lamp style with a flexible gooseneck, I use it all the time. The more expensive ones have the magnifying glass built in. Perfect for splinter removal for you people crafting your own instruments! Lisa

MTGuru wrote:Hi Lisa, welcome!

Squeakie wrote:I'm just curious why the channels, probably a beginner thing, to not put the mouthpiece past the lips?

Maybe. And/or a design quirk to save on the cost/weight of the plastic material?

Could it be the plastic warped during casting if the material was too thick and the ribs reduced that big blob of plastic below the wind way to a series of smaller volumes? Or maybe he convinced someone it improved the tone?

Neat looking recorder - quite a find!

Squeakie wrote:I'm just curious why the channels, probably a beginner thing, to not put the mouthpiece past the lips?

That's a good suggestion, but looking at the picture of the tabor by the same maker at the museum website, the head of the latter has a much longer beak, but is still ribbed. It seems likely that it was only an aesthetic quirk. The whole thing is quite quirky, with the head inserted into the body, the bulbous design - overall quite an unusual styling. Nice little soprano you have there.

I can understand why he turned his name backwards for the trademark!