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Giddings with some of his custom-made non-allergenic mouthpieces
Some people are allergic to brass but Giddings' stainless stell or titanium custom designs solve that problem.
Giddings with some of his custom-made non-allergenic mouthpieces
Some people are allergic to brass but Giddings' stainless stell or titanium custom designs solve that problem.
Ivan Giddings knows a lot about mouthpieces.
And no, we’re not talking about attorneys.
Working out of a shop at his residence, Giddings manufactures stainless steel or titanium mouthpieces for a variety of brass wind instruments.
He sells those mouthpieces worldwide for instruments ranging from trombones to trumpets to tubas and French horns.
His clients include thousands of amateur and professional musicians who comprise a Who’s Who of music: New York, Chicago, Vienna, Tokyo, Germany and The Netherlands, among other places.
Giddings recently moved from rustic Anderson Island, Washington, reachable only by ferry, where he had built his own house. He enjoyed “baby owls, deer in the yard, and eagles hanging out.”
He hated to relocate, but felt he had no choice “after visiting New Albany.”
After extensive research, he relocated to a large house with a separate shop on South Central Avenue in New Albany.
Once Giddings’ completely settles here, he hopes to be able to put his strong music background to work helping local school band students.
He located here for several reasons.
“City Council took a liking to me and I appreciate that,” Giddings said this week.
“The house and grounds were what I was looking for; maybe bigger than I was looking for, actually. ‘Mr. Tommy’ built a dream house and shop here, well put together, with plenty of land, ” he said.
New Albany is “a unique niche” centrally located to Giddings’ Mid-South clients, who include musicians from Memphis to Nashville to New Orleans.
As a private dealer, he prefers to see his clients face to face, talk to them one on one, “give them the personal touch” as they come through the area. New Albany is a comfortable place to do all that, he said.
Giddings' odyssey to New Albany is virtually a story in itself.
Born in Yelm, Washington — a rural logging and farming community about the same size as New Albany — he graduated high school there, then earned a bachelor’s in music education at Pacific Lutheran University.
He taught elementary music and was the high school band director at Franklin Pierce High School. Working with the band was where his interest in mouthpieces blossomed, and led him into his current calling, he said.
“Some of my band students were allergic to the mouthpieces the school issued. I tried to learn why, finally came up with some answers, and started machining my own non-allergenic mouthpieces out of stainless steel at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, Wash.
“Making mouthpieces at the college let me earn continuing credits to keep my teaching certification active and also helped my students. It was a win-win situation,” he recalled.
He later left there, and earned a master’s in tuba performance at Pennsylvania State University.
After that, he and Bob Webster decided to make a go of it, forming Giddings and Webster in 2001-2 to produce mouthpieces.
“It was an ideal situation — Bob was the machinist and I was the musician. We put our first mouthpieces for sale on E-Bay,” he recalled, and quickly found success.
He recalled one of his success stories.
“In 2003-2004, a tuba player in the New York philharmonic orchestra was allergic to nickel in the plating of his mouthpieces. We made him a better mouthpiece, and he’s still playing his Signature mouthpieces today,” he said.
After many productive years, the two business partners eventually went their separate ways, and Giddings bought out his partner in 2016, he said. “Bob Webster retired and I kept the ball rolling,” Giddings said.
He not only makes mouthpieces, he also recreates them.
“We will make your old mouthpiece to exact specifications. We copy the whole works, the internal and external parts of the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece you receive will be an exact duplicate of your current mouthpiece.
“This process is much more involved because of custom made tooling for back bores,” he said this week.
He’s spent many years researching and developing his products, which he calls “the finest on earth,” designed for professional musicians, and made by a master machinist.
“I use solid titanium and surgical grade stainless steel. All of our mouthpieces are made on CNC lathes that hold tolerances of .0005. This manufacturing along with the use of robotics to polish the mouthpieces means our products are consistent and absolutely consistent from mouthpiece to mouthpiece.”
“Stainless steel makes all the difference to musicians who are allergic to their mouthpieces. Not to toot our own horn, but our trumpet mouthpieces are the only solid one piece stainless steel trumpet mouthpieces mouthpieces available in the world,” he said.
Why craft mouthpieces of stainless steel or titanium? There are a variety of reasons. One of the biggest ones involves a performer’s health, he said this week.
“The vast majority of mouthpieces are made from leaded brass that is plated with silver or gold. Leaded brass is often used because it is easy to machine, not because it plays great,” Giddings said.
Brass mouthpieces can be very harmful when their thin silver plating wears through. This can lead to allergies, brass infection, and possible brass poisoning, according to Giddings.
“If your mouthpiece has worn-out plating you have lead exposure. There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe.
“In addition, zinc, raw brass or poorly plated mouthpieces can cause nasty zinc burns. Poor silver plating leaches nickel out of the material, causing contact dermatitis,” he said.
Giddings puts his reputation for quality on the line with every mouthpiece he sells by offering a 14 day risk-free trial period after a client orders and receives their mouthpiece.
“In short, we offer an affordable, great playing, hypoallergenic option. We have been making our mouthpieces commercially available for over 19 years. We have solved nasty contact dermatitis issues for hundreds of players from amateur to pro,” he said.
His mouthpieces offer several other advantages. Among them:
—Stainless steel and titanium project vibrations into the instrument giving the player more control, making it easier to produce the sound the player desires.
—Mouthpiece weight makes a difference in playability, he said.
“Super heavy weight and ultra-light weight mouthpieces change instrument response. With titanium and stainless steel, players can fine-tune their mouthpiece weight to their individual playing needs. Titanium is about one third the weight of stainless steel, whereas stainless steel is similar in weight to traditional brass mouthpieces. The right amount of weight also improves how rapidly pitch can center,” he said.
—A comfortable mouthpiece rim design also benefits blood flow to lips, he said.
“Our rims are more comfortable than what is available on most mouthpieces today. Our rims increase articulation, quickness of tone and focus, flexibility, and also comfort.
“Giddings rims encourage players to play with less force on their lips, resulting in increased lip flexibility and blood circulation to the crucial lip muscles while playing. Good circulation keeps your lip muscles in top shape.
“Pulling less is simply better for improving tone, flexibility, range, your buzz, and comfort,” he said.
—Giddings mouthpieces also offer superior cup, throat, and back bore design, he said.
“The cup, throat, and back-bore designs of our mouthpieces are designed to have every radius and angle flow into the next. From the rim to the end of the shank, 'smooth' was the ultimate goal both inside and out. The result is a mouthpiece that out performs traditional mouthpieces in every way,”Giddings said.
—Giddings mouthpieces also offer a better shank end improvement.
“A largely overlooked aspect of mouthpiece design is in the end of the shank. Oftentimes the shank ends with a flat thick edge. This thick end creates a problem most players are unaware of while playing.
“A mouthpiece not only sends the vibration into the instrument, but the player is constantly adjusting based on vibrations reflected back to their lips. Any bumps, edges, or rough spots inside an instrument or mouthpiece can drastically change how an instrument plays, and how an instrument sends feedback to the player,” according to Giddings.
“Our shanks end with a very sharp edge. This makes the transition from mouthpiece to instrument lead pipe smooth, and feedback from the instrument to the lips more complete,”” he said.
Several other reasons to buy a Giddings mouthpiece come to mind, he said in a recent interview.
* Stainless steel projects more energy faster and easier.
* Giddings guarantees his mouthpieces to be the toughest on the planet.
* They’re hypoallergenic, which means there is no lead, zinc, and nickel exposure.
* Craftsmanship that is unparalleled in the industry.
* Solid one piece design eliminates inconsistencies of multi piece mouthpieces.
* Giddings offers advanced robotic polishing.
* Better endurance, projection and clarity.
* The mouthpieces are guaranteed to last forever, since there’s no plating to chip or wear out.
* He offers the largest selection of stainless steel mouthpieces in the world.
· Giddings offers the only selection of titanium mouthpieces worldwide.
Although he’s now located in New Albany, he’s still getting organized, he said this week.
“We have three to six months of work ahead of us just getting organized. We hope to have a grand opening in late October or early November,” he said.
Partly cloudy skies. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy skies. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
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