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Ted Klum
Model: FocusTone Standard
Sax: tenor
Material: gold-plated brass
Chamber: medium
Baffle: medium
Description: The Ted Klum ‘FocusTone Standard’ model is available for tenor saxophone in rhodium plated brass. It is CNC machined from one piece of solid brass and hand finished. In contrast to the ‘Handcrafted’ model, it has a solid black bite plate.
Ted Klum
Model: FocusTone Handcrafted
Sax: tenor
Material: gold-plated brass, rhodium plated bronze, and sterling silver
Chamber: medium
Baffle: medium
Description: The ‘FocusTone Handcrafted’ model is available for tenor saxophone in solid sterling silver from 92.5% pure silver (red bite plate), in rhodium plated brass (green bite plate), as well as in rhodium plated bronze (blue bite plate). It is made from one piece casting and is finished by hand. The different models with colored bite plates are shown below.
Model: FocusTone Acoustimer
Sax: tenor
Material: resin
Chamber: large
Baffle: medium
Description: The molded resin ‘FocusTone Acoustimer’ model is an adaptation of the FocusTone Standard model geometry for the ticker side-walled, larger bodied, resin shape. It features a black bite plate with red lettering. Each model is hand signed and serial numbered.
Model: VersiTone Acoustimer
Sax: alto
Material: resin
Chamber: medium
Baffle: medium
Description: The ‘VersiTone Acoustimer’ model is made of resin and is available for alto saxophone.
What is the difference between the ‘Handcrafted’ and the ‘Standard’ model?
The ‘Standard’ model is machined from extruded brass bar stock while the ‘Handcrafted’ model is cast from brass pellets. They are two different brasses and extruded brass is pure and consistent while the cast brass can be tempered, hardened, annealed and prone to porosity, fire scale, etc. They are both created from the same design file however the ‘Standard’ model is a bit heavier and slightly larger due to the lack of any shrinkage from the casting process and less outer finishing work required. The difference in sound is due mostly to the final hand finishing and varies more in the ‘Handcrafted’ model since the consistency of the ‘Standard’ model is greater.
Ted Klum is first and foremost a musician, his primary instrument being the saxophone. He earned a degree in professional music from Berklee College of Music in 1981 and after a year of traveling and performing throughout Japan settled in New York. Shortly thereafter Ted was playing at a jam session with the legendary Tenor saxophonist Junior Cook whose unique and personal sound (created with a custom refaced vintage NY Meyer mouthpiece) was to be the impetus for Ted's journey into the study and practice of vintage mouthpieces, custom mouthpiece refacing and manufacture. Ted then met Bob Ackerman with whom he started a more than 25 year relationship: first as a client, then as a custom refacer and finisher of vintage mouthpieces as well as a series of new copies of great vintage mouthpieces. After first observing Bob work, Ted had the opportunity to meet Bob's teacher Everett Matson who imparted to him the attitude of a serious master craftsman. In 2008, after more than 25 years of work, study and literally thousands of custom mouthpiece jobs, Ted embarked on the creation of the ‘FocusTone’ mouthpiece. Ted has combined the knowledge gained from his many years of experience plus state of the art manufacturing and materials science to create his new line of mouthpieces. Ted's brother Frank Klum was enlisted as the director of product development whose research, strategy and business acumen has been essential to the lines growth. Longtime touring professional saxophonist Dave Schumacher has recently come onboard as Global Account Consultant/Product Specialist.
