The "new" C

This is a story about the new coke Model C.

The Model C was one of the true O.G.s at Strachan Brass - it was designed shortly after the model M and around the same time as the Model G and GS.  It was the first foray into "Kruspe" mouthpieces, and particularly into the Conn 8D community.

Originally developed under the moniker "Model S" for Studio, we got feedback that it was just not what modern studio players wanted; it needed more brightness and it needed to help the Elkhart 8Ds compete in the studio with the smaller brass horns - which are becoming more popular, even in Hollywood.  The contours, depths and general sound character were unmistakable though. I had unwittingly re-created a Giardinelli C series from my own biases about how an 8D should play from my upbringing in the New York suburbs playing them.

After some discussions, I released it anyway as a love letter to that era.  They're hard to come by now & I've gotten ahold of a few study samples that play really well.  Thus the first C was born.

After you make something though you start to hear back from people. A player (who needs to remain anonymous due to professional affiliations) tested the C and declared it to be a terrific mouthpiece for the new production 8Ds - the extra efficiency and new tapers of the 8D made this throwback mouthpiece into an efficient relevant platform on the new horns.

After learning a bunch of things from later models though - particularly how to control the intonation from the H and LA, and how to control efficiency from the bore in creating the GH - I thought - "it's time to revisit the C".

I got tweaking, a hair shallower; less than half a mil, just for efficiency.  Keep the shape and bore though.  A hair shorter prominence to bring up the high octave.  The sum total of changes was minuscule; I thought it would be something you could notice if you were told but that it would be minor at-best.

After selling completely out of the old C's and having my 6D in the shop for a new leadpipe at Patterson I didn't get to play test the final brass C v1.1s that carefully against the original.  They played seemingly nicely & I sent a few out to testers.

This proved to be a ... controversial change in the 8D community with a number of people saying I'd ruined it.  Gone was the fiery inefficient-yet-efficient magic replaced with an over-bright hollowness.  The efficiency gains were obvious, but it lost it's mystique.  At this point I was convinced, I've completely ruined it - best to call in the batch and revert to the original.

However, we had some very prominent pros get back to me and say that the New C was a fantastic match for their Geyer-family horns.  The new C isn't faithful to it's billing, but it's a re-creation of the Giardinelli magic but for a very different kind of horn.

And that kind of makes sense; the new C was intended to be more compatible with non-Kruspes.  It used tricks and efficiencies learned working with Geyers.  As such we'll be updating our naming;

The original C is coming back as the "Model C".  All the magic all the time.

The new C is being renamed the "Model GC" as a nod to it's Geyer-compatibility and to denote it's focus on efficiency and standardized intonation.